2007 Hall of Fame Ballot

Spent a lot of time in the car today and ESPN radio piqued my interest.

Colin Cowherd spent a good amount of time discussing opinions on allowing steroid tainted ballplayers into the MLB HoF. While admitting that he is comfortable with either all in or all out he would favor admission for all. Part of this argument, he suggests that, all people break laws in a manner that suits their needs. A baseball player in order maintain competitive conditioning will take steroids, this is, according to Colin, an equivalent to exceeding the speed limit for the purpose of getting to get to work on time.

I hope that the Mr. Cowherd, for the purposes of entertainment, has constructed this analogy to promote discussion and not a philosophy on life. This sort of thinking leads to habits like weak parenting, based on an unwillingness to make critical judgments on the behavior of others.

To directly oppose the point I would suggest that during these player's careers each was richly rewarded through contracts and endorsements. To offer additional reward after admission of unlawful behavior would be insulting to those that have achieved the HoF honestly. The Hall of Fame is a shrine to great ball players who have been statistically superior, possessed leadership positions on successful teams and were publicly moral. Players who don't pass the stink test shouldn't get in.

Now Mr. Cowherd's points are not any cause of pain for me. In the end he is pragmatic, Players like McGwire will probably get in eventually because proof of wrong doing is absent.

Here is how I hope the voting should go in the next couple of years.
The following list is the set of nominations for 2007.

Harold Baines - nope, good hitter, played DH too much
Albert Belle - nope, too short of a career, great for about 5 years
Dante Bichette - nope, the hall already has enough fat bastards
Bert Blyleven - nope, nice pitcher, not great
Bobby Bonilla - nope, even shorter career sweet spot that Belle
Scott Brosius - nope, bet he gets 0%
Jay Buhner - nope, when he was healthy loved to watch him in the field
Ken Caminiti - nope, more that stink here
Jose Canseco - nope, admitted to steriod use
Dave Concepcion - nope, nice player on a great team, like Rizzuto who shouldn't be in either
Eric Davis - nope, a couple of geat years, lots of injures
Andre Dawson - YES , hard player, good stats, languished on Montreal too long
Tony Fernandez - nope, he was a shortstop wasn't he?
Steve Garvey - nope, what was that commercial for where he flipped the bat?
Rich Gossage - YES, not my favorite but dominating
Tony Gwynn - YES, the best contact hitter of the last 45 years
Orel Hershiser - nope, tough guy though, enjoyed this pitcher
Tommy John - nope, over-rated when he was with the Yankees
Wally Joyner - nope, good not ever great
Don Mattingly - nope, loved the player
Mark McGwire - nope, go back to the stink test
Jack Morris - unsure, tough in the playoffs
Dale Murphy - nope, 2 MVPs, fantastic arm, missed too many pitches low and away
Paul O'Neill - nope, let the Yankee fans squeal
Dave Parker - nope, a lot like Murphy, great arm from left field, short career sweet spot
Jim Rice - YES, good hitter, lots of home runs, MVP, put up with all that Boston crap
Cal Ripken Jr. - YES, MVPs, the game streak
Bret Saberhagen - nope, short career sweet spot
Lee Smith - YES, did as much as Gossage and for a long time
Alan Trammell - nope, tough player, too many weak years at the plate
Devon White - nope, he was fast, big deal
Bobby Witt - nope, aw hell no