Our Ballot for the Hall

Okay, we don't have one, but if we did, what would our ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2011 look like. It would be short. Our philosophy about the Hall of Fame is that it is a special place for special players and don't like it when marginal candidates enter. However, our philosophy, at least as far as who will get into the Hall of Fame is changing. We acknowledge that election has alot to do with positions and where players rank among players who played at catcher or shortstop or first base did, and we'll now take that into consideration. But we still think election should be rare. How rare? Only no doubt about it candidates plus about one other per year. In the average year, we think there should be two players elected; if there are three no doubts, then a maximum of three, and never less than one. Okay, that's our philosophy, not saying it's a good one.

Here goes our application of that philosophy for 2011. There is only one no doubt about it candidate for us and it won't be one that everybody agrees with.

We vote for: Jeff Bagwell.
Why: In Stat Geek Baseball's PEVA rankings of best offensive players in baseball history, Bagwell has 293.606 PEVA Regular Season points. Every player with more than 275.000 who is eligible for the Hall of Fame is already in Cooperstown. That's a no doubt about it for us. Add in 449 HR, 1529 RBI, and a 0.297 batting average. Add in the fact that he's the best player in the history of the Houston Astros, too.
Why He Probably Won't Make It This Year: Most HOF voters will not think he's a First Year and In type of player. Not dominant enough for them. And they don't think 1500 RBI is magic like 500 HR used to be.

We vote for: Bert Blylevin
Why: Because he's the best player just below the No Doubt About Its not to be in and this is his last year. PEVA points of 271.050 regular season is just below the 275.000 automatic line, and his 287 wins are just below 300. And we don't hold those 250 losses against him as much as others might, because of the teams he played for. A 3.31 ERA, even though he pitched 22 years, is pretty good, too.
Why He Will Make It This Year: Second to last year of eligibility and we don't think the writers will want to make him wait out that final year or until the Veterans Committee. Plus he was so close last year.

Who'll Also Get In This Year That We Won't Vote For: Roberto Alomar
Why: Not an automatic inclusion for us, and we already voted for Blylevin. Alomar is gonna make it however, and we won't argue against it. He would be the 7th highest ranked second basemen in the Hall, of 19 in, if elected. And it's fine with us to elect someone in the top half of his position. We just wouldn't do it this year.

Who Won't Get In This Year, but eventually will: Kevin Brown and Barry Larkin
Why: Kevin Brown was a lot better than many folks remember, but it will take more than a few years until he gets elected. His lack of wins, 211, will hurt him, but eventually people will realize that Brown may have been a pitcher in the mold of Don Sutton and Fergie Jenkins and eventually vote him in. He would be ranked #16 All-Time among HOF members today in PEVA total, and that would be among 61 already in. Barry Larkin is not someone will will vote for, ... just think he'd be below the half way mark in shortstops already in the Hall and there are too many of them in there already, 21. But we think the voters will vote him in, and he's certainly in the class of Pee Wee Reese and Ozzie Smith, but we likely wouldn't have voted for them either.

Who Will Likely Never Make It: Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro. And it's not just the PED issue, although that will be the one that doesn't allow them to be included for most. They're just not automatic Hall of Fame guys to me and with the PED cloud in there as well, not gonna make it, at least from the vantage point of today.

Well, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see who's in for 2011 or not. It'll be interesting to see where the new candidates sit after that day. How far up the percentage totals people like Kevin Brown are and if this year greets Bert with a HOF nod. We hope it does.