Before I announce my ballot proper, here are some honorable mentions that I did not vote for and why.
*notes a player in his 1st year year of eligibility
**notes a player in his 15th and final year of eligibility
MOISES ALOU (LF)*
1990 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1990-1996 Montreal Expos, 1997 Florida Marlins, 1998-2001 Houston Astros, 2002-2004 Chicago Cubs, 2005-2006 San Francisco Giants, 2007-2008 New York Mets
Career Accomplishments: 6x All-Star; 2x Silver Slugger winner (1994, 1998); World Series champion (1997)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Alou was good, even great, but his health hampered him throughout his career. He played in at least 150 games just four times in his 17 year career and missed the 1991 and 1999 seasons outright thanks to injuries. Hell, he wasn't eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award until 1992, in what would have been his third season when he was 25.
With all that said, when he did play he was really good. He has a career line of .303/.369/.516 so he was obviously quite proficient offensively. He also had a few memorable postseasons, particularly the 1997 World Series where in 28 at bats he hit .321/.387/.714 with a 1.101 OPS and three home runs. He was also great throughout the postseason in 2003 for the Chicago Cubs.
But back to the injuries, Alou didn't reach the career milestones that voters typically look for in candidates. He only accumulated 2,134 hits and 332 home runs and 106 stolen bases. He also only had a career WAR (Wins Above Replacement, basically how many of his team's wins was he worth) of 39.7. Even with the good line, he isn't a very sexy candidate. At best, he's a guy I'd vote for if the ballot isn't crowded, and that's not going to be the case for possibly decades. Honestly, I'd be surprised if he's on the ballot next year.
TOM GLAVINE (P)*
1987-2002, 2008 Atlanta Braves, 2003-2007 New York Mets
Career Accomplishments: 10x All-Star; 2x Cy Young Award winner (1991, 1998); 4x Silver Slugger winner (1991, 1995-1996, 1998); World Series champion (1995); World Series MVP (1995); 300 wins club (305); 5x 20-game winner (1991-1993, 1998, 2000)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Basically, he's the eleventh guy on my ten-man ballot. Glavine has hall-of-famer written all over him; he has the numbers, the hardware and played on some damn good teams. If he doesn't go in this year, he will in the next couple. I'm very likely in the minority in terms of not putting him on the ballot, but I'll hopefully explain why my ballot is composed the way it is when I get to it. But yeah, Glavine was phenomenal.
LUIS GONZALEZ (LF)*
1990-1995, 1997 Houston Astros, 1995-1996 Chicago Cubs, 1998 Detroit Tigers, 1999-2006 Arizona Diamondbacks, 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers, 2008 Florida Marlins
Career Accomplishments: 5x All-Star (1999, 2001-2003, 2005); Silver Slugger winner (2001)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Here's a brief history of Roger Maris- Maris won two straight American League MVPs from 1960-1961 and broke Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961 with 61. If the hall of fame inducted players based on their best seasons, Maris would be in. As it is, over the course of his entire career outside of those two exceptional seasons, Maris was a good player, but not hall of fame worthy.
Which brings me to Luis Gonzalez. Gonzalez had far and away his best season in 2001 when he hit .325/.429/.688 with a 1.117 OPS, 198 hits, 57 home runs and was walked 100 times on his way to winning a world championship with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He had a couple other good seasons, but that was the peak and he didn't reach the big, round offensive numbers voters look for. As great as his 2001 season was, that's not enough to make it in the hall and with the ballot as crowded as it is, it's an easy decision to leave him off the ballot.
JEFF KENT (2B)*
1992 Toronto Blue Jays, 1992-1996 New York Mets, 1996 Cleveland Indians, 1997-2002 San Francisco Giants, 2003-2004 Houston Astros, 2005-2008 Los Angeles Dodgers
Career Accomplishments: 5x All-Star (1999-2001, 2004-2005); NL MVP (2000); 4x Silver Slugger winner (2000-2002, 2005)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Let's get this out of the way: Jeff Kent is a real douche. However, that isn't why I didn't vote for him. Kent's 377 home runs is somewhat impressive until you consider that it's the most ever by a second basemen, a position that isn't usually known for power hitters. Kent also has a pretty good line of .290/.356/.500 for his career. However, he didn't reach any other statistical milestones for his career. He's a borderline candidate for me where I'd vote for him if the ballot wasn't crowded, though by now I think I've made clear that the ballot is indeed quite crowded, putting it mildly. As far as the voters themselves, Kent's decent numbers and surly reputation with the media probably won't help him much.
