Le Batard, Deadspin, the HOF vote

Why does the voting need an overhaul? Who is out that should unequivocally be in?

 

Bingo.Wish I could have put it that well.

 

Let's start with Clemens and Bonds and go from there.

 

That does not indicate a need for an overhaul. It's a deep philosophical difference, with reasonable points from each side. A years long discussion is probably exactly what it requires.

 

I can understand that being the quick answer. But I'm betting if he decides to buck that "suggestion," there will be some "repercussions," whether you would take them seriously or not.

The fact that they picked the right people is not the issue, Xan. That's like congratulating a kid because he added up a row of numbers the wrong way and got the right answer.

Look, I don't see this as being such a grey issue. He was enlisted to provide his expertise as a voter. He pissed on that honor to give a voice to others, who might have no credentials with which to make that vote. As the Hall officials have defined that role. It doesn't matter whether you or I think they're self-important. It's their rules.

 

I don't understand how DLB loses his vote but someone who voted for Armando Benitez doesn't. I don't know what argument can be made for him in the HOF.

 

Because the idiot who voted for Benitez was deemed worthy of voting by the people who make those decisions.

Joe Bag-of-Donuts never was.

 

Don't you see? It's an <i>illusion</i>. It's not done by a complex mathematical formula in a vacuum without human judgment. It's flawed.

Deadpsin is what happens when dudes way too young to get them have mid-life crises. I've written before: I'm glad Deadspin's around, because it's "fuck you" quotient is so high, its will to roll in the mud so fierce, that, every so often, it speaks some truth to power. Most often, it's a banquet of half-baked pranks and manufactured, nihilistic misery.

But, then, nobody hits 1.000.

 

Of course you understand how DLB loses the vote. He proclaimed his open disdain for it.

 

But Joe Bag had the more thought out ballot...hmmm....

 

Not. The. Point.

 

I don't think LeBatard should lose his vote. It's his to do with as he pleases.

I don't think the Benitez voter should lose it, either.

The system weeds the voters on the front end, via the 10-year rule. Our of 500-plus voters, a few bad apples slip through. So what? There are enough voters so that they don't affect the ultimate result. Set up the criteria and live with the occasional ghost in the machine.

Maybe 30 years from now, new insights into the game will reveal how dominant Benitez actually was. I'm 99.99999999 percent sure not, but why shut down dissent? If his candidacy, or anyone else's, is worthy, it will take root. If not, it will quickly fade. No harm done.

Trust the process.

P.S. I did see someone get his MVP vote stripped for using it to take revenge on another country.