2014 Hall of Fame voting

[bukie]

The ballot is insane this year since the writers were insane last year.

 

Great blog from Joe Posnanski suggesting maybe voters should vote for Hall of Fame like they vote for MVP, just rank 10 players: http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2013/10/ranking-hall-ballot-results-edition.html

[Clem Fandango]

If Greg Maddux doesn't get in with 100% of the vote, whoever votes against him will surely die a horrible, long, and painful death.

[Cubswin11]

[expletive] the Hall of Fame

[SouthSideRyan]

If Greg Maddux doesn't get in with 100% of the vote, whoever votes against him will surely die a horrible, long, and painful death.

 

From the article

 

Maddux obviously topped everyone with 98.5% -- brilliant reader Av wrote in with a reason why someone might not vote for Maddux that actually makes some sense. He wondered if someone might not vote for Maddux because the limit is 10, and maybe the BBAWAA member has 12 or 13 or more people he believes deserves the vote. The BBWAA person might pass on Maddux knowing full well that he will get elected anyway and use that vote for Tim Raines or Edgar Martinez or someone else who might be worthy. I don’t go along with it entirely -- I think it kind of cuts against the spirit of the Hall of Fame vote -- but I can see the argument.

[treebird]

[expletive] the Hall of Fame

 

yeah, agreed completely. i don't care what the moron baseball writers have to say about anything else, so why would i care about their hall of fame?

 

i'm sure it sucks for all this deserving guys who get left out, but they can console themselves with their solid gold houses and rocket cars.

[SouthSideRyan]

At the risk of making goony angry:

 

Greg Maddux

Frank Thomas

Jeff Bagwell

Mike Piazza

Barry Bonds

Tim Raines

Roger Clemens

Craig Biggio

Curt Schilling

Alan Trammell

 

There are probably 16 or 17 guys I'd vote for. Of the 17 returning players, only Lee Smith, Jack Morris, and Don Mattingly seem like obvious noes.

 

Of course Morris finished 2nd last year and will probably inexplicably go in with:

 

-the 22nd best bWAR among eligibles

-8th best ERA+ (Worse than Kenny Roger and MATT MORRIS)

-6th in Ks

 

And this is just compared to the guys on the ballot now. All time he sits:

 

-Tied for 395th in bWAR (With Bartolo Colon and Steve Finley)

-Tied for 484th in ERA+ (with Denny Neagle, Tomo Ohka, and Dustin Hermanson)

 

But oh, his case is based on more than just stats, you had to be there and see how he was different, you knew when you watched him he was a hall of famer.

 

-Never finished higher than 13th in MVP voting (784th all time in MVP shares)

-Never finished higher than 3rd in Cy Young Voting (Only received votes in 7 seasons, 76th all time in Cy Young shares)

-5 all star games

-Top 10 in ERA 5 times (never better than 5th)

[Clem Fandango]

If Greg Maddux doesn't get in with 100% of the vote, whoever votes against him will surely die a horrible, long, and painful death.

 

From the article

 

Maddux obviously topped everyone with 98.5% -- brilliant reader Av wrote in with a reason why someone might not vote for Maddux that actually makes some sense. He wondered if someone might not vote for Maddux because the limit is 10, and maybe the BBAWAA member has 12 or 13 or more people he believes deserves the vote. The BBWAA person might pass on Maddux knowing full well that he will get elected anyway and use that vote for Tim Raines or Edgar Martinez or someone else who might be worthy. I don’t go along with it entirely -- I think it kind of cuts against the spirit of the Hall of Fame vote -- but I can see the argument.

 

I suppose that theory makes sense, but it's shitty logic. If you want to give votes to Tim Raines and Edgar Martinez, then give them votes, and then vote for Greg [expletive] Maddux you idiots.

 

- 4 time Cy Young Winner, 9 times in the Top 5

- 13 consecutive Gold Gloves, 18 total Gold Gloves

- 6 times received votes for MVP, 2 times was Top 5

- 8 time all-star (should be at least 9... in 1993 he won the Cy Young and was killing it at the break, yet didn't get voted in somehow)

- 3.16 career ERA / 3.26 FIP

- 355 wins

- 3,371 K's (despite a 6.1 career K/9)

- He made less than 33 starts just three times in his career (not counting first short season). Those years he made 25, 27, and 28 starts. Two of those years were strike shortened seasons of 1994 and 1995. The other was his first full year when they used him 3 times at reliever. That means in 19 of 22 years he made 33 starts or more. Had it not been for the strike seasons, he probably would've made 30+ starts. He was a pillar of health.

- 104.6 rWAR/113.9 fWAR

- Had an ERA+ of 260 or higher TWICE (1994 [271], 1995 [260])

- Spent 20 of his 23 years playing for only two teams

- People look at Koufax's 5 year run as one of the best stretches of pitching ever. Koufax's ERA+ during that stretch was 167. Greg Maddux had a SEVEN year run (1992-1998) with an ERA+ of 190. His ERA in that time span was 2.15 with a 0.96 WHIP.... that's his cumulative numbers over a SEVEN YEAR SPAN.

 

If anyone would choose to NOT vote for this man because "Oh he'll get in anyways I should give me vote to a borderline guy that I like instead" should have their voting rights revoked forever. And they should also be branded on the face with the letter "D" for douche.

[SouthSideRyan]

But (as I said before) there are more than 10 guys worthy. Jeff Kent could easily be knocked off the ballot after 1 year which would be ludicrous

 

ETA: Hell, Sosa could easily slip below 5% this year.