DON MATTINGLY (1B)
1982-1995 New York Yankees
Career Accomplishments: 6x All-Star (1984-1989); AL MVP (1985); 9x Gold Glove winner (1985-1989, 1991-1994); 3x Silver Slugger winner (1985-1987); AL batting title (1984)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Mattingly was a hall of famer all through the 80s. Then the 90s happened and his back was ground to dust. Mattingly was THE Yankee of the 80s (sorry Dave Winfield) but he had the misfortune of being on the team at a time when they weren't doing crap in the postseason (the Yankees went to the playoffs once in his career, 1995, his last season), so he didn't have a chance at performing some postseason heroics like other Yankees greats. If his back problems didn't derail his career, he'd likely be in the conversation more than he is. If he had even played one more season as a reserve and been on a World Series winning team, he'd likely get more of a pass. As it is, none of those things happened and Mattingly will likely never be enshrined, at least as a modern day candidate.
MARK MCGWIRE (1B)
1986-1997 Oakland Athletics, 1997-2001 St. Louis Cardinals
Career Accomplishments: 12x All-Star (1987-1992, 1995-2000); AL Rookie of the Year (1987); Gold Glove winner (1990); 3x Silver Slugger winner (1992, 1996, 1998); 4x home run champion (1987, 1996, 1998-1999); 500 home run club (584)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: It wasn't because of the steroids, if that's what you were thinking. Again, he was a ballot casualty. But let's go back to the steroids issue- McGwire never failed a test for performance enhancing drugs (abbreviated from this point on to PEDs, because they WILL be coming up again) in his career. He did admit that he took steroids long after he retired, though he said he only used them to recover from injuries (which is their intended use). I'll just assume he's telling the truth about this because there's no way I can prove that he's lying (until humans learn telepathy after World War III, that is).
It should be noted that steroids have been banned in Major League Baseball since 1971 and officially since 1991. However, and this is important, players weren't tested for them until 2003. This is due to a combination of the players' union fighting tooth and nail to make sure mandatory drug testing didn't happen, and of the owners basically doing a see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil thing when it came to PEDs. So yeah, players that did steroids in the 80s, 90s and early 00s were cheating, but there was no way that could have been proven unless the offending players explicitly admitted their usage. That makes them no different than players from earlier eras that secretly used amphetamines to gain an edge. Or pitchers that secretly doctored balls to gain an edge. Or managers and coaches that illegally stole opposing teams' signs to gain an edge.
Put simply, a shockingly high percentage of athletes in all sports in all eras will and have used anything or have done anything to gain an edge, real or imaginary. I'm not condoning cheating in any way. I'm glad that testing is in place. It was ridiculous that it took so long for it to be implemented. The MLBPA, the owners of the time and Bud Selig should be vilified for dragging their collective feet on the issue. But the BBWAA has no basis for its attempt to moralize the hall of fame. This is long so I'll have to get into why that is in another entry. Just my luck that I'll have ample opportunity to do that.
JACK MORRIS (P)**
1977-1990 Detroit Tigers, 1991 Minnesota Twins, 1992-1993 Toronto Blue Jays, 1994 Cleveland Indians
Career Accomplishments: 5x All-Star (1981, 1984-1985, 1987, 1991); 4x World Series champion (1984, 1991-1993); World Series MVP (1991); 3x 20-game winner (1983, 1986, 1992); AL strikeout champion (1983)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Let me count the ways. Morris, at best, was a good pitcher. He was not at all hall of fame worthy over an extended stretch of time. As pointed out by numerous people with far more credibility than I do, Morris' 3.90 ERA is worse than that of any other pitcher currently enshrined. He never had an ERA below three in his entire career. His WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and other categories per nine innings aren't anything special either. He flat out wasn't dominant for seasons at a time.
All of his hall of fame support seems to come from his performance in the 1991 World Series. And yeah, he was amazing in that series, specifically in the deciding game seven. He also played well in the 1984 postseason. That's it. His other postseason stats are again, pretty lame. The Toronto Blue Jays seemed to win the 1992 World Series in spite of him, as he allowed 13 hits, 10 of them earned on his way to an 8.44 ERA in two games. So his postseason play is pretty much in line with his regular season numbers- mostly blahze with the occasional moments of brilliance. He does not in any way meet the standards to which a hall of fame pitcher should be judged.
