Maddux, Glavine, Thomas elected to Baseball Hall of Fame; Biggio just misses

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

the BBWAA has always had a group of incredibly stupid members, bordering on mentally deficient. What's the argument against Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Tom Seaver and Johnny Bench? None. Those who didn't vote for them at the first opportunity are, by definition, ignorant about their jobs. And the racist crowd of writers always existed. What's the argument against Aaron and Mays besides the color of their skin? Those BBWAA members should have been publicly called out by name and had their membership revoked. The fact that didn't occur shows the overall membership tolerated racism in their little boys club. Shame forever..

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

I agree that there have always been issues. I just think it is time to fix them. Of course, it won't happen.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

As a voter, I would have no problem if another voter GAVE his vote to Deadspin readers. But if he or she actually got money, no matter how little, for doing it, I'm appalled and mortified. And of course curious how much they got.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Even just allowing Deadspin to write it up as they did should be enough for that person's vote to be taken away. I disagree with you to a point. I would still have an issue with the voter giving it away, but to allow even the perception of the vote being bought is inexcusable.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

It's possible, isn't it, that those who didn't vote for Aaron or Mays made that decision for the same reason as those who didn't vote for Williams, DiMaggio, Seaver or Bench. Might even have been many of the same writers. No evidence that voters were being racist on the first two but merely ignorant on the other four (and others who clearly belonged but fell short of unanimity). Really no need to go there.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

OOP, I doubt that the writer had any influence on Deadspin's editorial process, but he or she had to know what kind of organization they were dealing with. I'll bet it was a former writer like myself, too. If a current writer wanted fans to have a vote, they could write an article inviting readers to do so with no ethical issues I can see.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

By agreeing to take part in it, the voter allowed Deadspin to write it up that way. The voter absolutely has to take some responsibility for how the entire thing was presented even if he or she had no direct control.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

The Deadspin thing doesn't surprise me. The BBWAA lets people keep their votes after they retire or leave the business, so there are quite a few out there who have votes who haven't covered a game in years.

I still would never do it. But I'm guessing the Deadspin readers will turn in a ballot better than most of these guys did last year.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

There is a very simple reason that Maddux would not get 100 percent of the vote, and I suspect it is why others have not.

Some voters believe in a bigger Hall. They may believe there are 10 players other than Maddux, on the ballot before Maddux (that part is key), who deserve induction. They aren't voting for Maddux simply because they haven't gotten to him yet. Perfectly reasonable.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

I like a lot of things about Deadspin. Its crusade for PED users is not among them. There are reasonable arguments in favor of voting for PED users. There are reasonable arguments against voting for PED users. I don't like that they act like voting for Bonds or Clemens or McGwire is the one and only reasonable choice, and anyone not adhering is a moron subject to ridicule. This isn't Mitch Albom writing about bloggers in their mom's basment using slide rules, 15 years after those cliches went out of style. This is reasonable, intelligent, thoughtful men and women pondering a really, really tricky issue. They don't deserve Deadspin's ridicule like this. Reserve it for the people who really do.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Dick, since the misbegotten tradition of no unanimous votes began with the very first year of voting, I find it hard to agree with your hypothesis.
Mizzou, I don't know who did this, but it will sure make me laugh if it turns out that he/she was one of the voters who blanked the ballot last year to protest the "cheating" of PED use.
If some scoundrel actually took money from Deadspin, then he/she is an idiot as well as a scoundrel. There's no point in selling out for less than top dollar, and if goddamn baseball cards can be worth tens of thousands, some loony fan with more money than brains would pay quite a bit for a Hall vote.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

If anybody has a chance to get 100 percent, it would be Maddux. Jeter maybe when his name comes up.

Some grumpy fuck will leave their names off just to do so. They'll probably make some comment about Dimaggio having to wait a year to get in, like that justifies doing it.

I think the child molester in Philly was one of the ones bragging about not voting for Nolan Ryan.