[Clem Fandango]

Yes, there are more than 10 worthy guys, and I'm not arguing with the logic, I'm just saying it's dumb. No one on that ballot is more worthy than Maddux. If I'm handed my ballot with the list of names the first thing I'm doing is marking Greg Maddux down, then moving on with the rest of my list. I don't want to be the guy they out as not voting for Greg Maddux because I wanted to spend that vote on Lee Smith instead cause damnit I've been voting for him for 8 years now and I ain't gonna stop!

[pitchcs]

My best guess:

 

Maddux

Frank Thomas

Piazza

Glavine

Raines

Biggio

 

I think enough people leave off Bagwell, Clemens, Bonds & Schilling that they don't make it in this year.

[bukie]

What I think will happen:

 

Jack Morris

Greg Maddux

 

 

What I want to happen:

 

The baseball writers look at the ballot and say to themselves "Sweet sassy molassey, I can't believe we didn't vote 10 of these guys in last year. We should just give up this power trip and let actual knowledgeable people decide who should be honored by our sport."

[Cubswin11]

My best guess:

 

Maddux

Frank Thomas

Piazza

Glavine

Raines

Biggio

 

I think enough people leave off Bagwell, Clemens, Bonds & Schilling that they don't make it in this year.

I could see Thomas being left off because he was a "big guy" in the steroid era and hit a lot of HR's. Also he was terrible on defense.

 

My guess is:

 

Maddux

Glavine

Biggio

Piazza

 

But again, [expletive] the hall of fame

[OleMissCub]

I could see Thomas being left off because he was a "big guy" in the steroid era and hit a lot of HR's. Also he was terrible on defense.

 

Yeah Frank is a tough one. He'll get in eventually but maybe not on the first ballot. I believe if he got in he'd be the first member who played more games at DH. That may hurt him with the meatheads more than him being a large guy in the roid era. I don't think there has ever been much speculation about him and roids. He was a hulk of a man back when he played at Auburn.

[SouthSideRyan]

My best guess:

 

Maddux

Frank Thomas

Piazza

Glavine

Raines

Biggio

 

I think enough people leave off Bagwell, Clemens, Bonds & Schilling that they don't make it in this year.

 

I'll bet a bajillion dollars less than 6 people get in.

[SouthSideRyan]

I could see Thomas being left off because he was a "big guy" in the steroid era and hit a lot of HR's. Also he was terrible on defense.

 

Yeah Frank is a tough one. He'll get in eventually but maybe not on the first ballot. I believe if he got in he'd be the first member who played more games at DH. That may hurt him with the meatheads more than him being a large guy in the roid era. I don't think there has ever been much speculation about him and roids. He was a hulk of a man back when he played at Auburn.

 

I really don't give a [expletive] about who did steroids, but the argument that a guy couldn't have been juiced because he was big when he played college football always makes me laugh.

[OleMissCub]

I'm talking about perception of voters.

[Cubswin11]

I could see Thomas being left off because he was a "big guy" in the steroid era and hit a lot of HR's. Also he was terrible on defense.

 

Yeah Frank is a tough one. He'll get in eventually but maybe not on the first ballot. I believe if he got in he'd be the first member who played more games at DH. That may hurt him with the meatheads more than him being a large guy in the roid era. I don't think there has ever been much speculation about him and roids. He was a hulk of a man back when he played at Auburn.

There's been nothing as far as I know, but there also is nearly nothing about Bagwell other than playing with some roiders (but who didn't in the 80s/90s) and that was a big reason some guys didn't vote for him last year. Biggish guy, played in the roid era, hit a lot of HR, etc.

[Clem Fandango]

I could see Thomas being left off because he was a "big guy" in the steroid era and hit a lot of HR's. Also he was terrible on defense.

 

Yeah Frank is a tough one. He'll get in eventually but maybe not on the first ballot. I believe if he got in he'd be the first member who played more games at DH. That may hurt him with the meatheads more than him being a large guy in the roid era. I don't think there has ever been much speculation about him and roids. He was a hulk of a man back when he played at Auburn.

 

Thomas was always a staunch opponent of steroids even before they became a major issue in baseball, iirc. It would suck if his defense and DH'ing kept him out, he was arguably the biggest offensive threat throughout the 90's. And if they're gonna let Jim Rice in because he was a tough out in the 80's, I don't see why they keep Thomas out when he dwarfs anything Jim Rice has ever done with a baseball bat.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

If Frank Thomas doesn't get in, I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

[OleMissCub]

It took Joe Dimaggio three tries to get into the HOF...wtf

[SouthSideRyan]

If Frank Thomas doesn't get in, I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

 

Between 1st ballot bias, DH bias, and steroid era bias, I doubt he makes it this year

[bukie]

Jonah Keri's HOF ballot, and suggestions to fix the broken process: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10155321/breaking-baseball-hall-fame-ballot

[BigSlick]

The HOF was already a mess before the voting committee decided to become Judge, Jury and Executioner on STEROIDS but now its going to be an even bigger laughingstock. They're consigning their own hallowed ground to irrelevance by not putting in the best modern day hitter and best modern day pitcher in there. Oh well. I hope they have fun with all the murderers, rapists, domestic abusers, substance abusers (!!!!!) and various other cheaters in there.

 

All that said, Frank Thomas definitely gets in first ballot, take a look at this blog accumulating public ballots: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsstand/discussion/the_2013_hof_ballot_collecting_gizmo/P200/

 

Looks like Maddux, Glavine, Thomas and Biggio (lol)

 

That Bagwell will wallow in middling votes for years is a [expletive] disgrace because his partner Biggio ain't half the player he was.

[rocket]

Biggio was a great player and is easily HoF worthy

[Illini Iceman]

http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2013/12/15/2014-hall-fame-election-forecast/

 

This guy has a pretty good track record and he predicts only Maddux will make it.