MIKE MUSSINA (P)*
1991-2000 Baltimore Orioles, 2001-2008 New York Yankees
Career Accomplishments: 5x All-Star (1992-1994, 1997, 1999); 7x Gold Glove winner (1996-1999, 2001, 2003, 2008); 20-game winner (2008)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Mussina is the one type of candidate that is hurt the most by the hall of fame logjam. At a glance, his career numbers don't jump off the page. But if you examine his numbers year by year, he was actually very consistent. While he wasn't really dominant, he never lost a step either. While he never won a Cy Young award, he won a bunch of Gold Gloves. Even though he never reached any of the round-number milestones, he put up great numbers. He's not a slam-dunk case, but he has more than a credible argument for enshrinement. But the goal for this year will likely be to receive at least 5% of the vote so he can remain on the ballot.
RAFAEL PALMEIRO (1B)
1986-1988 Chicago Cubs, 1989-1993, 1999-2003 Texas Rangers, 1994-1998, 2004-2005 Baltimore Orioles
Career Accomplishments: 4x All-Star (1988, 1991, 1998-1999); 3x Gold Glove winner (1997-1999); 2x Silver Slugger winner (1998-1999); 3,000 hits club (3,020); 500 home run club (569)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Part two of our discussion on steroids and ethics. Palmeiro is on the Mount Rushmore of the steroid controversy along with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire. Unlike those three or most other players from that era suspected of taking PEDs however, Palmeiro actually failed a drug test. He was suspended 10 games in 2005. He also fervently denied intentionally taking steroids even after this, most infamously during the Congressional hearings dealing with the steroids-in-baseball issue where he, in a moment of hubris fit for a Scorsese movie, wagged his finger at the panel.
 | |||
| Sadly, Palmeiro did not, in fact, ask Congress to pull his finger. |
Palmeiro has never given an explanation for his failed tests or his strict dad impression on capital hill, since "I didn't do it" isn't so much an explanation as a declarative statement. That isn't why I didn't vote for him. For sure, these series of displays on Palmeiro's part were slimy at best, but the hall of fame is meant to honor the players that were considered the best of all time or the best of the era in which they played. Whether a player is virtuous or morally repugnant is inconsequential if his game was good enough to justify enshrinement.
Why did I come to that conclusion? By looking at the hall's inductees. Ty Cobb was a charter member in 1936. Cobb was a belligerent force and a list of his exploits read like a casting sheet for a side character in a Coen brothers movie. He sharpened the spikes on his cleats so it would hurt opposing infielders even more than normal when he slid into them. He also choked a groundskeeper, choked the groundskeeper's wife when she tried to intervene, started shit which often led to fisticuffs and once jumped into the stands to beat up a heckler. When it was pointed out to him that the heckler had no hands, Cobb reportedly responded with "I don't care if he's got no feet!"
Rogers Hornsby was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Whitey Ford doctored balls. Gaylord Perry explicitly used spitballs. Babe Ruth was a massive drunk. Dennis Eckersley made Oakland A's ball-boys buy him and the rest of the team pot.
My point being, there are racists, drug addicts, alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, cheaters and most of all, jerks enshrined in Cooperstown. None of those people mentioned above are in the hall because they were awesome people. They got in because of their merits as baseball players. It's the Baseball Hall of Fame, not the Baseball's Biggest Nice Guys Hall of Fame. Lou Gehrig is often put on a pedestal as the goodest of the good guys in baseball. But he's not in the hall of fame because of that. He's in because he was one of the best baseball players of all time.
Getting back to Palmeiro, I didn't vote for him because I simply felt there were more deserving candidates. His batting line of .288/.371/.515 is good (particularly his slugging percentage) and he was very consistent throughout his long career. He didn't receive a lot of MVP support, never placing higher than 5th in the voting. His career WAR of 71.8 is more good than great. Even with his numbers, I have a hard time replacing anyone on my ballot with Palmeiro. I'm kind of sick of writing "if the ballot wasn't so crowded...", but it really applies here. Palmeiro is a borderline case for me, and that has nothing to do with his PED use.
