12:06 It seems like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas are the three guarantees for HOF election. Other candidates include Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jeff Kent, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Mike Mussina, Mike Piazza, and Curt Schilling. You can find a complete list here, but these few are the notables.
12:09 Quick rundown of the criteria for HOF voting - the voters are members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), and can vote for any of zero to ten players. Players are in the HOF if they have 75% of the vote, and are removed from the ballot if they don't get 5% of the vote, or do not make the Hall after 15 years.
12:11 An interesting development in the voting process is exactly who gets to say belongs in the HOF. Personally, I don't think that the BBWAA should do it. At least, not exclusively them. Have some players vote, have some managers vote, have some people already in the HOF vote. Having the BBWAA vote means that the votes come from only one perspective. None of these writers played against these candidates. Deadspin acquired the ballot from one of the voters, and opened up their HOF vote to the fans. All of this is making induction into the HOF mean different things at different points in history, but when it comes down to it, the Hall should be reserved for the elite of the elite.
12:24 Another important conversation that determines HOF voting is the "eyeball test" or looking at the raw numbers. As huge a stathead I am, a believer in numbers and sabermetrics, when you're voting for the best ever to play the game, I think there's value in just knowing who deserves it. Because of that, if I were to have a vote, I'd leave off a lot of players who played before my time (Jack Morris, Tim Raines to name two). I watched guys like Maddux, Glavine, and Mussina pitch, and I know that they were regarded as the best in the game.
12:27 There's a conversation that Maddux could have received 100% of the votes, which has never happened in the HOF vote. Tom Seaver has the highest with 98.84%, and the question of on what grounds you don't vote for Tom Seaver or Nolan Ryan or Greg Maddux came up. Twelve people didn't vote for Hank Aaron to make the Hall of Fame. Why? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I think that some politics are in play here, which dampens the integrity of the vote.
1:57 The inductees to the 2014 MLB Hall of Fame, voted on by 571 voters, are Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas. No Craig Biggio or Jack Morris, who were probably the only other two who could have made it in. Biggio missed it by 0.2% in his second year, so he'll likely be there next year.
2:02 Had I realized this was happening earlier, I would have come out with my ballot. I would have voted for the three who made the HOF, as well as Biggio, Bagwell, Piazza, Martinez, Schilling, and Mussina.
2:05 Bonds and Clemens lost votes from last year, and I'm not surprised by this. I think that suspected PED users should not be immediately disqualified in the minds of the writers, but I think that if they are ever elected into the HOF, it will be after the next six or seven years, once we make some serious progress with wherever the game is with steroids.
2:07 Frank Thomas is the first player to enter the Hall with the majority of his games being played at DH, and this bodes well for the likes of Edgar Martinez, and eventually, David Ortiz. There are a lot of debates about the designated hitter, steroid use, and many more topics surrounding the Hall of Fame, and I think that each has its place. Martinez and Ortiz are both deserving (in my mind) of the HOF, and Thomas being in is a good start.
2:10 Well, this has been fun. Congratulations to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas, very deserving inductees to Cooperstown. Thanks for reading!
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