SB Nation Reveals Baseball Hall of Fame Ballots
by Randy Booth on Jan 4, 2010 2:00 PM EST
in SBNation Awards
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PrintJust like us bloggers did for the end-of-the-year baseball awards, the baseball community leaders voted for the baseball Hall of Fame as well -- a first for the network. Here are the results:
| Player | % Vote | Total Votes |
| Bert Blyleven | 92.3% | 48 |
| Roberto Alomar | 73.1% | 38 |
| Barry Larkin | 63.5% | 33 |
| Tim Raines | 53.8% | 28 |
| Mark McGwire | 51.9% | 27 |
| Edgar Martinez | 48.1% | 25 |
| Alan Trammell | 40.4% | 21 |
| Andre Dawson | 32.7% | 17 |
| Lee Smith | 26.9% | 14 |
| Fred McGriff | 25.0% | 13 |
| Dale Murphy | 17.3% | 9 |
| Jack Morris | 13.5% | 7 |
| Don Mattingly | 11.5% | 6 |
| Harold Baines | 7.7% | 4 |
| Dave Parker | 3.8% | 2 |
| Kevin Appier | 3.8% | 2 |
| Ellis Burks | 1.9% | 1 |
| Ray Lankford | 1.9% | 1 |
| Shane Reynolds | 1.9% | 1 |
| Not receiving votes: Andres Galarraga, Pat Hentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, David Segui, Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile | ||
For more reaction the results, click the "read more" link below.
First, I didn't expect Bert Blyleven to receive that many votes. That was a surprise to me. Then again, he's sort of the guy that bloggers seem to have been rooting for for years now. Perhaps this year really will be his year.
Second, I figured there would be at least one more named inducted. I thought Roberto Alomar would have been a definite. Players need to receive 75 percent of the votes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame -- Alomar was short just one vote from earning the 75 percent here.
You may have come to the conclusion which OTM ballot was mine on the list from above, but here is how I voted, with no significance on which vote was for whom:
- Roberto Alomar
- Jack Morris
- Fred McGriff
- Edgar Martinez
- Bert Blyleven
Should we go one by one?
Alomar - Like I said before, I thought he was a given. Alomar, as an all-around second baseman, was one of the best baseball has seen. I give him a little more credit since he was a second baseman; it may be easier to go to the Hall in a sexier position. Still, I think he'll make it in at some point.
Morris - I have a weird "thing" for Morris. Some of his great moments have stuck in my brain and maybe made my knees weak. He got my vote and I won't regret it. Bash me if you wish.
McGriff - McGriff is borderline, but he received my vote for being the slugger that he was for so long. With that said, I don't know if he'll get much love in the real voting, but he's got a shot. Four of his 10 "comparable players" according to Baseball-Reference.com are Hall of Famers: Willie McCovey (ranked 1st), Willie Stargell (2nd), Billy Williams (6th) and Eddie Mathews (10th).
Martinez - Designated hitter or not, Martinez was a slugger. If I had to choose one over the other, I'd take Martinez over McGriff. His numbers speak for themselves (including a lifetime .933 OPS), but he was a hitter that no pitcher would want to face in a crucial situation. Once again, I'm not sure he'll make it to the 75 percent.
Blyleven - Perhaps this will be the year Bert finally breaks through...
If I had a chance to vote again, I'd keep all these players but add another: Tim Raines. I read some things regarding Raines recently that really opened my eyes to how great Raines really was. Even with that vote, Raines would have needed 10 more to crack the 75 percent marker.
I won't mention who the other OTM voter was -- perhaps he will want to make himself known, but I'll let him do that if that is the case. You may be able to guess who it was, but I didn't necessarily have to choose an editor, either.
What's your opinion, OTM Faithful? Where did SBN get it right and wrong?
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Bert for the hall!
and Mcgwire too. He may have cheated, but of all the cheaters, few came close to those numbers.
Building Fenway from the ground up - Virtual Fenway
So
Because MM was a GOOD cheater, he should be in the HoF?
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Gaylord Perry
was a good cheater and he IS in the hall. PED’s, spit ball, what is the difference?
Yep
Mark was caught with andro a legal sub in his locker and admitted it… he stated that the past was the past also… he did no more than anyone else in the PED era and shouldn’t be penalized for being the biggest name in the game when the PED’s era became known… His numbers are his just as Rogers Clemens are his and Barry’s are Barry’s and during the cross top, black beauty and the greenies era Hanks numbers were Hanks…
So what it is all a part of the past in baseball which is suspect anymore.
Let's look at the numbers
Alex Sanchez career: .296/ .330/.372/.702
Mark Mcgwire career: .263/.394 /.588/.982
My point is, a ridiculous number of players took steroids in the 90s/00s, and Mcgwire put all of them but Bonds to shame. It’s impossible to determine specifically who did and who did not cheat, so we can only go by the numbers they put up. Mcgwire was dominant, and would’ve been dominant regardless of what was injected.
Building Fenway from the ground up - Virtual Fenway
Steroid use is and was both unethical and illegal.
