2015 MLB Thread
- Thread starter Jagger69
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Yeah, fuck yeah!!!! It's about time!!!!
I think the voters got it right.
I think that the two players elected were deserving, but I think the voters have gotten way too much wrong for way too long. I believe that HoF voting is absolutely broken.
Let me start with this year's ballot. Jim Edmonds only received 11 (or 2.5%) of the votes and is therefore never going to be elected to the Hall of Fame (because he didn't receive the required 5% to stay on the ballot for another year) after his first year on the ballot. That is utterly ludicrous. He won a World Series title, eight Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger, and was a four-time All-Star in his career. More than that, I think he is on a very short list of the most dominant Center Fielders in the league during his generation; I'm not talking about a guy who was dominant for 3-4 years and then just above average for a few more (like most good but not great players are), I'm talking about a guy who was the best or among the best at his position for 12-13 years. Most people remember him for his defensive skills in CF (which is fair enough because he was, in my opinion, the best I've ever seen defensively in CF), but he was a star hitter as well. Here are the numbers he posted for some of his best seasons: .290, 33 HR, 107 RBI; .307, 25 HR, 91 RBI; .295, 42 HR, 108 RBI; .304, 30 HR, 110 RBI; .311, 28 HR, 83 RBI; .275, 39 HR, 89 RBI; .301, 42 HR, 111 RBI (and that last season came in 2004 at the age of 34). His career totals: .284, 393 HR, 1199 RBI. Those offensive numbers probably aren't HoF worthy on their own, but I am of the opinion that Edmonds could've hit .000 with zero home runs and zero RBI in 7000 at-bats and still been a Hall-of-Famer based purely on his defensive prowess. I'm tempted to compare him with Bill Mazeroski (who was elected into the HoF), which I think might be a bit unfair, but they both won eight Gold Gloves and were (at least remembered as) amazing defensive players but not necessarily offensive stars. Mazeroski: .260, 138 HR, 853 RBI. Clearly inferior to Edmonds, but Mazeroski is also remembered as the guy who hit a walk-off HR in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to defeat the Yankees. Which is part of the big problem with HoF voting because baseball writers are self-important muppets who put a premium on non-baseball related tangibles all the time. Likeability, leadership, public personas, relationships with the media - they all play a big role. And, in this case, some kind of arbitrary legacy that the player achieved because of one historic moment one time in his career. I'm not saying Mazeroski doesn't belong in the Hall (and I believe that he totally does), but put him up next to Edmonds and it's impossible to make the claim that he belongs and Edmonds doesn't.
I also think it's crazy that Trevor Hoffman didn't get in (even if it was his first time on the ballot). I mean, we're talking about a guy who was the all-time leader in saves like five years ago. I mean, WTF?!?!?!?!?! But at least he did receive a good number of votes and it looks like he'll probably get in in another year or two.
Then there's Curt Schilling. It was his fourth time on the ballot and he received 52.3% of the votes. So I'm starting to think that he might have a chance to make it eventually, even though before this year I really didn't think he would based on past voting. He still might not make it though and that would be ridiculous. He won over 200 games in this era, he's fifteenth on the all-time strikeout list, and he won three rings (and a World Series and NLCS MVP along the way).
And Alan Trammell.
But, to me, the biggest snub of all is Larry Walker. Do people seriously not remember how dominant this guy was?!?! In his prime, he wasn't just dominant, he was outright inhuman. I mean, peep this: .366, 49 HR, 130 RBI; .379, 37 HR, 115 RBI; .350, 38 HR, 123 RBI. Those are three of the most dominant offensive seasons in baseball history (three!) and they were all by the same player; no player has hit .379 or better since Walker's historic season. And that ignores his batting title season of 1998 when he hit .363. NL MVP, three Silver Sluggers, three batting titles, five-time All-Star, and a HR title. As I alluded to before, the writers seem to place a premium on offensive abilities above all else, and based purely on numbers, Walker would be in the upper echelon of Hall-of-Famers in terms of offensive numbers (career: .313, 383 HR, 1311 RBI). But on top of that he was a seven-time Gold Glove winner. He only received 15.5% of the votes in his sixth year on the ballot, so it doesn't look like he's ever going to get in, and that's such a joke.
It's pretty clear to me based on these cases (and others, such as Bernie Williams, Steve Garvey, Lou Whitaker, etc.) that HoF voting is broken.
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