This years Baseball Hall of Fame election results have been announced. Here’s what would have been my votes. Those who were elected are in bold.
Harold Baines – No
Albert Belle – Almost
Dante Bichette – No
Bert Blyleven – Almost
Bobby Bonilla – No
Scott Brosius – No
Jay Buhner – No
Ken Caminiti – No
Jose Canseco – Almost
Dave Concepcion – No
Eric Davis – No
Andre Dawson – No
Tony Fernandez – No
Steve Garvey – Almost
Rich Gossage – Almost
Tony Gwynn – Yes
Orel Hershiser – No
Tommy John – No
Wally Joyner – No
Don Mattingly – No
Mark McGwire – Yes
Jack Morris – No
Dale Murphy – No
Paul O’Neill – No
Dave Parker – No
Jim Rice – Yes
Cal Ripken Jr.- Yes
Bret Saberhagen – No
Lee Smith – Almost
Alan Trammell – No
Devon White – No
Bobby Witt – No
Notes:
HOF votes should not be secret. Why? Because we need to see who didn’t vote for players like Gwynn and Ripken and fire them. The supposed logic here is that since nobody was ever elected unanimously, nobody ever should be, but that’s bunk. The point of the HOF is so we can take our kids there someday and show them the revolutionary players like Ripken (which outweighs the fairly inconsequential Streak), and players like Gwynn who make something so hard look so easy. If you want to impose your own twisted house rules, go vote somewhere else.
I’m not really surprised that McGwire didn’t get in, but I am surprised how few votes he got (23.5%). The topic of steroids in baseball is annoying, and the consequences are inconsistent. Steroids have been around for over 50 years, and clearly players have used them in all sports. To say that McGwire is the one of the first to abuse them is simply false, especially when people hold up the hitters of the 60s and 70s as examples of people who didn’t. We have no idea if Hank Aaron or Jim Rice or Tom Seaver used drugs or supplements, and even to suggest the possibility as I’m doing here is blasphemy. Despite longstanding media hype to the contrary, there isn’t even any credible evidence that steroids have adverse effects on grown men. McGwire is 6’5″, Canseco is 6’4″, both are well over 200lbs and took advantage of modern nutrition and training. Mantle was 5’11”, Aaron is 6′, and both were relatively lean. They also grew up in an era where people didn’t even know what effects basic vitamins really had. To say that modern sluggers were “obviously” using steroids and other hormone supplements is silly, and even if they were, can someone prove that they shouldn’t? We’ve proven the dangers of weight training as well as alcohol and red meat and sodium and pretty much everything else athletes put into their bodies, why aren’t they banned as well?
Jim Rice isn’t a legend like Ruth or Cobb, but he was a dominant force for a long time. There are many opinions why he can’t seem to get enough votes, from his mediocre fielding to his frosty relationship with the press and fans, but he should be in.
Albert Belle got 3.5% of the votes, not even enough to stay on the ballot. He was a troubled personality whose career ended on a very sour note, but the voters apparently forgot that he was a terrifying hitter who competed for MVP status, had 9 consecutive seasons of 100 RBIs, and a career .295 average. Perhaps not HOF numbers, but clearly a brighter talent than some who finished ahead of him.