I think people who used – especially those who don’t admit to it despite an abundance of evidence – will have their HOF chances lowered.
"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.
Agreed
If they have been linked and/or found guilty - in whatever way - I won’t vote for them.
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That's a weird formatting thing there...
Ignore the strikethrough.
SB Nation's Boston Red Sox community:
OverTheMonster.com
Follow Randy on Twitter: @RCBooth
There is no way to know who did and did not cheat
And so it shouldn’t matter if some law intern leaked a name to the media. Judge them on the numbers, plain and simple. This moralizing is ridiculous.
Building Fenway from the ground up - Virtual Fenway
Steroids aren't illegal...
They can be excellent medications for certain medical problems. They are illegal for healthy players who go doctor shopping to get a prescription, or try to hide their deceptions….
There are plenty of synthetic opiods like fentanyl which have some medical benefits for those in chronic pain, or at the end stages of their life, they also can easily be abused, and their illicit demands are huge.
The key is that a player taking a PED for a medical problem is out in the open and medically supervise, and the doctor can get approval if no other drug can be substituted, much like how IOC deals with athletes that have medical problems like asthma…
McGwire shouldn't be in the hall right now...
I sort of put him in the same purgatory as Roger Clemens, with McGwire having a number waiting to be served a couple notches ahead of Clemens. McGwire along with Clemens need to a decade or two in purgatory before going into the HOF) I don’t know if this is McGwire’s first ballot, but first ballot inductees, should be players like Jeter, Rivera, Maddux, Randy Johnson etc. (yeah, yeah I know, I am sounding like a MFY ignorant slut, but Jeter and Rivera should be in the HOF if they retired tomorrow) Manny would had been a first ballot HOF inductee if he didn’t take fertility pills to show his feminine side)
I am still waiting for Urban Shocker to get inducted to the Hall of Fame. He is my favorite non Hall of Fame Pitcher.. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Carl Mays, Pete Rose will never be inducted
Gaylord Perry was a good propagandist
Why Perry was always blabbing about the spitball, was to keep batters on their toes, and asked the question, “is he throwing spitter this time or not?” Perry wouldn’t survive as long as he did in the Majors, if he was only throwing spitters. Perry was more of a deceptive pitcher to put it lightly, with his movements on the mound and wind up. Perry wouldn’t last so many years if he wasn’t a smart pitcher.
The problem of throwing cut balls and spitters, is control. The pitcher may get the batter to swing if the spitter ball drops, but It is really difficult for a pitcher to throw strike after strike if the ball is doctored differently, no matter how slightly.
The difference between doctored balls like a spitball and PEDs. the MLB front office was complicit in use of PEDs, it is more of an endemic problem..
One thing that won’t be eradicated in baseball is cheating, which is part of the game, from stealing signs, vaseline and pine tar for breaking ball pitchers to cork bats
Shocking
In my personal opinion, Roberto Alomar should be in a shoo-in. I expected Alomar to be in the 90% range, and Blyleven to just crack the 75% range. Maybe voters just got tired of deciding to vote for him year after year.
I was also pretty surprised and disappointed and the unusually low (again, personal opinion) voting tallies for Andre Dawson, Fred McGriff, and Don Mattingly.
I think playoff performance is important
The Hawk,and Mattingly weren’t on most of the time great clubs, and no matter their numbers, they are sort of will looked down upon. McGriff’s Braves performance will help him get into the HOF, he has probably enough home runs to get voted in one of these days..
Perry was a good propagandist...
Why Perry was always blabbing about the spitball, was to keep batters on their toes, and asked the question, “is he throwing spitter this time or not?” Perry wouldn’t survive as long as he did in the Majors, if he was only throwing spitters. Perry was more of a deceptive pitcher to put it lightly, with his movements on the mound and wind up. Perry wouldn’t last so many years if he wasn’t a smart pitcher.
The problem of throwing cut balls and spitters, is control. The pitcher may get the batter to swing if the spitter ball drops, but It is really difficult for a pitcher to throw strike after strike if the ball is doctored differently, no matter how slightly.
The difference between doctored balls like a spitball and PEDs. the MLB front office was complicit in use of PEDs, it is more of an endemic problem..
One thing that won’t be eradicated in baseball is cheating, which is part of the game, from stealing signs, vaseline and pine tar for breaking ball pitchers to cork bats
Edgar
was / is one of my fav players of all time. I absolutely loved watching this guy hit. He was a truely professional craftsman at the art of hitting a baseball. And unlike Tony Gwynn, he incorporated power into his game.
The guy hit line drive doubles that were just pure rockets. And he was sooo consistent.
If only the stupid Mariners hadn’t left him in the minors for so long (behind Jim Presley and Darnell Coles!!!!!!). Ugh. He started his MLB career too late to put up the kind of numbers which would have locked him in to the HoF. He didn’t get full-time MLB time until age 27!
The result is only 309 HRs & 2200 Hits. Won’t get it done. Especially as a DH.
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