SAMMY SOSA (RF)
1989, 2007 Texas Rangers, 1989-1991 Chicago White Sox, 1992-2004 Chicago Cubs, 2005 Baltimore Orioles
Career Accomplishments: 7x All-Star (1995, 1998-2002, 2004); NL MVP (1998); 6x Silver Slugger winner (1995, 1998-2002); home run champion (2000, 2002); 600 home run club (609)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Sosa is a lot like Rafael Palmeiro, but with his slugging game taking even more precedence over everything else he did. His 609 home runs are the eighth most in history and his career .534 slugging percentage is in the top 50 of all time. However, Sosa is third on the all-time strikeout list with 2,306 meaning he struck out in more than one-quarter of his career at-bats. He also didn't reach the 3,000 hit total for his career and didn't come close to even sniffing it. Basically, he was very one-dimensional player who hit a ton of home runs, but didn't do a whole lot else.
But Sosa gives me another opportunity to explain why I feel the BBWAA doesn't have the credibility to exclude players for using PEDs. In 1998 when Sosa and McGwire were battling for the home run title, Steve Wilstein, a member of the Associated Press, was the first to report that McGwire was taking a drug called Androstenedione which is, you guessed it, a steroid. Wilstein's report, which came out at a time when baseball was more popular than it had been in years, was wildly derided by sportswriters nationwide. They called his accusations baseless or that he was distorting facts.
And yet, Wilstein's report was accurate. As were his followup reports over the course of the next four years. These sportswriters were protecting their cash-cow sport that was earning them more newspaper subscriptions and in the end, they looked like a bunch of assholes as this guy broke one of the single biggest news story in the sports world in history and they all stuck their heads in the ground.
And now, many of these same sportswriters are some of the most ardent anti-PED people. Funny how that works. In an effort to cover their asses, they went from zero to one-million in terms of the "no cheaters allowed" mentality. But as I mentioned above, there are plenty of people in the hall of fame that are less than reputable. Some of whom used drugs in an effort to gain an edge (Willie Mays and Hank Aaron to name a few). So all this blustering and posturing by the sportswriters Jacks and Jills around the country is reactionary at best and disingenuous at worst. The hall of fame ballot has ballooned thanks in no small part to writers who rather than report what was going on at the time, instead thought it was best to write in as flowery a language as possible about how Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa saved baseball. I'm not going to punish nearly two decades worth of baseball players because we just now are mad about steroids. Instead, I'm going to view them as merely taking advantage of the enviornment they were playing in. An environment that produced questions the writers of the time decided weren't worth answering.
ALAN TRAMMELL (SS)
1977-1996 Detroit Tigers
Career Accomplishments: 6x All-Star (1980, 1984-1985, 1987-1988, 1990); World Series champion (1984); World Series MVP (1984); 4x Gold Glove winner (1980-1981, 1983-1984); 3x Silver Slugger (1987-1988, 1990)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: Trammall is the Mike Mussina of hitters (or Mike Mussina is the Alan Trammall of pitchers, whichever you prefer), in that he wasn't really dominant and didn't excel at any one aspect of his game, but he did everything pretty well, and for a long time. Like Mussina, he's not a slam-dunk, but more than a worthy choice. Unfortunately, some of the best players the game has ever seen are on this ballot.
LARRY WALKER (RF)
1989-1994 Montreal Expos, 1995-2004 Colorado Rockies, 2004-2005 St. Louis Cardinals
Career Accomplishments: 5x All-Star (1992, 1997-1999, 2001); NL MVP (1997); 7x Gold Glove winner (1992-1993, 1997-1999, 2001-2002); 3x Silver Slugger winner (1992, 1997, 1999); 3x batting champion (1998-1999, 2001)
Why I Didn't Vote for Him: I ran out of room. Walker had a phenomenal career with a .313/.400/.565 line. He could get hits, home runs and could steal bases. Walker's candidacy has been called into question due to Denver's high altitude making it easier for balls to carry in the thin air. To that I say that a bunch of players were on the Rockies when that was seen as a problem and weren't as dominant as Walker. His passion for the game was also called into question several times in his career with some writers saying that he could have been even better if he cared a little more. To which I say, who gives a shit? For a guy who didn't care, he sure had an amazing career. And yeah, maybe he could have been better, but as it was, he was one of the best players of his generation. This is like Randy Moss in the NFL, where he openly admitted to taking plays and even whole seasons of his career off. Yet he's still one of the most prolific wide receivers in NFL history. If Walker's case is similar, I still say he belongs in the hall.
***
That'll do it for my honorable (and not so honorable) mentions. I'll get off my soapbox now and get my actual ballot out sometime tomorrow.
EDIT: Or Monday, whichever comes first.
EDIT: Or Monday, whichever comes first.
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