Comments on The LoHud Yankees Blog: Ripken, Gwynn in Hall of Fame

RBI is an almost useless stat

2007-01-12T19:20:00.390-05:00

RBI is an almost useless stat

harold baines has the 6th most rbi's in american l...

2007-01-11T00:12:08.436-05:00

harold baines has the 6th most rbi's in american league history.
baseball reference matches him with kaline, perez, billy williams etc.
he has more career rbi's than such notables as brett, hornsby, schmidt, killebrew, sosa, dimaggio, mantle, berra and many more hof'rs.
i've never bought into the dh problem so many have. many hall members were poor fielders who in todays game would have been strictly dh's. before his injury, harold was a well above average fielder.
baines is getting the shaft and hardly anyone notices it.

Pete, I'm curious about your selection of Rice, an...

2007-01-10T21:40:14.483-05:00

Pete, I'm curious about your selection of Rice, and no selection of Murphy. In nearly ever discernable sabermetric category, Dale Murphy was a far superior player to Jim Rice, who had the luxury of playing his home games in Fenway Park (check his home/road splits).

Peter,You're right on the money about Goose and Ri...

2007-01-10T00:06:40.133-05:00

Peter,
You're right on the money about Goose and Rice deserving enshrinement as well. Maybe they get their due next season, isn't it supposed to be a relatively weak new class?

Doreen...you are absolutely right. There is a guy ...

2007-01-09T19:47:46.886-05:00

Doreen...you are absolutely right. There is a guy at my local paper who is a BBWAA member and who votes for the HOF. I get on his butt all the time because if you ever read his columns, you'd swear the guy never looked at www.baseballreference.com or opened up a baseball encyclopedia. If he ever puts stats in his column, they are wrong.

One of his votes this year went to Harold Baines. He was one of 29 who voted for Baines. Baines had nice stats, but for half his career, was strictly a DH. That will be a big question when Edgar Martinez becomes eligible (and, many years from now, David Ortiz). How much does a DH have to do to make up for the fact that he isn't playing the field?

You know what Chris? I think what's happened, iro...

2007-01-09T17:25:39.460-05:00

You know what Chris? I think what's happened, ironically in this age of so much available information, some of the people who are entrusted with these votes (not all, not all) are just too lazy to do the research. And there is no excuse, because they know who is on the HOF ballot far in advance, and they also have a pretty good idea who would be considered for MVP and Cy Young voting. Instead, votes go strictly on the numbers, and frankly, I could do that.

Thanks for your research, Gayle, I appreciate it.

Has anyone been to the HOF in Cooperstown recently? My family and I took a trip there probably 2001, because there was an exhibit on the 2000 Subway Series. It's a great place to visit; however, there's not a lot of places to stay - at least not close by. I have no idea how they accommodate all the people in town for the induction ceremonies. I guess there must be facilities farther out of town than we were.

You really do have to wonder what goes through the minds of people who don't vote for obvious HOFers, like Ripken, Gwynn, etc. Protest votes have no place here, and especially the ones that cite circumstances that occurred a long, long time ago. I've heard the argument that since Babe Ruth didn't get in unanimously that no one deserves it. But think about how some people vote--I'm sure there were a few people that Ruth rubbed the wrong way, and they didn't vote him in "in protest" for his behavior. So, it's not that he didn't get in unanimously because someone thought he didn't have the numbers; it was because someone didn't like him. Therefore, the reasoning about no one being "worthy" of a unanimous vote is patently ridiculous and predicated on absolute NONSENSE.

I no longer care about the Hall of Fame. It's a Go...

2007-01-09T16:56:50.166-05:00

I no longer care about the Hall of Fame. It's a God damn joke and unworthy of my attention or dollars.

Goose Gossage is a no-brainer and he should have been in a long time ago. Paul Ladewski is a gigantic moron. If you're going to turn in a blank ballot because of steroids, then just surrender your right to vote.

I'm reaching the same point with MVP and Cy Young, too. I don't even think these people understand baseball half the time.

Chicago writers have no brains. It must be from wa...

2007-01-09T16:41:09.676-05:00

Chicago writers have no brains. It must be from watching all those Cubs games.

Goose should get in next year.The top person comin...

2007-01-09T16:40:27.743-05:00

Goose should get in next year.

The top person coming on next year is Tim Raines. While I believe Raines is and will make the HOF, he will most likely have to wait several years.

The top person coming on in 2009 is Rickey Henderson, and he'll be a first ballot choice.

