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

http://fansided.com/2014/01/10/honorary-bbwaa-member-larry-rocca-clarifies-ballot/

Says he took the same approach as Gurnick - no steroid era guys. Voted for Nomo as a "trail blazer" for Japanese players. Admits he may be being naive.

 

Naive. Yeah, that's the kind of voter we want.

 

Another BBWAA beauty. Wouldn't vote for Biggio because he's a cheater for wearing body armour but did vote for Bonds. Did not vote for Thomas, he moved to Colorado and didn't watch much American League baseball.

http://www.kenstewartphoto.net/dowling_drivel_blog/?p=4208

 

And this is why making all voters reveal their choices is such a good idea. Even better if they at least have to try to explain them so guys like this can expose themselves as being unworthy of the privilege.

His explanation of Thomas just shows how lazy he was in his approach. To ding Biggio for armor and not Bonds is a joke, but he did include some distinction. He believes Biggio tried to get hit too often and that's not something anybody would accuse Bonds of. Still ridiculous, but there is some distinction there.

 

Gee, I can't understand why bloggers say access is overrated.

I guess we all live in a bubble where we're all engaged and thoughtful observers of the game. It's easy to forget the depths of idiocy out there masquerading as expertise.

 

OK, I can't defend that guy. He should not have a vote. Looks like he's not even a writer.

 

He also didn't bother to black out Jack O'Connell's cell number on the copy of his ballot his posted, which I'm sure O'Connell appreciates.

 

Rocca shows the problem with the BBWAA acting as judge, jury and executioner. He picks Nomo for unusual reasons, but they are vaguely defensible. Then he picks three guys from the pre-PED era that are known to be squeaky clean. First, Tim Raines is an odd choice for an anti-drug ballot, but OK. Second, look at Alan Trammell's 1993 season in the context of the rest of his career, and look at what Jack Morris did in 1989 and 1990 and then did in 1991 and 1992. Two guys in their mid-30s suddenly find some kind of Fountain of Youth and recapture past glories. Isn't that exactly the same kind of circumstantial evidence used against Biggio, who had a late-career power surge?

Do I think Morris and Trammell used PEDs? No, but I wouldn't back that opinion up with any money. Look at the roster of the 1993 Tigers. Put that team in 2003 and people would claim the trainer was handing them out with the Gatorade. And if I'm not 100 percent sure that Alan Trammell, the epitome of everything good in baseball, is clean, playing for a team I covered, how in the world am I going to claim to be sure what anyone was doing? Yet a large number of BBWAA members are perfectly comfortable doing just that.

 

Never ever EVER have I sent in a blank ballot. Please stop passing on rumors when this is something you can easily verify with one click on the computer, or by simply asking me.

Said it before and I'll say it again: I abide by the guidelines of the NY Times and some other news organizations that believe reporters shouldn't be voting on awards given out to people they cover. I don't have a better solution -- and I definitely don't begrudge my colleagues who feel differently -- but until my mind is changed, I do not send in the ballot.

This is VERY different than sending in a blank ballot, which would impact the voting.
Again, this is a journalist site. Please do your home work before writing false statements.
Lisa

 

Not sure why you're singling out Trammell in 1993 as any type of suspicious "fountain of youth" season. If you covered that team, you should remember that he was returning from a broken ankle in 1992. He got healthy again and had a strong '93 — a season when scoring went up dramatically all across the league.

In some ways, the 1993 Tigers lineup was not all that different from the 2013 Tigers. They hit the hell out of the ball, but couldn't run or field (or pitch, which is something the current Tigers do have.)

I'm not really disagreeing with your criticism of Rocca's ballot. But that sure seems like an odd team to single out. They had a lot of very good, albeit aging, position players, and offense was up everywhere that year.

 

How does Gomez not get on the ballot with 1,206 hits?

 

The guy is a sports cartoonist. I couldn't make that up if I tried.