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Posted By: Hal Lewis

The only problem with the "one shot" rule...

is that some years you have a TON of very qualified candidates up for election...

and it would NOT be fair to the other eligible players if their "one shot" was ruined by being up against McGwire, Gwynn and Ripken in the same year...

because the voters would probably ONLY vote for those "Big 3" in order to honor them properly.

In other words... because the voters now know that candidates will be on the ballot for several years...

they "send messages" by how they vote.

They only vote for the "superstars" on their FIRST year of eligibility, to signify that these players are "better" than some of the other HOF players (like Sandberg) who get in on later ballots.

REMEMBER:

The baseball writers have NOT made very many mistakes over the years.

The "mistakes" were all made by the Veteran's Committee!!