Hall of Fame

Later today the voting results for Baseball’s Hall of Fame are announced. Rather than be like most brain dead talking heads and wait until the results are announced to complain, I will complain in advance of how the voting should go.

Every year we have to watch as professional sportswriters get to flex their muscle and ego by deciding who is worthy and who isn’t worthy of Hall of Fame enshrinement. I swear most of these idiots use their ballot as a shout out to a personal favorite, childhood hero or a player that gave good interviews. How else do you explain that in 2010 David Segui received a vote for the Hall? Ray Lankford dominated Segui in every statistical category except batting average, but he didn’t garner even one vote.

This year is interesting because we enter the MAJOR Steroid Decision Era. Mark McGwire has been eligble for five years, but this year we have a lot of names that have been linked (either officially or unofficially) with the use of steroids. Jeff Bagwell, Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmiero, Benito Santiago. Additionally Edgar Martinez is back on the ballot (second year of eligibility). The argument against him has been “Do Designated Hitters belong in the Hall?” Martinez was primarily a DH for nine of his eighteen seasons.

If you subscribe to the theory that a player is Hall Worthy if he was a dominant player at his position, then if you believe the Martinez was dominant as a DH, he’s in. As long as DH is a legal position on a baseball team, that position has to be considered for election. It’s like the argument in football that punters should never be elected. Ray Guy was THE PUNTER of his and everyone’s generation. He changed the game by winning field position battles. He is deserving of enshrinement. The fact that he was a punter doesn’t matter. If he shouldn’t be considered then football should have a rule that on fourth down the offensive team is not allowed to punt or kick the ball, they have to go for a first down or touchdown. As long as punters are necessary players in the game, that position should be open for election.

The challenge for many of us in our arguments with each other as to who should be in and who shouldn’t is technology. Nowadays the guys up for election are guys that we watched during our young adulthood. With the Internet, ESPN, MLB Channel, etc. we are able to see all their errors and strikeouts in addition to their homeruns and gravity defying catches. These guys are more human to us than Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

Additionally, with no clear cut criteria as to what makes a player electable, it makes for greater and more illogical arguments. There seems to be the standard that if a player hits 500 homeruns or a pitcher wins 300 games, they are automatically in. But if a pitcher takes 23 years to win 300 games, that somehow lessens their attraction. But it could also speak volumes that they were good enough to stick around 23 years.

For what it’s worth, here’s my ballot.

Bert Blyleven – 278 Wins, 3700 Strikeouts, 3.31 ERA, 1.198 WHIP, averaged over seven innings per start;
Lee Smith – 478 Saves, at one point the All-Time Saves Leader
Roberto Alomar – begrudgingly, still can’t stand him for spitting on an umpire but he was the gold standard for second basemen
Tim Raines – the most feared leadoff hitter this side of Rickey Henderson. 808 stolen bases, .294 batting average, .385 OBP.

I don’t have a perfect system for saying yes or no, but anyone who moved the playing field to their advantage unfairly I say no. So if someone used steroids, they’re out. It may not have been illegal by baseball rules, but it moved the balance of the competition to their favor. More importantly, while a batter using steroids may have been facing a pitcher using steroids, the simple use of the drugs screwed with the history of the game. So while Palmiero may have faced Clemens, the stats Palmiero accrued (and Clemens for that matter) indirectly affected the career numbers of Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Walter Johnson and Sandy Koufax.