DonShula84
Sporty Don
Barry Bonds
Ichiro
How can you say Bonds is a lock after what we just saw with Big Mac?
Barry Bonds
Ichiro
Gywnn...20 seasons...a .338 lifetime average.
Think about that for a while.
BTW...current LOCK Hall of Famers?
I say:
Clemens
Maddux
Jeter
A-Rod
Ramirez
Hall of Fame LOCKS IMO!
Griffey
Piazza
Pudge
Glavine
Maddux
A-Rod
Clemens
Randy Johnson
Bonds
Mariano
Pedro
Biggio
Smoltz
Frank Thomas
Hoffman
Manny
Borderline
Thome
Jeter
Ichiro
Sheffield
Andruw Jones
Schilling
That's my opinion. I might be leaving 1 or 2 guys out but I don't have time to go look them up!
Barry Bonds
Ichiro
Getting 100% of the votes is overrated. If people like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Cy Young, Ty Cobb and Joe D never got 100% then neither should have Ripken or Gywnn. I doubt they even care if they got 90% or the 70%.
Everyone knows some of the writers are jerks/jokes and won't vote for someone just to "be different" or won't vote for a certain player because he had a bad experience or because that player played for a rival team. It's a shame but those types of writers are thankfully few.
Gossage should get in next time, and it's about flippin' time. He had a big jump in votes, and I think voters thought "huh, if we're going to vote in Bruce Sutter, we'd better elect Gossage, too". I don't think anyone else who was on this year's ballot will make it via the BBWWA vote, though. Jim Rice's candidacy appears to have hit its highest level of support, and next year's election is his last on the ballot. Maybe the Vets Committee will induct him.
As for current HOF'ers, I pretty much agree with everything Ray Finkle said. Jeter would only miss the HOF if his numbers fall off a cliff in the next two years. I'd note one exception, though: Smoltz isn't a lock. I'd bet on him to get in, but he's going to have a strange candidacy.
Who is in the running for the hall next year?
Thank you! I do not understand why people are making such a big stink out of the "they weren't unanimous!" thing. Who cares? They're in the Hall of Fame. Isn't that enough?
Is it stupid not to vote for Ripken and Gwynn? Of course it is. Is that guy who voted for no one because he wanted to make a statement on the "Steroid Era" a pompous jackass? Of course he is. But you can't take someone's vote away just because they didn't vote for this guy or that. This is an extremely subjective process, and therefore, there has to be some allowance for bizarre opinions. Ripken and Gwynn are Hall of Famers, and the rest of it doesn't matter. Believe me, I've been to the Hall of Fame several times, and nowhere on the player's plaque does it say "elected with X% of the vote".
Who is in the running for the hall next year?
The biggest name is David Justice. So saying the pool class is extremely thin is an understatement. Therefore guys like Goose and Rice will probably get in.
Everyone that had at least 5% of the votes this past year:
Rich "Goose" Gossage 71.2%
Jim Rice 63.5%
Andre Dawson 56.7%
Bert Blyleven 47.7%
Lee Smith 39.8%
Jack Morris 37.1%
Mark McGwire 23.5%
Tommy John 22.9%
Steve Garvey 21.1%
Dave Concepcion 13.6%
Alan Trammell 13.4%
Dave Parker 11.4%
Don Mattingly 54 9.9%
Dale Murphy 9.2%
Harold Baines 5.3%
New for 2008:
Shawon Dunston, Travis Fryman, David Justice, Mike Morgan, Tim Raines, Randy Velarde
Thank you! I do not understand why people are making such a big stink out of the "they weren't unanimous!" thing. Who cares? They're in the Hall of Fame. Isn't that enough?
Is it stupid not to vote for Ripken and Gwynn? Of course it is. Is that guy who voted for no one because he wanted to make a statement on the "Steroid Era" a pompous jackass? Of course he is. But you can't take someone's vote away just because they didn't vote for this guy or that. This is an extremely subjective process, and therefore, there has to be some allowance for bizarre opinions. Ripken and Gwynn are Hall of Famers, and the rest of it doesn't matter. Believe me, I've been to the Hall of Fame several times, and nowhere on the player's plaque does it say "elected with X% of the vote".
Gossage should get in next time, and it's about flippin' time. He had a big jump in votes, and I think voters thought "huh, if we're going to vote in Bruce Sutter, we'd better elect Gossage, too". I don't think anyone else who was on this year's ballot will make it via the BBWWA vote, though. Jim Rice's candidacy appears to have hit its highest level of support, and next year's election is his last on the ballot. Maybe the Vets Committee will induct him.
As for current HOF'ers, I pretty much agree with everything Ray Finkle said. Jeter would only miss the HOF if his numbers fall off a cliff in the next two years. I'd note one exception, though: Smoltz isn't a lock. I'd bet on him to get in, but he's going to have a strange candidacy.