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

I don't follow. Of course Bonds was great, as well. Based upon strictly on-field performance, Bonds and McGwire are both no-brainers.

 

No question Bonds was great and a no-brainer if one doesn't care about PEDs. McGwire is not a no-brainer. Even with his PED use, McGwire had only the 15th highest career WAR of the players eligible for yesterday's vote.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2014.shtml

 

Two days later and none of the other non-Maddux votes or any of the below five percent crowd have been identified. Great process

 

I had voted for McGwire for the last 6 years but dropped him this year because it would have been a waste of one of my 10 spots. If I had no limit, I'd keep voting for him. On his numbers alone, he's a HOFer.

I am of the belief that the steroid guys should not be eliminated based on a lack of integrity but their numbers certainly can be adjusted just like you would do for a guy who played in Coors Field.

When you look at it that way, you can certainly make a case that McGwire was a one-trick pony whose one trick was enhanced. Sammy Sosa fits that mold to an even greater degree, which is why I haven't voted for him.

Basically I have a very low bar for integrity and a very high bar for performance, and if you're on steroids your performance better be well over the bar.

 

The HOF candidates who received less than 5% have been indentified. See: http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2014.shtml or http://bbwaa.com/

I read earlier, don't remember where and don't know if it's true, that there was only one blank ballot submitted this year.

Some of the voters' ballots will be 'shared' on the BBWAA (expected later today). But be warned, last year only 125 out of 559 ballots were revealed there.


(Edited to remove speculation about info that's was incorrect.)

 

I knew the candidates. Just not the voters. Sorry if I wasn't clear

 

If it wasn't for PED use... how does the case being made for McGwire not include Sosa as well? With 609 HRs and at 43 spots higher on career RBI list than McGwire? What HOF would we be talking about that doesn't have a guy who hit 600+ HRs?

I don't/won't vote for either for HOF. But whether this discussion is based on ignoring the PED use or judging "prior" to the presumed start of PED use, I think conclusion on both must be the same. If former, both go in. If latter, neither goes in.

 

Sosa is probably a borderline guy. I could see leaving him off. McGwire's OBP was 50 points higher than Sosa's. He had a .982 career OPS to Sosa's .878. If you like WAR, McGwire's oWAR (defensive WAR is notoriously unreliable) was 64.9, while Sosa's is 49.4, I think I read.

Personally, I would vote for Sosa, were PEDs not a factor. But I think a case can be made against him. It's a thin case against him, but a reasonable person could make it. I don't think that a reasonable case could be made against McGwire.

 

609 home runs.

 

Yes. That's certainly a mark in his favor, and a big one.

 

Well the BBWAA put up ballots and there is only one major one of note:

Lawrence Rocca: Morris Nomo Raines Trammell

There are 142 ballots listed, up from last year's 125. That is the only one without Maddux and the only one with a less than five percenter not named Palmeiro. Anonymity rules the day!

Biggio was on 110 of the 142.
There were 45 ballots with nine or fewer names -- 14 did not have Biggio.