2012 Baseball HOF ballot

And if, by some chance, no one gets in this year, the ballot is going to be a mess because:

2013: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza
2014: Tom Glavine, Jeff Kent, Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina, Frank Thomas
2015: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz

That's just the main names. Hall of Famers are going to get knocked off the ballot due to the 10-voter rule because there will be too many at one time and there are a bunch of guys who won't get votes because of steroids and such.

 

I'm as big a Braves fan as you'll find, but Schilling is every bit as deserving as Smoltz.

 

Larkin has gone from 52 to 62 percent on the ballot in his first two years of eligibility so he'll have to make another leap. This is the year to do it if it's going to happen soon for him. Raines, who's fifth all-time in stolen bases, may have it tougher. He reached 37 percent last season and he'll need significant improvement. He also fell 400 hits shy of the 3,000 mark, which clearly helped make Lou Brock a slam dunk. I'm also curious to see what happens with Bagwell. He has the numbers but it really is hard to tell if he's going to be judged in the context of the steroid era.

Bernie Williams strikes me as another player in the Hall of Pretty Good. I'm not sure that he's even as good of a candidate as Walker.

 

I continue to be amazed that he doesn't get more support. Dominant player at his career peak, winning an MVP in 1994. Great overall numbers. Batted .297 for his career with a .408 on-base percentage and .540 slugging percentage. Not getting to 500 home runs (he finished at 449) hurts a bit, but the rest of his game makes up for it.

Remember, Bagwell was a fantastic defensive player and a threat on the bases. He stole over 30 bases in a season twice and finished with 202.

Bagwell also played his first nine seasons in the Astrodome, so he had to contend with one of the best pitchers' parks in the game for most of his career. He was 32 years old when the Astros moved into Minute Maid.

Anybody who holds him out based on suspicion of steroid use, which is mostly based on when he played rather than any real evidence, is an idiot.

I found this quote from Posnaski about it. He nailed this one.

"I would say this to those people who would not vote for Jeff Bagwell because they simply believe he used steroids, based on how he looked or some whispers they hear. I have a better idea: Let's just burn him at the stake. If he survives, you will know you were right."

 

I agree that there's no questioning Bagwell's numbers. He put up some big ones in what was just a 15-season career. A career OPS of .948 is pretty absurd. He got 42 percent in his first year on the ballot, which I also found low. Again, if he's going to make a big jump, this is the best year to do it.

 

No way Bagwell gets in; I think he should, but the uppity writers who hate performance enhancers won't put him in.
Want to get someone off their high horse about performance enhancers? Bring up LASIK.

 

I would vote for:

Jeff Bagwell
Juan Gonzalez
Barry Larkin
Edgar Martinez
Don Mattingly
Dale Murphy
Tim Raines
Larry Walker
Bernie Williams

 

We can call it the Hall of Everybody.

 

If Bagwell doesn't get more than 55 percent this time, I'm afraid it will be a long wait.

I'd like to think he'll get a nice bump from the "no voting for first-timer crowd" and the "make them wait because of steroid rumors crowd"

 

OK, I'll defend my picks:

Jeff Bagwell: Best first baseman of his era, greatest Astro ever.

Juan Gonzalez: Two-time MVP and best RBI man of the mid-late 1990s.

Barry Larkin: Bridged the gap between the two greatest shortstops of all time, Ripken and Jeter. Followd up his 1995 MVP season with an even better year.

Edgar Martinez: Greatest DH ever, he also ranks high on the advanced metrics.

Don Mattingly: I don't think any hitter has ever been better than Mattingly was in the mid 1980s. If Kirby Puckett can be in the hall, so should Mattingly.

Dale Murphy: Greatest center fielder between Mays and Griffey

Tim Raines: I actually think he was better than Rickey.

Larry Walker: He was a great hitter even without Coors effect.

Bernie Williams: A key player on a Yankees dynasty.

 

The Everybody gets ice cream wing of the Hall of Fame.