THE FIRST BLUE JAY CAP IN THE HALL: Despite the best efforts of ESPN's Barry Stanton to elect BJ Surhoff, Tino Martinez, Don Mattingly and neither of these guys, the Baseball Writers Association of America has voted Roberto Alomar (90.0%) and Bert Blyleven (79.7%) into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Next closest to the line were Barry Larkin (62.1%), Jack Morris (53.5%), Lee Arthur Smith (45.3%), Jeff Bagwell (41.7%), Tim Raines (37.5%) and Edgar Martinez (32.9%).
Rafael Palmeiro (just 11%) and Juan Gonzalez (5.2%) stay on the ballot for 2012; Harold Baines and Kevin Brown are among those who failed to clear 5%. There are no huge names joining the ballot for the first time in 2012 -- Javy Lopez, Tim Salmon and Bernie Williams represent the cream of that lesser crop.
added: Sean Forman would love to know how Lee Smith gets 45.3% of the vote when John Franco and Kevin Brown each fell below 5%.
Congrats to Alomar and Bleyleven! Boo to to inexplicably low numbers for Tim Raines and Jeff Bagwell! Mystified by Harold Baines not even clearing 5%! (Seriously, behind the two steroids users on the list? That has to hurt.)
ReplyDeleteVia BBTF:
ReplyDelete<span>Roberto Alomar...............+126
Bert Blyleven....................+63
Barry Larkin....................+83
Tim Raines.......................+54
Jack Morris....................+29
Alan Trammell....................+20
Dale Murphy....................+10
Lee Smith.........................+8
Dave Parker.........................+7
Edgar Martinez....................-4
Harold Baines....................-5
Don Mattingly....................-8
Fred McGriff....................-12
Mark McGwire....................-13
Don Mattingly....................-8
Dale Murphy....................10</span>
Looks like Larkin, at least, will get in next year, but those Bagwell numbers are surprisingly low. Did voters think they could only vote for one second baseman at once? There's a pretty decent case for Larry Walker, and it'll be interesting to see if his case improves.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yay Bert! http://deadspin.com/5011853/bert-blyleven-loves-to-fart
2013 will be fun: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, the juicers on the list (except for maybe Sosa) probably put up solid enough numbers in their skinny days to get in. Does that justify subsequent cheating? How about the fact that Bonds and Clemens got into legal trouble?
Sorry for getting Bagwell and Biggio mixed up . . .
2013 looks like it'll be a fun year for the BB pundits. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa... And how many locks in that class. Clemens, obviously and Schilling. Anyone else?
ReplyDeleteGiven PEDs, Clemens isn't obvious either, nor is Piazza. It may just be Schilling and Edgar by then, as voters decide that first ballot is not for anyone you ever suspected.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Alomar and Blyleven. Hopefully Larkin can get in next year, and at least Raines' vote totals are moving in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteFunny how lots of sportswriters were saying McGwire had to come clean. He did and he loses votes. Were there actually people who didn't think he'd used until he admitted it?
Jim Caple really killed it today: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/110105_HOF_voting&sportCat=mlb
ReplyDeleteThat would be a shame, if we suddenly excluded anyone based on third-hand innuendo. You've got people like McGwire and A-Rod who have admitted using steroids, people like Palmeiro who have been caught, and people like Sosa and Bonds and Clemens for whom there has been a lot of significant circumstantial evidence but nothing definitive. I think the first two categories are fair game for exclusion, and the third category may be.
ReplyDeleteBut what about players like Piazza, where there the circumstantial evidence is weak (his muscles are bigger, he's got back acne), and there are no accusations from any credible source? Are we just going supposed to presume that someone who develops muscles must have been using steroids unless he can prove otherwise? I think that's extremely cynical, not to mention unfair. If that's all it takes to blacklist someone from the HoF, then pretty soon you'll have a year with no candidates.
By the way... the fact that this post appears right after one about the rumored Streisand/Gypsy movie is one of the main reasons I love this blog.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can't understand how Bagwell didn't get in but-for "oh, he must have used something "suspicions. Those numbers are clearly of HOF quality.
ReplyDelete(Among 1B, post-1947, only Pujols and McGwire have higher OPS+. He's well ahead of HOFers McCovey, Cepeda and Murray. Is it longevity?)
The Bagwell numbers are inexcusable. I'll give the BBWAA a little, VERY little, rope because there's a lot of hooey over what a "first ballot Hall of Famer" is, but if that percentage isn't over 65% next year I'm going to say very angry words on the internet about them.
ReplyDeleteSeems reasonable to me in regards to McGwire, though the vote number should have fallen to "0". Before then, it was accusation and innuendo and now it's admitted fact.
ReplyDeleteYes, he has admitted to doing things which were not banned by MLB when he did them. So?
ReplyDelete[deleted: a bunch of stuff I promised I'd never say again] But with the 4% drop for Edgar, I'm kind of resigned to him never making it, at least not until most of the current voters die of old age or untreated festering ignorance.
ReplyDeleteBagwell was a first baseman; Biggio was the second baseman. Bagwell's hurt because his raw traditional numbers are below McGwire and Palmeiro, and as-yet-unproven suspicion that he was 'roiding (he insists not). And you have to think there's some old fogies who's mad that he never won a World Series and refuse to put him on the first ballot. I'd expect Bagwell to make it eventually if there's no new adverse evidence on the steroid issue.
ReplyDeleteESPN's Barry Stanton voted for BJ Surhoff and Tino Martinez but NOT Robbie Alomar? Can anyone explain this to me?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of Armond White?
ReplyDeleteDear All players during 80's and 90's who did not use steriods.
ReplyDeleteYou are idiots and unworthy even of a mention in my column.
Sincerely,
Jim Caple
I am not saying that Caple doesn't make some points, and on balance, I think we have to vote in the 'roid users (era-adjusted, of course). But like so much in life, this issue is not as simple or obvious as he makes it out to be. His first paragraph demands that everyone else get off their high horses, presumably so he can be the only one riding one.
He participated in an ESPN chat today:
ReplyDeleteHe cheated. To me, that's the so of the argument.
ReplyDeleteWhat about players who used greenies?
ReplyDelete<span>Wow. To choose Tino Martinez because he was at the heart of world championship teams makes me wonder where his vote for Scott Brosius is.</span>
ReplyDelete