This is a constant. It is a fact which hasn't changed over time. This week they completely ignored Tim Raines and Alan Trammell (again). Bert Blyleven is still waiting. And, of course, there is Ron Santo. We all know about that injustice.
Was is it any better 30+ years ago? It took Eddie Mathews five years to get in. When he retired he was the greatest 3rd baseman of all time, and only Schmidt and Brett have passed him since (and i'm not sure Brett was better). But that wasn't good enough for many brainless baseball writers.
How about this one: in 1956 Hank Greenberg was elected after NINE YEARS* on the ballot. When he retired only 4 hitters had a higher career OPS: Ruth, Williams, Gehrig, Foxx. Only two hitters have passed him since: Bonds and Pujols. He missed about 4 seasons because of WWII. And while he retired when he was 36, it wasn't because of ineffectiveness. He had the 9th best OPS in the NL that year. He's a slam dunk, first ballot guy and it ain't even close.
In 1937, Cy Young only got 76% of the vote. Gee, isn't there a pitching award or something named after him?
Why are baseball writers so fucking stupid? The Veterans' Committee sucks, too. And if fans had their way, Steve Garvey or Don Mattingly would get in, or some shit.
Therefore, the four of us should decide (Fung can vote for cricket). Three votes gets you in.
*So says Jayson Stark. I'm not sure he's right though. If there was a 5-year waiting period then Greenberg spent 4 years on the ballot. Has there been a 5-year waiting period since the beginning? Corms?
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4 comments:
I think it's pretty much always been a 5 year waiting period, at least since the first couple of elections. Gehrig and Clemente got waivers since they were dead and baseball didn't have to worry about them making a come back and having an active player in the Hall of Fame. We should start our own LoC baseball HoF.
So wait, the people who write about baseball get to vote people into the HoF? How do they pick who gets to vote? Seems to me that since 4 people on this blog write about baseball, they should be able to vote too. I don't know if cricket has a HoF, but I don't think I watch enuff of it to be able to render judgement. Something to do with the fact that they don't show it here. EVER.
In the new bite size version of the Sun-Times, Telander proclaims that his ballot was empty. Because steroids ruined everything. Perhaps you can ask for his?
Rick Telander is brain dead.
The Hof balloting is done by 10 year members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. To be a member you have to work for a newspaper that is published at least weekly and the paper has to have someone assigned to cover a Major League team. Your job with that newspaper has to be either as a baseball beat writer, a baseball columnist, a general sports columnist or the sports editor. Once you become a member you are always a member as long as you pay your dues. A classic example of how inane this is was provided by Bill James in his book The Politics of Glory. There was a weekly or bi-weekly paper in Orange County that assigned a writer to cover Angels home games and he'd go the the clubhouse once or twice per homestand. By doing so 3 people at that paper were able to become members of the BBWAA and after 10 years could vote for the Hall of Fame. Ridiculous. Almost as absurd as the Electoral College.
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