Hall of Fame

Given that this is supposed to be a mainly Warhammer related blog, I've not really written a Warhammer related post yet! I'm afraid that this is going to continue for one more post, as I feel that I have to write something baseball related. If you're not interested in this, then fair play and I promise that I'll write something about Warhammer next!

If you're sticking with me though, this post will be about the Baseball Hall of Fame. The announcement of who has been elected into the HOF is today, and for baseball people this is a big thing. For those that don't know that much about the Hall, here is a brief run down of the important points:


1) A player is eligible for election to the Hall of Fame if they played in the Major Leagues for at least 10 years, and have been retired for at least 5 years.

2) The votes are cast by members of the Baseball Writers of America Association who have been members for at least 10 years. They are each allowed to vote for up to 10 eligible players.

3) A player is elected if he receives at least 75% of the vote. If he receives at least 5% of the vote and is not elected, then he stays on the ballot for the following year. Players are allowed to stay on the ballot for up to 15 years.


Now that is out of the way, I can start talking about this year's election. No one was elected to the Hall last year, which has led to the ballot becoming stuffed with people who I feel should be elected. It makes the announcement today one that has extra importance - not just for who is elected, but who fails to reach that 5%. Given that this ballot is massively loaded with talent, and the Writers are only allowed 10 votes, there is a possibility that some players will not reach the minimum level of support that deserve to be in the Hall. This issue is going to get worse over the next few years as more Hall worthy players become eligible for election.

Beyond this, there are some truly great players on this ballot. Some of them have a cloud of suspicion surrounding them regarding PEDs, and this is a big part of baseball during the 90's and early 2000's. Unfortunately baseball at that time did not have a comprehensive testing regimen, so there is often no proof whatsoever that these players took PEDs, but the suspicion seems to be enough for some of the Writers to exclude these players from the Hall of Fame.

The Writers on the staff of mlb.com in the last few years have had their ballots published with a little bit of detail surrounding them on the day before the announcement to add a little bit of build-up to the announcement. Yesterday was no exception, and the ballots can be seen here. There was one Writer though whose opinion shocked me to the core. Ken Gurnick, beat writer for the Dodgers, has said on record that he will not vote for anyone from the supposed PED era. Even players that have never had any suspicion of PED use throughout their careers. This amazes me - I have no idea how someone who follows the game so closely, and who makes his living writing about it - can eliminate an entire generation from consideration for the highest accolade the sport can bestow. It boggles my mind!

Quite apart from this, he has not voted for Greg Maddux. There has never been a unanimous vote for election, and there was thought that Maddux might have a chance to change this. He is obviously a Hall of Famer, from whatever criteria you choose to use, be it pure stats, the effect he had on his era, or anything else. He won 355 games in his career, 4 Cy Young awards (given annually to the best pitcher in his league), 18 Gold Gloves for being the best fielding pitcher of the year (including an amazing 11 consecutively) and had many more unbelievable achievements in his career. Gurnick though has ruined this, as he felt that as Maddux pitched in the "PED era" he must be excluded. Maddux still might get the highest ever percentage of the vate, and that would be a massive achievement. However, the reason that Gurnick has given for excluding Maddux from his ballot is just rubbish. Given that he voted for Jack Morris, I don't actually understand what he feels the PED era is. Morris pitched against Mark McGwire multiple times, and McGwire has actually admitted to taking PEDs, surely Morris pitched in the same era that Gurnick is supposed to be eschewing?

In finishing this rant, as it has become, I will try and play Devil's Advocate a bit. I can understand if a Writer has a reason for not voting for someone. I can understand the hesitance to vote for the players who were suspected of using PEDs, even if that includes someone like Barry Bonds (the All Time Home Run leader), as it is a factor that has to be taken in to account. I can even understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But to exclude someone like Glavine yet vote for Morris WITH THAT REASON, is just crazy.


Out of interest, my own personal ballot would read as follows:
Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Tom Glavine
Greg Maddux
Jack Morris
Mike Piazza
Curt Schilling
Lee Smith

I would also add the below to the list as Hall of Famers, but with the crowded nature of the ballot I would not elect them this year:
Jeff Kent
Edgar Martinez
Mike Mussina
Tim Raines
Frank Thomas


No matter who gets in, I'm looking forward to finding out!



EDIT:
I finished the above before the announcement was made, but held off posting it until I knew the outcome!

The following players were actually elected to the Hall of Fame this year:
Greg Maddux - 97.2%
Tom Glavine - 91.9%
Frank Thomas - 83.7%

Craig Biggio missed out by 0.2%! Jack Morris, in his final year on the ballot, gained 61.5% and misses out. Thankfully, the only major name to drop off the ballot completely was Rafael Palmeiro, who only appeared on 4.4% of the ballots.