Hall of Fame Ballot

[catman]

15 new players join 11 holdovers on this year's ballot. Here is a story:
Alomar, Martinez among 26 on MLB Hall ballot - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN

[Nate]

I don't think it should take Alomar too long to reach the hall. As far as Martinez, it should be interesting to see how he fares in the voting since he spent so much time as a DH. It might give me a better idea as to Frank Thomas' chances when he finally shows up on the ballot. I'd also like to see Andre Dawson finally make it. He was one of my favorite players growing up.

[doublee]

Alomar should get it. He is arguably the best defensive second baseman of all-time and is a career .300 hitter.

Larkin will probably get in but I do not know if he gets in on the first ballot.

If Martinez does get in it will take some time because some voters will not vote for him specifically because the bulk of his career was spent as a DH and it is somewhat debatable whether his numbers at the plate are HOF-worthy.

[catman]

Andre Dawson is the only player that will be going into the Hall this year. He just made the cut with 420 votes (405 were needed this year). Bert Blyleven missed the cut by 5 votes and Robby Alomar missed by 8. They were the only players over 70% and both should make it next season.
Here is a story: Dawson earns long-awaited Hall call | MLB.com: News

[catman]

By the way, Doug Harvey (umpire) and Whitey Herzog will also join the class of 2010.

[doublee]

Not sure I understand why Alomar is not going in. He is in the discussion for best ever at his position.

[catman]

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with his multiple teams and the spitting incident.

[Marc]

Look for an HOF piece on SC in the next week or two.

What do you all think about allowing players to get into the Hall after failing to get in when first eligible? I heard one talking head say if they aren't good enough to get in right away, they don't belong in. How exclusive should the Hall be?

[catman]

I don't have any problem with players being elected after several tries. Harmon Killebrew waited until his 3rd year on the ballot to be enshrined and I don't think anyone doubts that he belongs there.

[doublee]

It is just their way of "ranking" inductees. The true greats get in on the first try and so on. I still say Alomar's numbers warrant him being first ballot though.

[bachslunch]

Am not in favor of the "get in first try or you don't belong" arguments. The HoF historically isn't anywhere near that exclusive, plus non-trendy deserving guys like Bert Blyleven would go in the dumpster fast -- some folks need time to have their HoF worth appreciated by enough voters, sorry to say. Bad enough that "one and done" happened to folks like Lou Whitaker and Ted Simmons, and guys like Dwight Evans disappeared fast.

Glad to see Blyleven get this close if he wasn't going to make it. No player has gotten this close and not been elected. Am thinking he and Alomar are in next year, and rightly so.

It's also nice that Barry Larkin made such a good showing on his first try, and that Fred McGriff and Edgar Martinez apparently got a comfortable enough number of votes to stay on the ballot for a while. Plus it looks like Tim Raines is inching up instead of spinning backwards --again, a good thing.

[doublee]

Larkin will probably get in next year. My sense is he did not get in this time around because Ozzie and Ripken were considered the two best at the position for that generation and a lot of folks see Larkin as being a notch below them.