2013 HOF Ballot: Who Gets Your Vote?

[Rene88]

I believe the ballot is released today at 2pm.

[DrungoHazewood]

I believe the ballot is released today at 2pm.

If they release results and nobody is on it, did they really release anything at all?

It will be interesting to see the fallout from this. You're going to see a very strong push to reform the HOF election process. But the HOF is ultraconservative, and will resist change. And they'll have the BBWAA strongly in their corner. It's hard to see the strongest class in at least 50 years result in no new members, and have nothing happen. When a similar thing happened 50 years ago they changed things. The best hope we have is that the HOF is a business, and nobody comes to spend money at a museum when the only new members have been dead for generations.

[Can_of_corn]

If they release results and nobody is on it, did they really release anything at all?

It will be interesting to see the fallout from this. You're going to see a very strong push to reform the HOF election process. But the HOF is ultraconservative, and will resist change. And they'll have the BBWAA strongly in their corner. It's hard to see the strongest class in at least 50 years result in no new members, and have nothing happen. When a similar thing happened 50 years ago they changed things. The best hope we have is that the HOF is a business, and nobody comes to spend money at a museum when the only new members have been dead for generations.

On the bright side, every deserving name that doesn't get in makes it harder for Morris.

[bdlj0887]

HOF ballots are always the most arbitrary things I've ever seen. Lots of suspected steroid users on it? No one else gets in! Maybe one day Raines will get it.

[DrungoHazewood]

HOF ballots are always the most arbitrary things I've ever seen. Lots of suspected steroid users on it? No one else gets in! Maybe one day Raines will get it.

Very poor voting system. I was going to say "poorly designed" but I think it was less designed than roughed out on a bar napkin in 1936 and barely improved since.

[PaulFolk]

I don't understand why Craig Biggio wouldn't be elected at the very least. He was never under any suspicion of using PEDs, and his numbers are clearly Hall-worthy, so what is the case against him?

[DrungoHazewood]

I don't understand why Craig Biggio wouldn't be elected at the very least. He was never under any suspicion of using PEDs, and his numbers are clearly Hall-worthy, so what is the case against him?

Probably some combination of writers who won't vote for anyone on the first ballot (remember, 3000-hit Lou Gehrig-breaking Boy Scout Cal Ripken wasn't unanimous), and writers who aren't voting for anyone who played during their defintion of the steriod era. Plus the writers who count things like "played with Ken Caminiti" and "didn't have an exactingly linear career home run progression peaking at 27" as proof of unrepentant PED abuse list Biggio as a cheater.

[Stotle]

Baseball Prospectus put up its hypothetical writer ballots today (33 BP writers voting): http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19234

My list, included, is as follows:

Bagwell

Biggio

Bonds

Clemens

Martinez

McGriff

Palmeiro

Piazza

Raines

Trammell

[DrungoHazewood]

Baseball Prospectus put up its hypothetical writer ballots today (33 BP writers voting): http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19234

My list, included, is as follows:

Bagwell

Biggio

Bonds

Clemens

Martinez

McGriff

Palmeiro

Piazza

Raines

Trammell

Good list. Would be even better if you swapped out McGriff for 1/3rd of Glenn Davis' carcass (i.e. Curt Schilling).

[Stotle]

Good list. Would be even better if you swapped out McGriff for 1/3rd of Glenn Davis' carcass (i.e. Curt Schilling).

Thanks!

Schilling and Walker were the other two I would have voted for if I had the votes. McGriff got the nod because I thought there was a danger of him falling off the hypothetical ballot without "now" support, whereas I figured Schilling and Walker would have plenty of support to stay in the discussion in future years.

[Can_of_corn]

Thanks!

Schilling and Walker were the other two I would have voted for if I had the votes. McGriff got the nod because I thought there was a danger of him falling off the hypothetical ballot without "now" support, whereas I figured Schilling and Walker would have plenty of support to stay in the discussion in future years.

Main reason I want Schilling in is so that the 1988 Orioles team will have had three Hall of Famers on it.

[skanar]

Thanks!

Schilling and Walker were the other two I would have voted for if I had the votes. McGriff got the nod because I thought there was a danger of him falling off the hypothetical ballot without "now" support, whereas I figured Schilling and Walker would have plenty of support to stay in the discussion in future years.

I like your list, but now I'm curious why Kenny Lofton wouldn't get a vote from you even if votes were unlimited.

[Stotle]

Was borderline for me. Not a really long peak and a little less longevity than McGriff (who was another borderline for me). I also pictured Lofton against Griffey as a measuring stick (same position in the same era) which, fairly or unfairly, diminished Kenny's profile for me.

I don't mind the argument for Lofton, just like I don't mind the argument against McGriff. I really liked that McGriff was a noticeable part of great teams in three separate organizations (Blue Jays, Padres and Braves).

[skanar]

Was borderline for me. Not a really long peak and a little less longevity than McGriff (who was another borderline for me). I also pictured Lofton against Griffey as a measuring stick (same position in the same era) which, fairly or unfairly, diminished Kenny's profile for me.

I don't mind the argument for Lofton, just like I don't mind the argument against McGriff. I really liked that McGriff was a noticeable part of great teams in three separate organizations (Blue Jays, Padres and Braves).

Also of some interest: was JAWS a metric you consulted? Was it a popular one for other BP staffers?

[Stotle]

Also of some interest: was JAWS a metric you consulted? Was it a popular one for other BP staffers?

I am not sure of the criteria each staffer used. I did not personally consult Jaffe's system, but certainly appreciate and respect the work he put into it. If my voted actually counted, I would have put days of work into researching and thinking about it. Since it was just a piece for BP, I put in a little over an hour and didn't exhaust my research.