The Voters Got Me Down

I didn't do a "My Hall of Fame Ballot" post this year. I started it a couple times, but never did it. I just wasn't feeling it this year. Mostly, I think, because I didn't really see a candidate that jumped out at me. There was no Ken Griffey or Pedro Martinez that I could automatically put in the Hall. And, my motto usually is, "If you have to think about it, they're not a Hall of Famer."

But, now that the results are in, what do I think of them? I know I'm even a little late to go over this, but here are my brief thoughts.

I've mentioned Tim Raines before. I assumed he should be in the Hall of Fame. But, he was outside my years of solid fandom, so I was willing to defer to people who really saw him play in his prime to say he he wasn't good enough. I guess they changed their mind. So, I really can't complain.

For a long time it seemed obvious that Ivan Rodriguez would be in the Hall of Fame. The most dominant catcher of his era. But, he really dropped off there towards the end, and his journeyman status really soured him a bit in my eyes. Especially since his drop happened to line up with other interesting baseball events. I suppose I would have voted for him, but it would have taken more thought than I would have liked.

Bagwell I'm surprised got in. I'm not really sure why it took Jim Rice so long to get in, but Bagwell took about 1/3 of the time, despite the hint of PED surrounding him. (Admittedly, I have no idea where that hint came from but it was there to, I assume, cut him at least a couple votes short.) I've said before that Bagwell joins Curt Schilling in my Hall of Very Good.

As for the people who didn't get in? The one that confuses me the most is Trevor Hoffman. Oh, sure, I wouldn't vote for him either. But I've heard forever that Mariano Rivera is this lock first ballot guy. And Hoffman still can't get in? What am I missing? Vladimir Guerrero probably deserves to be in. Although, I always thought he was a SOSH type player. When everyone else was saying Griffey was the best player in the game, people thought they looked smart by saying it was Guerrero. "I'm smart and pay attention, so I can bring up an obscure star from Canada. I'm a better fan than you." Sort of a "so underrated he's overrated" type of guy. I'm also confused by the steroid boys. How do Bonds and Clemens get a different number of votes? Either you are willing to overlook the taint and vote in the most dominant player of his time, or not. Right? Are people willing to look over the suspicions, but don't feel Clemens is worthy? I thought Manny Ramirez would get more support. Especially since voters are suddenly willing to overlook the PED questions. Again, some inconsistency there that I don't really understand. Glad to see Curt Schilling come back to the 50% level he probably deserves, right alongside Mike Mussina. I'm a little surprised that Jason Varitek didn't get more support, especially when compared to Jorge Posada. Tek was a much better catcher than Posada ever was. 

Everyone else was a pretty clear explanation. They didn't get voted in because they didn't deserve to be voted in. 

At least in my opinion.