2010 Hall of Fame ballot released

[bucksfan2]

Interesting comment I heard on Edgar. After every at bat he had the ability to go and study film. He didn't have to go into the field and could focus on one thing and one thing only. There is no way I would ever vote (fat chance I ever get a vote) for a DH.

[George Anderson]

Even after all these years, when I think of Roberto Alomar, I think of him spitting in the umpire's face.

I hope what Alomar did to the umpire has zero bearing on if he gets in the HOF or not. Conflicts happen all the time between players, coaches and umpires and even though Alomar was clearly wrong, one incident shouldn't have a bearing on if he gets in the HOF or not. As long as the player or coach shows a bit of remorse after the dust has settled, then for the most part umpires really don't hold grudges, hopefully the writers won't either.

[Chip R]

I voted for everyone except Baines, Martinez, McGwire, and Mattingly. Now I realize I voted for 11. Lee Smith was the one I voted for by accident.

[mth123]

Larkin, Alomar, McGwire, Smith, Raines, Blyleven and Dawson.

[thatcoolguy_22]

Larkin, Martinez, Alomar, and McGwire

Martinez from 95-2001
OPS
1.107
1.059
1.009
.993
1.001
1.002
.966

OPS+
185
166
165
158
152
157
160

One of the best RH hitters of all time. DH or not he gets my vote.

[redsfandan]

I voted for everyone except Baines, Martinez, McGwire, and Mattingly. Now I realize I voted for 11. Lee Smith was the one I voted for by accident.

Cheater



It's interesting that the early results have only three players receiving the 75% of the vote required for election:

Larkin 96.55%
Alomar 79.31%
Blyleven 75.86%

I know this is just for fun, and that there might be a little bias with the voting for Larkin but, like George Anderson pointed out, he's not a lock to make it no matter what we think. I'm just hoping he receives a little more consideration than Concepcion received. Hopefully Concepcion will get more respect from the Veterans Committee like Mazeroski.

[princeton]

Interesting comment I heard on Edgar. After every at bat he had the ability to go and study film.

what a dirty rotten performance-enhancing cheater

he did face hardships though. Junior kept moving his comfy video chair. and the Big Unit kept replacing atbat video with video of, well, the big unit.

[Ron Madden]

Hal McCoy says he didn't vote for Roberto Alomar because he spit in that umpires face.

[OnBaseMachine]

Hal McCoy says he didn't vote for Roberto Alomar because he spit in that umpires face.

It was a horrible thing to do but it shouldn't keep him out of the Hall of Fame. IIRC, Alomar and that umpire are friends now.

[George Anderson]

Hal McCoy says he didn't vote for Roberto Alomar because he spit in that umpires face.

Hal will vote for Pete Rose but not Alomar?

What Rose did is a bunch times more worse than what Alomar did.

Babe Ruth actually attacked an umpire, I guess Hal wouldn't of voted for him either?

[OnBaseMachine]

The Hall of Fame ballot, please …
By Brian Kollars | Tuesday, December 22, 2009, 01:09 PM

Hal McCoy on the Hall of Fame:

The Hall of Fame ballot is signed, sealed and hopefully (Please, Mr. Postman) delivered.

Shortly after I mailed it, I picked up the Dayton Daily News and saw where esteemed colleague Sean McClelland had written about his ballot. You may ask why McClelland is voting on the Hall of Fame? To be a voter, one must be a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America for more than 10 years.

Before coming to Dayton, McClelland covered the Yankees and Mets for a newspaper in New Jersey and when he came to Dayton he covered some games on my days off.

But I digress.

I found it interesting that his ballot was almost identical to mine, with a couple of minor exceptions. And we never once discussed the ballot.

We agreed on voting for Barry Larkin, Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven and Lee Smith.

We differed in that he voted for Mark McGwire, Roberto Alomar and Jack Morris. I didn’t vote for those three and I voted for Edgar Martinez.

I’m already on record as to why I don’t vote for McGwire. Says McClelland, “… Because that home run total (583) is hard to ignore and every era has it scoundrels.”

I can ignore McGwire because he ignored Congress when asked about steroid use by saying, “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Well, if he isn’t willing to talk about his past, then I’m not willing to consider his past on the baseball field.

McClelland also points out that other scoundrels are in the Hall of Fame, citing racist Ty Cobb, who once went into the stands to beat up a fan. I didn’t vote for Cobb, either. No writer did. When Cobb was in the first class of Hall inductees, he wasn’t voted in by writers.

Sean (and I’m not picking on him, it’s just that he made his ballot public and made some comments) voted for relief pitcher Lee Smith, as did I. And he said Smith should have been voted in by now. To that, I heartily agree. He said Smith isn’t in yet because the electorate tends to shun relief pitchers.

The same could be said about designated hitters. Edgar Martinez is a designated hitter - and, yes, as a National League guy, I hate the DH was much as I hate pot roast, even though I eat it to keep a semblance of peace in the McCoy household because the boss makes it, cooks it and eats it.

But Martinez is, by far, the all-time best DH in the history of the game. So if he is the best ever, he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

We both voted for Blyleven and I can’t understand why he doesn’t get the 75 percent needed to induction, just as I don’t understand Andre Dawson missing every year. Blyleven was 271-231 with a 3.22 ERA, pitching mostly for gosh-awful teams. I am staging a bit of a protest myself, not voting for Jack Morris (whom Sean voted for) until Blyleven makes it.

Blylven had 262 COMPLETE GAMES and 60 SHUTOUTS. Think of that - 60 of his 271 wins were shutouts, mostly because he usually had to pitch a shutout to win.

Jack Morris was 254-186 with 175 complete games and 28 shutouts. Until Blyleven makes it, I’ll look no further at Morris.

Finally, we get to Alomar, the guy with glossy numbers but who sullied his name forever by spitting into an umpire’s face. Again, Sean points out the scoundrels already in the Hall of Fame and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Ty Cobb not only spit in an umpire’s face, but probably punched a few or at least stepped hard on their feet with his spikes.

But this is my ballot and it says character should be part of the equation. Spitting in an umpire’s face is not Hall of Fame stuff to me, except maybe The Kleenex Hall of Fame.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs...cxtype=feedbot

[Ron Madden]

Babe Ruth actually attacked an umpire, I guess Hal wouldn't of voted for him either?

I guess not.

[Eric_the_Red]

I can ignore McGwire because he ignored Congress when asked about steroid use by saying, “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Well, if he isn’t willing to talk about his past, then I’m not willing to consider his past on the baseball field.

I admire Hal, but this reasoning doesn't fly to me. What Mac did or did not tell Congress has no bearing on his on-field HOF candidacy. If he talked to Congress and admitted juicing, then he'd be a HOFer? Silly.

[chicoruiz]

I was at a social function a few years ago with a guy who happened to write for Baseball Prospectus, and he told me what he understood to be the story behind the spitting incident. It's not something I feel comfortable posting online, but let me say this: while spitting on an umpire is inexcusable, if what this guy told me is true I can understand how it could have happened.

[Ron Madden]

I would of thought we would have more than 47 voters in this poll.