2020 Baseball Hall of Fame Class

I think it was the big checks he got twice a month that made his dick hard.

This is from 2007, but I think he knew what he was doing 9 years earlier.

For Selig and Baseball, It Was a Very Good Year

 

I was amazed at Bonds’ hitting but personally disliked Home Run Derby in every game.

 

Why is it a problem? Each writer has his own criteria, no different than how much one writer weighs WAR or OPS vs how much another weighs them. If 50 percent of the writers think, "hmm, it seems pretty clear that Bonds cheated, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence that Griffey did the same, so I'm going to vote for Griffey but not Bonds," and the other 50 percent decide to vote for both, where is the issue? The only person that's a problem for is Bonds.

Do you think there's going to be an overwhelming majority of voters who will see a power spike or hear a rumor and decide that's enough evidence?

 

I think there are enough to potentially keep a guy out without good reason.

 

Do you have an example of a guy who has been kept out based on rumor and innuendo who you think should be in?

 

Seven tries for Bagwell seems like a bit much.

 

So was the fourth time for Piazza

 

Aren't both of those guys in the Hall of Fame?

 

They are, but the rumor and innuendo pushed back their timelines -- in Bagwell's case almost knocked him off the ballot -- and the domino effect of that hurts the candidates of others. If Piazza is a first-ballot guy like he should have been the year they didn't induct anyone, then that opens up slots and votes for other guys -- instead voters had to spend three extra years not voting for other deserving guys.

There have also been voters who have said -- I won't vote for anyone in that entire era because I can't tell who did and who didn't

 

I mean, part of the problem here is a time thing - We don't know if Clemens and/or Bonds are going to be kept out, because they still have time left on the ballot.

 

Really, aside from the Veterans Committee allowing in schmoes like Baines, the HOF election process is basically fine. It's reviled for reasons I don't really understand, but the writers mostly seem to get it right. I wouldn't let in as many guys as they do, but there are really very few egregious errors (in or out) when you consider how many ballplayers have passed through MLB.