2015 Baseball Hall of Fame elections

JosMin

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The announcement of immortality will come for some later this afternoon at 2PM. If your vote counted, who would you be inducting today for the Hall?

My ballot:

Randy Johnson
Pedro Martinez
Craig Biggio
John Smoltz
Tim Raines
Jeff Bagwell
Mike Piazza
Roger Clemens
Barry Bonds
Curt Schilling

Guys who I left off but feel are deserving of strong consideration. Again, the ballot limit is 10 inductees.

Gary Sheffield
Mike Mussina
Edgar Martinez
Jeff Kent
 

brett05

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First there are some guys I vote in as they should already be in:

Tim Raines
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell

Then I considered the newest batch and elected:
Randy Johnson
John Smoltz

(Pedro gets left off for two reasons. 1) Deep Ballot 2) His unsportsmanlike character to Don Zimmer means you wait a year.)

Then the returnees:
Craig Biggio
Jeff Bagwell
Jeff Kent
Curt Schilling

Finally with only one vote left I considered those that have PED suspicion. so I went with the oldest still eligible and elected:
Mark McGwire

The truth is the ballot is very, very deep and there sure be more that get in. I'd have Clemens, Bonds, Sosa, Walker in there as well.
 

SilenceS

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Pedro probably had the most dominant 6 year stretch of pitching all time. He did it smack dab in the middle of the PED's epidemic. He was first ballot without a doubt.
 

JosMin

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Pedro probably had the most dominant 6 year stretch of pitching all time. He did it smack dab in the middle of the PED's epidemic. He was first ballot without a doubt.

Pedro only getting on 91.1 % of the ballots should be considered a war crime. An absolute embarrassment.
 

brett05

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Pedro only getting on 91.1 % of the ballots should be considered a war crime. An absolute embarrassment.

I'm ok with it. Player conduct is one of the requirements. What he did to Zim would make me keep him off for one year.
 

The Bandit

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Tim Raines, Mike Piazza, Bagwell, Bonds, Clemens, Mussina, Trammel, E. Martinez, Kent and Smith all should be voted in as well, however, it's a travesty that Clemens, Piazza and Bonds continue to be neglected.
 

SilenceS

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Bonds should be in. He was a top 15 players of all time before Roids. The dude was a baseball God!
 

TL1961

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Lee Smith has no business in the hall of fame, IMO.

The Hall has become, for many, a reward for staying healthy and accumulating stats.

He was a good closer who pitched a long time. But at no time was he a shut down closer who you knew would get the save. He was durable, and accumulated a lot of saves. But he was nowhere near the caliber of the closers in the HOF.
 

The Bandit

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My ballot according to the rules would've been:
RJ
Biggio
Pedro
Smoltz
Piazza
Bonds
Clemens
Raines
Bagwell
and either Smith or Trammel
 

TL1961

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Watching baseball guys discuss the HOF, it seems to me there are so many who want every player to get in. But I admit this year's ballot had a lot of guys who should at least get serious consideration.

Congrats to the 4 who were elected. (I cringe at Biggio as HOF'er, but will relent)

It is odd how some guys are almost slam dunks and other, very comparable players barely get any consideration. Biggio just missed 1st ballot election, and got in easily this year, yet Jeff Kent never gets close and Kent was every bit as good as Biggio.

It seems that teams look for five tool players when drafting, but one tool players get the love when the Hall comes calling over more well rounded players who didn't excel as much at one thing. Alan Trammel can't get a sniff, but Ozzie Smith was damn near unanimous, for example.

I hate to say it, but I am glad to see Mattingly fall off so I can stop hearing about how he should get in. But I have already heard Rosenthal say he was glad to see Nomar get enough to stay on the ballot. Is he saying Nomar is a HOF'er? If not, why the joy at seeing him stay on? Next year, Rosenthal will be whining agin about too many players and he can only vote for 10.

I just think if there are more than ten in one single year that a writer feels should be in, the Hall is not elite enough.
 

2323

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What's sad is how this time every year no longer belongs exclusively to the players that make it in. Instead we get a bunch of conflicting crap that's about the voters. Either they see themselves as guardians of the sport (please!) or they're mysteriously anonymous so the presumption is they're not even watching.

