Hall of Fame Ballot Announced

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by JustinD

Opinion stays the same.

Worst HOF of all major sports (and compared to the NBA that's something), getting in means nothing other than you kissed the right ass and had the correct drinking buddies. I would never have a HOF collection because I would prefer to collect better players.

The voting results are exactly what I expect every single year. I will continue to drive right on past Cooperstown.

Do I personally like any of the six players I would have took over any of those elections?

Not a one.

Are they invited to my family Christmas?

Nope, so why do I care. They are the better players.

+1 and I totally agree. The Baseball HOF is horrible. Not the brick and mortar, or the setting. The absolutely stupid admissions and glaring oversights that render it totally irrelevant.

[packs]

Totally irrelevant in what way? The baseball HOF is one of the most difficult in professional sports to get into and one of the few that have no election mandate and has no rules against going years or decades without inducting anyone. Only about 1 percent of all major league players ever are represented in the HOF.

The HOF also represents and preserves the history of women in baseball, the Negro Leagues, barnstorming, baseball abroad, and the executives, announcers, and other baseball personalities that have made the game a game enjoyed in this country by everyone in it for over 150 years. How is that an irrelevant HOF?

[jingram058]

If you're trying to defend Fred McGriff and Harold Baines, to the exclusion of players in this era who are truly worthy, conversation over. There's the problem of overlooking Mattingly, Munson, Schilling, Bonds, McGwire, et al, that seem stupid to a lot of people who might otherwise care. Finally, I couldn't care any less about the Pete Rose and Joe Jackson issues. There SEEMS to be some evidence making their gambling offenses appear lesser, and frankly, I couldn't care any less when Hal Chase and Heinie Zimmerman were openly, brazenly conspiring with gangsters and gamblers. I couldn't care any less about steroids, or spitballs, or any of that. I think Riggs Stephenson and Cecil Travis ought to be in. To deny them seems mean spirited. Why did it take so painfully long for Ron Santo and Gil Hodges to get in? Put these other guys in, correct these glaring wrongs in not just my but a whole lot of other people's opinion, and then you'll have a real, no $#it Hall Of Fame.

[packs]

But including Cecil Travis in the HOF doesn't elevate it from irrelevant to relevancy. You disagree with selections but that's what makes the debate spirited and a debate at all. I don't think that makes the HOF irrelevant. If it were irrelevant it wouldn't stir up any emotions in people at all.

[triwak]

Originally Posted by packs

Totally irrelevant in what way? The baseball HOF is one of the most difficult in professional sports to get into and one of the few that have no election mandate and has no rules against going years or decades without inducting anyone. Only about 1 percent of all major league players ever are represented in the HOF.

The HOF also represents and preserves the history of women in baseball, the Negro Leagues, barnstorming, baseball abroad, and the executives, announcers, and other baseball personalities that have made the game a game enjoyed in this country by everyone in it for over 150 years. How is that an irrelevant HOF?

Agree and thank you for this post. BTW, I'm quite proud of my HOF card collection. Just purchased a Crime Dog rookie last night!

[scotgreb]

There are always going to be players at the margin for whatever reason(s) -- no matter what voters are engaged. I expect that if any of us endeavored to choose the 341 [eligible] individuals -- or more so, the 269 players, we believe should be in the HOF, the overlap would be quite large. If you had the current BBWAA vote toward the top 269 today -- no chance they would all be the same -- and it would be different ten years from now even with the same BBWAA voters. The Hall (and its membership) was not built at a point in time. It's a much different proposition when building it over nearly 100 years. I mean, how many of us would include ten umpires?

[Mike D.]

It's worth noting that not everyone's candidacy is so quickly judged. I mean, it took Blyleven 15 years to get elected, and he's 13th all time in WAR for starting pitchers.

At the time, there were huge groups of people who argued he wasn't deserving. Nowadays, you don't see him on many "shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame" lists.

[etsmith]

Cecil Travis? His career was too short, even taking into consideration his military service. The problem is everyone has a different idea of who should be in the Hall of Fame. What about Jim McCormick? Or Adrian Beltre? Or Bill Dahlen? Or Bobby Grich?

[JustinD]

Not the world's biggest McGwire fan, but for everyone stating he is still deflecting steroids that is wrong. He admitted it more than 12 years ago to clean the slate when he returned to baseball. Not sure how that was forgotten, it was a bit of big deal at the time.

[michael3322]

Originally Posted by etsmith

Cecil Travis? His career was too short, even taking into consideration his military service. The problem is everyone has a different idea of who should be in the Hall of Fame. What about Jim McCormick? Or Adrian Beltre? Or Bill Dahlen? Or Bobby Grich?

Edward. Thanks for pointing out Travis. Had never heard of him before your post and enjoyed reading about his career and service. Definitely in the category of "What might have been?" like so many others whose careers were disrupted by health issues, military service, etc.

Re: health, consider the great Dave Orr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Orr

Had he not had a stroke...