2007 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot: Who would you vote in?

[thecapecoddah]

figured this would be fun and lead to some good discussion, so your choices are above. and you can choose as many players as you'd like, obviously (but try to keep it under 10 like the actual voters).


veterans committee choices intentionally not included.

[vinceq]

Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., Mark McGwire and Ed Sprague

[DAntae]

cal ripken, tony gwynn, goose gossage and dale murphy (come on its dale)

[brad]

cal, gywnn, and LEESMITH

[kevin]

ripken and gwynn. the only ones that really stick out to me.

[thecapecoddah]

dawson, gossage, gwynn, tommy john, mattingly, murphy, rice, and ripken.

(hey if they let bruce sutter in I might as well go nuts with my choices)

[thecapecoddah]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/02/07/sports/07canseco.large1.jpg

man back in 1990 I was sure at least one of the bash brothers would eventually make it in... and again around '99.



I bet DNS is gonna vote for paul o'neill.

[Mayor Quimby]

Andre Dawson, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., and Jim Rice. I know that Gwynn and Ripken are in for sure, but I think that Rice and Dawson were two of the most feared hitters in their time, and both are deserving of Hall recognition.

[DAntae]

except dawson was a constant choke artist down the stretch of seasons and in the playoffs. that said the guy was a beast though.

[kuumuus]

dawson, goose, gwynn, ripken

even if mark mcgwire never took steroids he isn't hallworthy. besides the home runs he was mediocre.

[Dewey Finn]

Cal Ripken Jr.(Maryland bias), McGwire, Gywnn, and Lee Smith

Although I wish I could confidently put O'Neill and Mattingly into my list but NOOO

[robb]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/features/2002/shortstops/7/trammell_lg.jpg

dawson, gossage, gwynn, mattingly, ripken, tram.

[vinceq]

oh yeah, Dale Murphy and Paul O'Neill.
AND ED SPRAGUE!

[Homer Jay]

dawson, gossage, gwynn, tommy john, mattingly, murphy, rice, and ripken.

(hey if they let bruce sutter in I might as well go nuts with my choices)
Why John and not Blyleven? And I still don't get the appeal of Mattingly as a Hall of Famer.

[The mayor of Albuquerque]

Canseco, because his name is an anagram of my name, and because even though I hate baseball, he makes me laugh.

[Mike]

jack morris
cal ripken jr.
tony gwynn
tommy john

why tommy john? 26 seasons, nearly 300 wins, and a career era of 3.34. 2nd in the cy young ballot twice, but that doesn't mean much.

not an amazing career, but certainly more worthy than some who are already in.

[smyce]

Gwynn, Ripken, Mattingly and McGwire.

Everyone was juicing. He hit 580+ homers. Let him in.

[thecapecoddah]

Why John and not Blyleven? And I still don't get the appeal of Mattingly as a Hall of Famer.

hmm I thought blyleven's ERA was worse than what it is. nevertheless he was cursed with having been on worse teams than tommy john and doesn't have as nice a winning percentage. 287 wins should be enough to get you into the hall.

and when I think of 1980's baseball, don mattingly's name immediately pops into my head. a career shortened by back problems or whatever shouldn't deny him entrance (but it will).

[Dead Nigga Storage]

blyleven, dawson, gwynn, ripken, murphy, and smith.

jim rice? are you people kidding me? get over it, he's not worthy.

and what's with the lack of lee smith support? until 2006 he was the all-time saves leader. jeez.

also, everyone voting for mcgwire is a terrible human being.

[Homer Jay]

Belle, Blyleven, Dawson, Gossage, Gwynn, Morris, Rice, Ripken

[Dead Nigga Storage]

belle? man you have low standards. these guys are good, but we're talking about the best the game has ever seen, not guys with some all-star appearances and a couple dingers.

[thecapecoddah]

jim rice? are you people kidding me? get over it, he's not worthy.

50% to 65% of hall of fame voters disagree.

from wikipedia:

- AL MVP in 1978; finished in the top 5 in MVP voting five other times (1975, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1986)
- only player in major league history to record over 200 hits and at the same time having 39 or more HRs for three consecutive years
- only nine other retired ballplayers rank ahead of him in both career home runs and batting average
- there are 19 left fielders in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If compared against these players, Rice would rank sixth in home runs, ninth in RBIs, and 14th in both batting average and hits.

in any event, along with goose gossage he's one of the biggest "on the bubble" HOF candidates in history.

hall of very good :(

[doyle]

rice
ripken
john
gwynn
gossage

[Homer Jay]

Albert Belle is someone who I thought I little about a year ago, but after looking at how good he was when he played, I realized that he belongs. I his ten full seasons, he averaged .297/37/120. He was a monster at the plate, he was one of the best hitters of out time, but his career was winding down just as offensive numbers were going through the stratisphere. He was one of the most dominate players of the decade, and that is one of the most important characteristic for me. I don't view him as any different than Ralph Kiner. I came close to suggesting Dale Murphy, but I don't think that he was donimate enough for long enough, the same thing with Mattingly.

