Biggio, Smoltz, Martinez, Johnson - HOF

[DrungoHazewood]

I think by putting seven in over the last two years the backlog should be cleared up in the next couple of ballots. Only one sure thing next season so there is no reason they can't put in a couple guys that have been waiting. By the 2018 ballot things should be cleared up to a large extent.

There will still be the problem that they are electing players from a pool of 30 teams using the precedents and standards and procedures they used for a 16-team universe. There are almost twice as many good players relative to their peers. I suppose the "solution" that many here seem fine with is that the rough minimum standards for induction of more recent players will be about double what they were for earlier generations.

[Can_of_corn]

There will still be the problem that they are electing players from a pool of 30 teams using the precedents and standards and procedures they used for a 16-team universe. There are almost twice as many good players relative to their peers. I suppose the "solution" that many here seem fine with is that the rough minimum standards for induction of more recent players will be about double what they were for earlier generations.

If they can continue hitting 50% of ballots with 10 names on it they will be fine.

[DrungoHazewood]

If they can continue hitting 50% of ballots with 10 names on it they will be fine.

Maybe, but I still think there's going to be a two-tiered Hall. With pre-expansion players having a gray area around 40-50 WAR and 1990-on players with a gray area closer to 70, those in the middle years somewhere in between. Obviously with a lot of individual exceptions. I don't like that. Others don't care.

[Can_of_corn]

Maybe, but I still think there's going to be a two-tiered Hall. With pre-expansion players having a gray area around 40-50 WAR and 1990-on players with a gray area closer to 70, those in the middle years somewhere in between. Obviously with a lot of individual exceptions. I don't like that. Others don't care.

I don't think the entrance requirements should consist of being as good as the veterans committee's biggest mistake.

[Frobby]

I hear guys like Rosenthal complaining about needing the Hall to push back to 12 votes on a ballot. Well, guess what? Biggio and Piazza were on the ballot in 2013 and the BBWAA elected.......no one, even with 15 per ballot. If those two are HOF'ers in 2015 and maybe 2016 why not back then? One Philadelphia writer boycotted the process. Like the expression goes, point a finger and you have 4 pointed back at you. The writers need to accept some of the blame for the supposed dilemma they claim to be in.

I actually think that cutting back to 10, and limiting eligibility to 10 years, should increase the number of guys who actually get elected. The votes are less diluted that way.

[ledzepp8]

That is the definition of Eckersley, who went first ballot. Do you consider him a HOF'er?

I wouldn't say that Eckersley was a failed starter. He did win 150+ as a starter, was an AS and had CY caliber seasons. I also think a lot of his HOF cred was based on playoff stuff and winning a CY and MVP.

Edited: Also I didn't realize that Frobby basically posted the same thing as I did.

[DrungoHazewood]

I don't think the entrance requirements should consist of being as good as the veterans committee's biggest mistake.

The biggest VC mistakes were in the range of 20 WAR. My issue is that there are probably a dozen HOFers, some BBWAA selections, with half the career value of Kevin Brown and Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell and Tim Raines. None of whom are getting in any time soon, if ever. I'm fine setting a rough lower limit around the 25th or maybe even 50th percentile of BBWAA selections. That probably puts you in the 50-60 WAR neighborhood.

[Can_of_corn]

The biggest VC mistakes were in the range of 20 WAR. My issue is that there are probably a dozen HOFers, some BBWAA selections, with half the career value of Kevin Brown and Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell and Tim Raines. None of whom are getting in any time soon, if ever. I'm fine setting a rough lower limit around the 25th or maybe even 50th percentile of BBWAA selections. That probably puts you in the 50-60 WAR neighborhood.

Rice is a recent inductee that is well under 50 WAR. Puckett is around 50.