2011 HOF Ballot

[Chris Counts]

For those who don't consider Barry Larkin worthy of the Hall of Fame, can you come up with 10 shortstops who were better? Also, is the Hall of Fame big enough for one of the best 10 shortstops in history? Bill James ranks him sixth and he's the best baseball numbers guy of all. So to all of Larkin's detractors, I challenge you to prove to me ... with a comparative statistical analysis and not simply opinions ... why Larkin isn't worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Induction into the Hall of Fame should be based not on perceptions, allegiances and myths, but on hard numbers that take into account all the factors (dead ball vs. live ball, size of ballparks, etc.) that skew statistics. Sadly, while James and others have done the work, only a small percentage of baseball fans have even noticed. As a result, the debate goes on, but at the same time, it goes nowhere ...