Changes to Hall of Fame Eras Committees eligibility

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

You'd THINK the Hall of Fame would be in favor of more inductees, but everything they do seems to be working towards the opposite. I can't comment on whether that is by design or incompetence.

I think they're trying to limit how often and how long the PED guys can appear and stay on the ballot with the hope being that once none of them are eligible to be on any more ballots, the focus can turn to other players who should be considered. Whether or not it ultimately works out that way remains to be seen.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I think they're trying to limit how often and how long the PED guys can appear and stay on the ballot with the hope being that once none of them are eligible to be on any more ballots, the focus can turn to other players who should be considered. Whether or not it ultimately works out that way remains to be seen.

Perhaps. I don't think ignoring the PED guys is the right answer. I mean, how long can a hall of fame without the all-time HR leader (single season and career), a top-5 all time pitcher, and other greats of the 1980's-2000's remain relevant?

That being said, I think leaving them off ballots for a few cycles is a good start. There's plenty of less controversial candidates to consider.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Perhaps. I don't think ignoring the PED guys is the right answer. I mean, how long can a hall of fame without the all-time HR leader (single season and career), a top-5 all time pitcher, and other greats of the 1980's-2000's remain relevant?

That being said, I think leaving them off ballots for a few cycles is a good start. There's plenty of less controversial candidates to consider.

I think they dropped the number of years on the writers ballot from 15 to 10 to get the PED guys off sooner. I think this change is to prevent them from continuously showing up on committee era ballots if there is no evidence of their support growing. Their achievements are certainly recognized in the Hall of Fame even if they don't have plaques in the gallery so I think the Hall of Fame will survive without them ever being inducted, which looks like the most likely outcome right now.

[G1911]

The more people that vote, the less likely it is people get elected for reasons of friendship, which has been a huge problem for a long time. Baines being the most recent one, but how many of Frankie Frisch's pals are in just because he and his boys liked them? Other kinds of corruption would occur, but the current process is about as bad as can possibly be chosen if the goal is to have some kind of reasonable basis for selections. A dozen insiders with a closed ballot all but guarantees BS results.

I would hope rules would be redesigned to try and combat the blatant corruption rather than being rewritten to try and keep out the known steroid guys, except for David Ortiz, who is exempt from such an implied policy. Put them in or keep them out, a non-corrupt voting basis should take priority over any individual selection. None of us will agree with every choice, but a fairly large number of people have been selected for purely corrupt or political reasons that don't really have any kind of sincere, honest argument for meriting inclusion. If we must have names added every year, they should reasonably be either the best players not in, or the most significant and important players not in, rather than whoever has the most pals on the tiny insider committee that doesn't reveal their votes. Of course, an honest process not designed for corruption will never happen

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I think they dropped the number of years on the writers ballot from 15 to 10 to get the PED guys off sooner. I think this change is to prevent them from continuously showing up on committee era ballots if there is no evidence of their support growing. Their achievements are certainly recognized in the Hall of Fame even if they don't have plaques in the gallery so I think the Hall of Fame will survive without them ever being inducted, which looks like the most likely outcome right now.

I think the reduction did help reduce the logjam. I mean this year Manny will have his last year on the ballot, but we still have what, another 5 years of Arod on the ballot? Those two guys getting 34 & 37% of the vote is a real ballot clogger.

Maybe the HOF's goal is to keep these guys out. I don't know.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

I think the reduction did help reduce the logjam. I mean this year Manny will have his last year on the ballot, but we still have what, another 5 years of Arod on the ballot? Those two guys getting 34 & 37% of the vote is a real ballot clogger.

Maybe the HOF's goal is to keep these guys out. I don't know.

I think that's their hope, but they don't want to publicly come out and say it. The closest they came to it was when Joe Morgan was on the board of directors and sent out a letter that made it pretty clear that was how he felt.

[KJA]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Perhaps. I don't think ignoring the PED guys is the right answer. I mean, how long can a hall of fame without the all-time HR leader (single season and career), a top-5 all time pitcher, and other greats of the 1980's-2000's remain relevant?

That being said, I think leaving them off ballots for a few cycles is a good start. There's plenty of less controversial candidates to consider.

I say let the PED guys in, if Bud Selig is in then there is no reason why they shouldn't be. It happened on his watch, he benefited from those guys, that home run chase between Sosa and McGwire was huge, it got me back into baseball after that 94 strike.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by KJA

I say let the PED guys in, if Bud Selig is in then there is no reason why they shouldn't be. It happened on his watch, he benefited from those guys, that home run chase between Sosa and McGwire was huge, it got me back into baseball after that 94 strike.

I'm with you on the McGwire/Sosa chase and that being a big draw back to the game. I also think that the PED guys should probably be in the Hall of Fame, but with mention of their transgression on their plague. That allows the Hall to be complete as a museum of baseball history, but call out the ills of that era.