FROM THE SANCTIMONIOUS PRIG DESK: The members of the Baseball Writers Association of America have elected no one to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for 2013. Topping the ballot were Craig Biggio (68.2%), Jack Morris (67.7%), Jeff Bagwell (59.6%), Mike Piazza (57.8%) and Tim Raines (52.2%), with Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds at 37.6% and 36.2%, respectively. Our readers, on the other hand, would have inducted Bagwell, Clemens, Biggio, Piazza, Bonds and Raines.
Bernie Williams, David Wells, Sandy Alomar Jr, and Kenny Lofton are among those who failed to clear the 5% hurdle and have been dropped from future consideration by the writers; meanwhile, next year's logjam will be ridiculous -- in addition to the names above, plus Schilling, E Martinez, McGwire, and Trammell, you also will have Tom Glavine, Jeff Kent, Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina, and Frank Thomas as first-time eligibles -- and with the writers (under present rules) limited to voting for ten names.
So who is going to Cooperstown this year? I see dead people -- three Pre-Integration Committee electees will be inducted – umpire Hank O’Day, New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and 19th-century player Deacon White, and "the Hall of Fame will recognize 12 individuals previously counted among its roster of members who never had a formal induction due to wartime restrictions. They are BBWAA electees Lou Gehrig (1939) and Rogers Hornsby (1942), along with the entire class of 1945 selected by the Committee on Old Timers: Roger Bresnahan, Dan Brouthers, Fred Clarke, Jimmy Collins, Ed Delahanty, Hugh Duffy, Hughie Jennings, King Kelly, Jim O’Rourke and Wilbert Robinson."
OK, none of the top vote-getters are absolute slam dunks, and the case against Clemens and Bonds is convincing to the people to whom it is convincing. The interesting question then becomes how in the hell Jack Morris has more votes than Curt Schilling.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that none of the folks are slam dunks, so just from that perspective, I'm not too outraged about guys like Bagwell and Piazza missing. However, if the voters left them off their lists not because of their body of work, but because there are SUSPICIONS of steroid use (and by "suspicions," I mean a lot of talk, with no evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, other than that they have big muscles), then I think they've done everyone a great disservice. Just because steroid use was pervasive doesn't mean that everyone should suddenly be assumed guilty until proven innocent.
ReplyDeleteHow is Piazza not a slam dunk -- does defense suddenly matter as a negative?
ReplyDeleteI think it's garbage, but I feel the worst for Kenny Lofton, who deserved at least some fair consideration but had the misfortune to become eligible in what too many writers decided was a protest year and now is just SOL.
ReplyDeleteThat Tim Raines number is simply mind-boggling and probably resulting from the folks who consider some cocaine use in the 1980's as bad as cheating.
ReplyDeleteKenny Lofton deserved better,
So! Next year! Bagwell, Biggio, Piazza, Raines, Thomas, Maddux are my slam-dunks, with Mussina and Glavine definitely getting some consideratio. So, 8 at the most and the 10 name limit not being a problem.
Damn straight, Adam.
ReplyDeleteJinx!
ReplyDeleteAnd in the following year, Randy Johnson, Pedro, and Smoltz gain eligibility. As Rob Neyer noted (sorry, can't link from phone other than long form: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2013/1/9/3855698/hall-fame-2013-voting-results-nobody-elected-craig-biggio-steroids) this was the best chance some of these guys on this year's ballot will have for a long while.
ReplyDeleteBum job on linkage - trying again: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2013/1/9/3855698/hall-fame-2013-voting-results-nobody-elected-craig-biggio-steroids
ReplyDeleteAnd yet Buck O'Neil remains uninducted. Justice, where art thou?
ReplyDeleteI'm continually mystified by this. I mean, O'Neil was on the damn Vet Committee and couldn't get in.
ReplyDeleteHe could be a "suspected" user. He's a slam dunk to get in eventually, but first ballot (indulging the BBWA that this makes a difference)? What i was saying below is each individual vote may be defensible, but some not in conjunction with each other.
ReplyDeleteI get angry when I think of this. I need to go distract myself.
ReplyDeleteI should clarify that I don't think he's a first-ballot slam dunk. I think something is wrong if he doesn't get in eventually. He is arguably the best-hitting catcher of all time. But, yes, in my mind, the thing keeping him off first-ballot election would be his defense, which was below average at a position where defense is very important.
ReplyDeleteYou know who's getting screwed here? Alan Trammell, that's who. This should have been his year.
ReplyDeleteMost illogical ballot may be Tony Massarotti, Boston Globe: Bonds, Clemens, Martinez. How do you vote for Martinez and not Bagwell, Biggio, or Piazza?
ReplyDeletePiazza is not just a suspected user. A legit reporter says that Piazza admitted steroid use to him, and at least one former teammate confirmed.
ReplyDeleteThis makes a lot of sense to me. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens sucked. I wish that [insert voter's team here] got to play a team comprised only of ten Clemenses and fifteen Bondses 162 times a year.
ReplyDeleteI would be okay with the ballot, with the following explanation: (1) Bonds was the best player of his generation and possibly of any generation. (2) Clemens was arguably the best pitcher of his generation and was better than the vast majority of pitchers who are already in the HOF. (3) Martinez is the greatest thing that ever happened to the City of Seattle and I love him and he is the awesomest anything ever of all ever FACT so shut your foul pie-holes, haters.
ReplyDelete