[Dead Nigga Storage]

- AL MVP in 1978; finished in the top 5 in MVP voting five other times (1975, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1986)
- only player in major league history to record over 200 hits and at the same time having 39 or more HRs for three consecutive years
- only nine other retired ballplayers rank ahead of him in both career home runs and batting average
- there are 19 left fielders in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If compared against these players, Rice would rank sixth in home runs, ninth in RBIs, and 14th in both batting average and hits.
this is the problem with baseball stats...you can really just work them to meet whatever criteria you want. 200 hits and 39 homers? guarantee whoever wrote that saw people with 37 or 38 homers, and made his cutoff point to make a point. top 5 in MVP? simply means he was never the best hitter in his league during any one year. comparing him to a cross-generational span of hitters currently in the hall? useless, the game changes way too much over that period of time. well over 9 place WAY ahead of him in home runs...dozens and dozens do. likewise, dozens and dozens are ahead in career average. some people were ASTONISHING at a couple of things...rice was merely "very, very good" at a number of things. not good for the hall.

incidentally, it appears the greatest rice support is from *gasp* sox fans. biased much?

and belle doesn't have a single career accomplishment that jumps out at me...he was good, but he was nothing more. the bar is being set way, way too low for the hall of fame. i'd rather it maintain some level of prestige that the likes of albert belle could never see. to be honest, i don't even know why i chose dale murphy. scratch it.

[Cow Milk?]

John, Ripken, Gwynn, Smith

No way McGwire gets in

[Homer Jay]

and belle doesn't have a single career accomplishment that jumps out at me...he was good, but he was nothing more. the bar is being set way, way too low for the hall of fame. i'd rather it maintain some level of prestige that the likes of albert belle could never see. to be honest, i don't even know why i chose dale murphy. scratch it.
I think that longevity is incredibly overrated, too many voters seem to value it above how well a player was against his contemparies. Carl Yastrzemski is someone who played forever. Look at his number of games, hits, at-bats etc. They are high because he played for so long. A lot of the time, he wasn't one of the top players in the league. His 67 season was one of the greatest season ever, but I don't think that one season of greatness is more important than the rest of his career which was great.

Does anyone think that Billy Williams was one of the greatest players of his time? Or Larry Doby? Or Orlando Cepeda? Was Kirby Puckett's twelve year career that much better than Albert Belle's that he got in on the first ballot and he will probably never get in?

[DAntae]

dale murphy was an incredible player. the guy would have stood out in any era, in any ballpark. thats what you were thinking dns. the guy wasnt just very good...he was great. dont let the fact he played when the braves were shit take away what he did on the field. very underrated defender as well.

[thecapecoddah]

top 5 in MVP? simply means he was never the best hitter in his league during any one year.

BAD DESCRIPTION

http://www.redsoxconnection.com/posters/ortiz3.jpg

oops, probably shouldn't have chosen that picture. oh well.

[thecapecoddah]

yikes I thought dale murphy had a higher career batting average than .265.. scratch my vote for him as well.

[Mayor Quimby]

As an Indians fan I loved Albert Belle before he took the money and ran (A true Indian tradition), and I think he was one of the most dangerous hitters for a short period of time. I'm not sure yet if he is hall worthy. His numbers, considering that he truly only played 10 seasons are fantastic, but its unlikely due to his personality that he will get in.

I think what seperates Jim Rice from being good and being great is marginally thin. A great deal of people talk about Rice as being the superstar of his era, a feared hitter when numbers weren't overly bloated. I might be alone in this, but I would take Jim Rice over Kirby Puckett any day.

[Dead Nigga Storage]

I think that longevity is incredibly overrated, too many voters seem to value it above how well a player was against his contemparies. Carl Yastrzemski is someone who played forever. Look at his number of games, hits, at-bats etc. They are high because he played for so long. A lot of the time, he wasn't one of the top players in the league.
Ripken
.

[Homer Jay]

Ripken is a player who I actually thought about more than other people probably did. I did not base my decision based on his career hit total or consecutive game streak. I looked at him primarily in relation to other shortstops of the same period. He was the best the best shortstop in the game for about a decade and his numbers a shortstop would look a lot more impressive if it weren’t for ARod and the other great offensive shortstops beginning in the late 90s. Although he was never one of the truly dominating players, Ripken did win two MVPs. I view him as one of the more overrated players of the past quarter century, but he is still deserving of a spot in the hall, especially when he was compared to his contemporary shortstops

[pat]

gwynn, ripken, morris, blyleven, murphy

[Andy]

I'd say definitely to Gwynn and Ripken.