Baseball HOF Ballot...Anybody Getting In This Year???

[hutz]

I'm with Andy -- this is a class that's ripe for a complete whiff.

[rwperu34]

I really go back and forth on the closers. Right now I am back, and don't think Sutter and Gossage should be HOFers. I would lean more towards Gossage if I had to choose.

With regards to Tramell, he is another that I go back and forth. I view Tramell, Larkin, Sandberg, and Whitaker as all very similar. I think Sandberg is just in, and Whitaker is just out. And yes, I think it was a joke that Whitaker didn't even get 5% of the votes while Sandeberg made it. I can never decide on Tramell and Tramell will ultimately decide the fate of Larkin (although in comparing the two, I'd give a slight edge to Larkin). I guess I'll just put it off for another year.

On the pitchers, I think it is a travis-sham-mockery that Blyleven is not in.

I'm against Rice. Of all the outfielders, I think Dawson has the best case and I would vote for Murphy over Rice. But I'm not going to throw a fit if any of those guys don't make it. Harold Baines will also be a very interesting player to watch over the next decade.

So I guess I would only vote for one player in 2006, and that's Bert Blyleven.

[irishpint]

blyleven needs to be in. he needed to be in years ago.

[SossMan]

Walt Weiss? WTF?

[HopeydaFish]

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Walt Weiss? WTF?

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He qualifies to be on the ballot due to the length of his career. He'll get 0 votes this year and will be dropped from next year's ballot.

[HopeydaFish]

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surprised nobody has said Andre Dawson yet. When I read the list (and no, I can't quote lifetime stats), Dawson was the player who I thought would get the most consideration.

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I'd really like to see Dawson get in. Due to the weakness of this year's ballot, this might be his best chance.

I grew up in Montreal and was an Expos fan during the Dawson/Raines/Carter years. For a good part of his career, he was a complete player -- he had speed (314 stolen bases for his career), he had power (49 HRs in 1987), and he had great range and a great arm in the outfield.

What hurts his chances is that he didn't reach 500 homers or 3000 hits. However, I firmly believe that he would have reached those milestones if it weren't for the fact that he was playing on gimpy knees for the last half of his career. He played for 20 years, but a good portion of that was at considerably less than 100%. The Olympic Stadium artificial turf did a real number on him.

[Pudge714]

The most interesting name in this ballot IMO is Doc Gooden. Clearly he doesn't have the longevity, but does he get a Sandy Koufax type exception, where he was so great that his longevity is irrelevant.

[brettbrettr]

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The most interesting name in this ballot IMO is Doc Gooden. Clearly he doesn't have the longevity, but does he get a Sandy Koufax type exception, where he was so great that his longevity is irrelevant.

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Did you just compnare Gooden to Koufax?

[Jack of Arcades]

brett,

the comparison isn't as absurd as you make it out to be. Dwight's '85 was better than anything Koufax did.

[HopeydaFish]

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The most interesting name in this ballot IMO is Doc Gooden. Clearly he doesn't have the longevity, but does he get a Sandy Koufax type exception, where he was so great that his longevity is irrelevant.

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Even if you could argue that he would have had HOF numbers had his career been longer, the drug use will keep him out.