2010 hall of fame class is...

[dfs]

Andre Dawson....That's it.

Name 	Votes 	Pct.
Andre Dawson 	420 	77.9%
Bert Blyleven 	400 	74.2%
Roberto Alomar 	397 	73.7%
Jack Morris 	282 	52.3%
Barry Larkin 	278 	51.6%
Lee Smith 	255 	47.3%
Edgar Martinez 	195 	36.2%
Tim Raines 	164 	30.4%
Mark McGwire 	128 	23.7%
Alan Trammell 	121 	22.4%
Fred McGriff 	116 	21.5%
Don Mattingly 	87 	16.1%
Dave Parker 	82 	15.2%
Dale Murphy 	63 	11.7%
Harold Baines 	33 	6.1%
Andres Galarraga 	22 	4.1%
Robin Ventura 	7 	1.3%
Ellis Burks 	2 	0.4%
Eric Karros 	2 	0.4%
Kevin Appier 	1 	0.2%
Pat Hentgen 	1 	0.2%
David Segui 	1 	0.2%
Mike Jackson 	0 	0.0%
Ray Lankford 	0 	0.0%
Shane Reynolds 	0 	0.0%
Todd Zeile 	0 	0.0%

[Caveat Emperor]

Can't say that I'm surprised -- despite being a seemingly no-brainer case, Larkin wasn't generating a ton of HOF buzz leading up to the voting.

Might be a long wait for Larkin, if he ever ends up making it.

[redsfandan]

Can't say that I'm surprised -- despite being a seemingly no-brainer case, Larkin wasn't generating a ton of HOF buzz leading up to the voting.

Might be a long wait for Larkin, if he ever ends up making it.

C'mon, he'll make it.

[Handofdeath]

The next two years are VERY weak as far as first timers on the ballot. Blyleven and Alomar will make it next year and probably Morris and Larkin the year after.

[icehole3]

about what I had figured, Barry wasnt 1st year worthy, I think it'll take him a few years to get in.

[Strikes Out Looking]

5 voters left the ballots blank.

[Handofdeath]

The next two years are VERY weak as far as first timers on the ballot. Blyleven and Alomar will make it next year and probably Morris and Larkin the year after.

But I still think Larkin was better than Alomar.

[Caveat Emperor]

C'mon, he'll make it.

I'm fairly confident -- probably by around 2012-2013 is when I'm guessing he'll pick up the required votes.

But, it's entirely possible that he holds flat as well.

[Guacarock]

5 voters left the ballots blank.

And they call themselves sportswriters! Probably their mothers do as well!

[kaldaniels]

I think the weak class coming up in 2011 opens the door for David Segui.

[redsmetz]

From the NY Times. A few good points in the article about voting trends and players' subsequent chances of making the Hall. Note that Blyleven only received 18% of the vote his first time.

Andre Dawson, whose combination of power and speed is almost unmatched in baseball history, was elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday with 77.9 percent of the vote.

It was Dawson’s ninth time on the ballot, and he received 420 votes from 10-year members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Players needed 75 percent — 405 votes — to be elected.

Bert Blyleven, the 287-game winner who ranks fifth in career strikeouts, received 400 votes (74.2 percent) to move to the doorstep of Cooperstown in his 13th year on the ballot. He has two more tries to make it through the writers’ association.

Roberto Alomar, the 12-time All-Star second baseman, also just missed. Alomar has 397 votes (73.7 percent) in his first time on the ballot. Jack Morris was next (52.3 percent), followed by Barry Larkin (51.6 percent), Lee Smith (47.3 percent), Edgar Martinez (36.2 percent) and Tim Raines (30.4 percent).

Mark McGwire, whose 583 career homers are obscured by his role in the steroids scandal, got 23.7 percent, failing to clear 25 percent for the fourth year in a row.

Dawson is one of only three players to exceed 400 homers and 300 stolen bases (the others are Barry Bonds and Willie Mays), and he won eight Gold Gloves and a Most Valuable Player award for the Chicago Cubs in 1987.

Though his on-base percentage was just .323, Dawson was all but guaranteed to get in at some point, after receiving 67 percent of the vote last year. No player who received that much has failed to be elected eventually.

That is good news for Blyleven, who has experienced a remarkable surge in support from his debut on the ballot in 1998, when he received just 18 percent of the vote. That figure dipped to 14 percent the next season.

Yet by 2006, Blyleven had more than half the vote, and last year he crept to 63 percent. Only one player, Gil Hodges, got a greater percentage than Blyleven without eventually making it to Cooperstown.

Statistically minded writers, in particular, have taken up Blyleven’s cause, pointing not only to his 3,701 strikeouts and 60 shutouts but also to his bad luck. Blyleven lost 18 games in which he allowed one or no earned runs, and won just four times while allowing at least five earned runs.

Among players appearing on the ballot for the first time, only Alomar, Larkin, Martinez and Fred McGriff (21.5 percent) will appear on future writers’ ballots. Eleven others failed to receive the 5 percent needed to remain on the ballot.

[Unassisted]

Although I would have been amazed to see him make it on the first ballot, I'm kind of surprised at the narrow-majority level of support for Larkin. With his position at the MLB Network, he'll have the opportunity to do some schmoozing of the sportswriters.

[jojo]

I think this vote basically indicates that Larkin is a safe bet to get in....

[RBA]

If a person is HOF worthy why vote him in later rathter than sooner? I don't understand the rationale of waiting to vote people in.

[Johnny Footstool]

If a person is HOF worthy why vote him in later rathter than sooner? I don't understand the rationale of waiting to vote people in.

The writers need to feel like they control the HOF, so they make some players wait longer than others in order to impose some kind of imaginary stratification in the HOF ranks.