And some of these votes are dubious to be sure. One of the best things to ever happen was what Lebatard did last year. It's kind of sad a fan vote is a lot better than ballots from unscrutinized voters who are flying below radar.

Let's face it, any collective body that puts Phil Rizzuto into the HOF has no leg to stand on when they claim what they're doing has any virtue.
 

TL1961

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I am sick and tired of the writers who feel like PED's should have no bearing. Tim Kurkjian for example, used to cry that "We'll have an entire era with nobody elected." But after ONE year of nobody elected, 7 went in the following 2 years without any of the obvious PED users.

I agree with Costas who uses the PED use determining authenticity of stats vs. simple morality. As much as I dislike both Bonds and Clemens handling of the PED issue - they are both complete assholes trying to defend themselves, and are two of the least likable athletes I have ever seen - I do agree that both were HOF worthy prior to the time period they most likely started using PED's.

As opposed to McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, et al. We simply don't know that they could have done well enough without PED's to be HOF'ers.

And I can't understand the Kurkjians of teh world who feel like "So what? Put them in anyway or else we don't have enough." How is it fair to a Fred McGriff or Edgar Martinez who are borderline (I think both come up short), that the users get in and they don't? Who's to say palmeiro was better than them? So I am glad to see the PED boys still on the outside.

Some voters have said if a guy is a known PED user they'll never vote for them no matter what. While I think Bonds and Clemens were still good enough, I can't argue that stance either.

As Costas said today "We're not suspending a guy or taking away his livelihood on suspicion. We're withholding an honor." I am okay with that.
 

TL1961

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What's sad is how this time every year no longer belongs exclusively to the players that make it in. Instead we get a bunch of conflicting crap that's about the voters. Either they see themselves as guardians of the sport (please!) or they're mysteriously anonymous so the presumption is they're not even watching.

Brian Kenny on MLB wants to totally revamp the process because he doesn't like the results.

The process isn't perfect, but for the most part it has preserved the hall as a place for truly elite players. I can argue against some, but for the most part, guys who are in were truly elite. My personal beef is Don Sutton. He won 20 once? At no time when the Dodgers came to town did I ever hope the Cubs wouldn't have to face Sutton. He was just a guy. And when you add to that the fact that he cheated by scuffing the ball? Yeah, he's my first guy out if I could. But all in all, they have done a good job.
 

2323

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Brian Kenny on MLB wants to totally revamp the process because he doesn't like the results.

The process isn't perfect, but for the most part it has preserved the hall as a place for truly elite players. I can argue against some, but for the most part, guys who are in were truly elite. My personal beef is Don Sutton. He won 20 once? At no time when the Dodgers came to town did I ever hope the Cubs wouldn't have to face Sutton. He was just a guy. And when you add to that the fact that he cheated by scuffing the ball? Yeah, he's my first guy out if I could. But all in all, they have done a good job.


Phil Rizzuto. Go look up his numbers and try telling me he's elite.

And who is Brian Kenney? Wasn't his thing boxing when he was at ESPN? Now he's suddenly a baseball stats expert?
 

TL1961

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Pedro only getting on 91.1 % of the ballots should be considered a war crime. An absolute embarrassment.

As they were saying on MLB, it's not necessarily voters not wanting to vote for him or withholding a vote to keep his % down. There are some who look at the ballot, see more than 10 guys they feel should get a vote, and withhold from the guys they are sure will get in without their vote.

It STILL sucks, though. 91%? He was a slam dunk.
 

TL1961

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Phil Rizzuto. Go look up his numbers and try telling me he's elite.

And who is Brian Kenney? Wasn't his thing boxing when he was at ESPN? Now he's suddenly a baseball stats expert?

Well, that IS actually my number one undeserved, but he was an old-timer election, wasn't he? Sutton got in on the legit vote.

He is one of those guys who gets in because "he played on 10 WS winners". Yeah, because of the ACTUAL HOF'ers on his team!!!
 

brett05

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With Santo In Dick Allen should be in. Contemporary who is better
 

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