Dawson only inductee..........

[kmac32]

Awesome that Dawson made it in. He is truly an all star and deserves to be in.

Kmac

[Irwin Fletcher]

I'm a big Jim Kaat fan, but he doesn't compare to Blyleven.

Kaat: 283-237, 3.45 ERA, 2461 K, 1.259 WHIP, 107 ERA+

Blyleven: 287-250, 3.31 ERA, 3701 K, 1.198 WHIP, 118 ERA+

The adjusted ERA+ number is the key. Over his career, Kaat was 7 percent better than league average in term of ERA. Blyleven was 18 percent better. That's the difference between good and really good. And, in my opinion, the difference bettween HOF and not HOF.

Ditto for Tommy John (110 ERA+)

[KNH]

Glad to see Dawson got in. It's about time. One of the reasons I would keep Blyleven out of the hall of fame is that in 22 years he was an all star only 2 times. How can you be a HOFer if you're not even somewhat regularly an all star? I believe that some of the problem is that those 3,701 strikeouts look really impressive. Before Carlton and Ryan passed Walter Johnson back in the 80's, 3,508 k's was the record. I also don't understand how guys can get so many more votes than they had the previous year. Whether somebody gets votes or not shouldn't have anything to do with who else is up for election. If there were a couple of superstars players up for election this year, Dawson would probably have fell short again and Blyleven and Alomar would have missed by a lot more. Either a guy deserves it or he doesn't. How can voters vote "no" one year and "yes" the next? Did the player do something in that year to deserve the vote they didn't get the previous year?

[barrysloate]

There are clearly politics involved in the voting process, and I would think that even in a very weak year there is pressure to elect at least one of the candidates. What would happen to the Hall of Fame Induction Weekend if one year nobody got in? Would it be canceled?

[KNH]

Next year's ballot will include Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Larry Walker, Jeff Bagwell, John Franco and Kevin Brown. This will be the year Blyleven will probably make it whether he deserves it or not. Palmeiro would have been automatic but the steroids will likely keep him out. Gonzo was great but faded away too soon. Walker's totals aren't good enough and he played in Colorado. Kevin Brown-not a chance. Franco-might be deserving. Bagwell- possibly. He should have played 1 more year, then the voters would make sure he goes in along with Biggio who is up for election in 2012.

[doug.goodman]

It would go to the Dutch guy.

[Chris-Counts]

Another vote, another mockery. Congratulations to the Hawk, who in my estimation is a very deserving Hall of Famer. Just imagine if players could be inducted for receiving simply more than half of the votes possible, instead of the almost impossible to attain 75 percent. If that was the case, we'd be congratulating Alomar, Morris, Blyleven and Larkin today as well. Well, it looks like another year ranting and raving about how incompetent the selection process and its voters are.

[Butch7999]

*

[packs]

I'm hoping McGriff gets in some day. In my opinion he really deserves to be. 493 home runs, never a steroid suspect, and a model of consistency. He hit 30 home runs or more 7 years in a row and had 8 100 RBI seasons. His post season numbers are eye popping too. Guy should get in.

I was glad that Larkin didn't get in. To me, he never even comes close to the games greatest players and especially not at short stop. Not a HOFer to me.

Also don't think Raines deserves to get in either. I know people hate the term compiler but I can't help but think of him as one.

Alomar will get in next time no doubt. I never saw Blyleven play but I just looked up his stats. On the surface they seem very impressive. But like others, I have to ask why one of the games best pitchers of all time only managed to be recognized as a premier player in the league twice, and why he never even finished second in Cy Young voting. People say he was on bad teams, but I've looked at the teams he was on in his prime and they were 500 teams. To me, that's hardly a terrible team. Lost 17 games 4 times.

[autograf]

Anthony.....nice tongue-in-cheek 'expectorated' comment in post #4.....