Only 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Association of America are eligible to vote for the Hall of Fame. To be a member of the BBWAA, one has to work for a daily newspaper or The Associated Press, which, in the changing landscape of the media seems almost as archaic and anachronistic as allowing one specific group vote for something that some folks find so virtuous.
No, I’m not a member of the BBWAA. Plus, I agree with Woody Allen’s sentiment that I would never join an organization that would have someone like me as a member.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion on the most recent voting by the BBWAA to enshrine just Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn is the equally as anachronistic Hall of Fame. I guess this is because I don’t seem to understand what it takes to be a Hall of Famer any more.
Let’s start with this – if I had a vote for the Hall of Fame balloting, I would have voted for Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn and Jim Rice. Ripken and Gwynn are obvious choices and epitomize – in my view – what the Hall of Fame is supposed to be about. Rice gets my vote because in 1978 he was the best player in the game, and from 1978 to 1986 he always one of the most feared hitters in either league.
Baseball statistics really don’t mean much to me and serve no other purpose than to back up specific arguments. That said, the following players would have received careful consideration from me (if I had a vote):
· Bert Blyleven
· Andre Dawson
· Rich Gossage
· Tommy John
· Jack Morris
· Dale Murphy
· Dave Parker
· Lee Smith
I keep changing my mind on Blyleven, and depending upon who is on the ballot next year, I suspect I’d give big Bert and that nasty curveball the vote. Andre Dawson and Dale Murphy fall into similar circumstances as Rice since there was a stretch in the 1980s where both players – specifically Murphy – were the best hitters in the league.
I’m not so sold on Goose Gossage because I mostly remember him as an oft-injured reliever who bounced from team to team in the latter part of his career. Tony Perez did that, too, and I don’t think he should be in the Hall of Fame either.
Why not Perez? Well, that’s easy. He was never the best player on any of his teams, let alone the best player in the league. Then again, if Perez is in than everyone on the list posted above ought to be in, too.
Actually, if Perez is in then why isn’t Chili Davis or Andres Galarraga? How about Dwight Evans or Harold Baines? What about Joe Carter or Rusty Staub?
Maybe it’s time to start taking people out of the Hall of Fame? Maybe it’s time for the Hall of Fame to take the vote away from the BBWAA and give it to a more inclusive organization – or at least one that will be around in the next decade.
Actually, that sounds like a fun exercise… who should we take out of the Hall of Fame? Let’s start with Perez and follow it up with:
Granted, I know about as much about Ray Schalk as I do about nuclear physics, but judging from the fact that most of the players on the list are inductees from the Veterans Committee it seems as if they got in because they were “good guys” or were liked by the right people. So if that’s a criterion, let Dale Murphy in and keep Perez in there, too.
Then again maybe Ray Schalk was as good as Sandy Koufax or even Jim Rice for a few seasons?
While we’re at it, answer this question: How many voters out there liked Mark McGwire in 1998? It seems to me that he filled a lot of writers’ notebooks and even made some a little bit of money, too.
Is Mark McGwire’s bid at baseball immortality being sacrificed for Major League Baseball’s sins? Or was he a willing partner in the dance of death?