You have to be a member of the BBWAA for 10 years, and can vote for up to 10 players.

Who were the 5 knuckleheads who voted for Ripken b...

2007-01-09T16:18:51.520-05:00

Who were the 5 knuckleheads who voted for Ripken but not Gwynn???

The guys who left Gwynn and Ripken off their ballo...

2007-01-09T16:16:42.310-05:00

The guys who left Gwynn and Ripken off their ballot out of a protest to 1940 and the Cobbs of the world shouldnt have a vote.

more info from the BBWA website (which by the way ...

2007-01-09T15:57:38.070-05:00

more info from the BBWA website (which by the way almost blinded me with its hdeous green screen)

Eligible Candidates — Candidates to be eligible must meet the following requirements:

A baseball player must have been active as a player in the Major Leagues at some time during a period beginning twenty (20) years before and ending five (5) years prior to election.
Player must have played in each of ten (10) Major League championship seasons, some part of which must have been within the period described in 3 (A).
Player shall have ceased to be an active player in the Major Leagues at least five (5) calendar years preceding the election but may be otherwise connected with baseball.
In case of the death of an active player or a player who has been retired for less than five (5) full years, a candidate who is otherwise eligible shall be eligible in the next regular election held at least six (6) months after the date of death or after the end of the five (5) year period, whichever occurs first.
Any player on Baseball's ineligible list shall not be an eligible candidate

Doreen - Yes he said both won't vote for anyone fr...

2007-01-09T15:43:28.560-05:00

Doreen - Yes he said both won't vote for anyone from the steroid era until he has more information and never votes for anyone the first time on the ballot.

My understanding is that all that is required is that 5 years after your service has ended you can appear. What I do not know is if you ahve to have a certain amount of service ie if you played just 1 year then retired can you be on the abllot 5 years later.

Gayle, yesterday it was reported that that Chicago...

2007-01-09T15:35:15.086-05:00

Gayle, yesterday it was reported that that Chicago reporter said he would not vote for anyone to go into the Hall of Fame who played during the steroid era. IMO, just a guy looking for his 15 seconds of notoriety.

It looks good for Gossage for next year; but I don't understand the reasoning that I've heard that if first-time ballot-ers get in it means the writers will be less likely to vote for players who've been up for it before. If a player deserves to be in, he deserves to be in, period. But I guess this all makes for good debate and conversation, anyway.

I guess Scott Brosius won't be on the ballot again, which begs the question, what are the qualifications to get on the ballot in the first place? Is it merely that you must be retired for "x" years, or is there a statistical requirement as well?

So, congratulations to Cal, Jr. and Tony Gwynn

Thanks Turn2.

2007-01-09T15:34:17.426-05:00

Thanks Turn2.

jrvj: I've been a member of the BBWAA since 2001, ...

2007-01-09T15:31:32.986-05:00

jrvj: I've been a member of the BBWAA since 2001, so this will be my seventh season. You need 10 years of membership to vote.

I used to cover college basketball before I switched over to baseball

I wonder if Mattingly's votes go down each year. I...

2007-01-09T15:29:20.710-05:00

I wonder if Mattingly's votes go down each year. I hope not :(

IMO, i think the way that some writers leave off c...

2007-01-09T15:20:36.416-05:00

IMO, i think the way that some writers leave off certain players who were not media friendly from their ballots, i think some writers prob also put on players like O'Neill, or Dante Bichette, or whoever (i just use their names as examples), because of their general attitude of being media friendly, or even remember that one player signing an autograph for their kid or something like that.

and each voter i think can have up to 10 players on their ballot per year.

How many players can each voter put on a ballot?

2007-01-09T15:18:43.763-05:00

How many players can each voter put on a ballot?

About the 8 people who didnt vote for Ripken or Gw...

2007-01-09T15:13:52.423-05:00

About the 8 people who didnt vote for Ripken or Gwynn one of them was this guy Paul Lewdiski from the Daily SOuthtown (those CHicago writers really do beat to their own drum). His reasoning was that he feels that no one deserves to be voted in on the first ballot because the founding father of the Hall of Fame didnt vote the original calss in. He has been on a couple of talk shows and he just makes no sense.

I would be more initerested to know who the 12 who voted for Paul O'Neilwere. Not that Yankees fans dont love Paul but Hall of Fame, I do not think so.

Pete,When will you have a vote? (I think I've read...

2007-01-09T15:05:53.140-05:00

Pete,

When will you have a vote? (I think I've read that a writer needs to cover MLB for 10 years for a newspaper, so please elaborate if you can).