Lee Smith & Harold Baines??

[ejharrington]

I think the issue is not that there are too many players in the HOF. There are only 228 players in the HOF (excludes Negro Leaguers, Managers, Umpires, and Executives / Pioneers), which is like 1.1% of all the players who ever made the Major Leagues. The issue is not even that there have been some bad selections, which have often been at least partially the result of cronyism. The issue is that it seems the HOF has not corrected the mistakes of the past that resulted in many of these poor selections. Clearly, some of the voters on the committee that voted for Baines should have abstained from voting as they could not possibly claim to be impartial.

For the record, these are the 12 picks out of 228 I think clearly were bad selections:

Ray Schalk - C
Rick Farrell - C
High Pockets Kelly – 1B
Jim Bottomley – 1B
Freddie Lindstrom – 3B
Chick Hafey – LF
Lloyd Waner – CF
Tommy McCarthy – RF
Ross Youngs – RF
Harold Baines – DH
Jesse Haines – P
Rube Marquard – P

These are the players (excluding players still-eligible and PED and banned players) I believe should be selected based on statistics, championships, clutch performance, fame, popularity, and other intangibles, such as who were considered true superstars when they were playing:

Thurman Munson - C
Keith Hernandez – 1B
Don Mattingly – 1B
Gil Hodges – 1B
Steve Garvey – 1B
Lou Whitaker – 2B
Ross Barnes – 2B
Ken Boyer – 3B
Minnie Minoso – LF
Dale Murphy – CF
Roger Maris – RF
Rusty Staub - RF
Tommy Bond – P

I also believe the HOF made a mistake not inducting Buck O’Neill in and should correct it.