2012 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot Announced

[EmpireWF]

@ the new names

Jeromy Burnitz, Vinny Castilla, Brian Jordan, Javy Lopez, Bill Mueller, Terry Mulholland, Phil Nevin, Brad Radke, Tim Salmon, Ruben Sierra, Bernie Williams, Tony Womack, Eric Young

They join the names from past years who are still on the ballot including:

Barry Larkin, Jack Morris, Lee Smith, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro, Alan Trammell and Larry Walker.

I could see Larkin making it but I wouldn't be surprised to see Trammell and Bagwell too.



Next year's ballot will see Mike Piazza, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Craig Biggio, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds added. Of them, three were known steroid abusers, so expect Clemens, Sosa and Bonds to get the Palmeiro/McGwire treatment.

[Leftwich]

Ugh what a shitty group of guys.

I miss Javy though

[Sharkweather]

Javy!

[FirstTimer]

I've recently been told Harold Baines has a case for the HOF.........

Where is he?

[Rudi]

Jeromy Burnitz? LOL.

But Barry Larkin better get in this year.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Interested to see how Bernie Williams does.

I used to get worked up about the HOF, but I don't care as much now. Writers have stupid agendas and the whole idea of "first ballot" and making guys wait is incredibly stupid and annoying.

It's just a plaque on the wall, put all these fuckers in, who really cares. It stopped being about immortals decades ago.

[nflman2033]

oh God yes, this is definately the class that Larkin gets in, I mean how many of those guys are more deserving.

[Warner2BruceTD]

The fact that Tim Raines and Larry Walker got so little support last year is embarrassing and is what really changed my attitude towards the whole thing.

[Pills]

Of the new guys, I think only Bernie will be on next year's ballot.

Of the remaining guys, Bags should likely make it in first. Next year, Piazza is first ballot. Biggio will make it due to 3k, but may get the Sutton treatment - Don Sutton had 300 wins, but little respect, and is generally seen as one of the worst 300 winners. I think he was 4th ballot. I don't know if Biggio will go that far, but I don't know if he'll be first ballot.

The good thing about him is that he never pissed anyone off. Personally, I'd love to see Bags and Biggio go in together.

Schilling's an interesting case. Here's a question - would you consider Kevin Brown a HOFer? They have *very* similar statistics - they're within 1 on ERA+, even. The main difference is that Brown's peak was big and early due to injuries.

[shag773]

I remember collecting Tim Salmon rookie cards in 93 because I though this kid was going to be amazing. I can now pair that with my Curtis Pride rookie card to wipe my ass with...

[Warner2BruceTD]

We may have talked about this last year, but Biggio is loved by the advanced stat community. Bill James thinks he's the second best 2B of all time, and for a short period in the 90's before Bonds blew up he considered Biggio the best player in the game (1995-ish).

I'm not as bullish on Biggio as that, but he hit almost 700 doubles, led the league in HBP almost every year (which added considerably to his OBP), and was a .900 OPS during his prime years. Add in the 3,000 hits and to me he should be an absolute no brainer.

Some dickwad writers will probably "make him wait", though.

[dj_morton]

Biggio deserves in 1st or 2nd ballot...I think playing in Houston and being such a quiet person will hurt him....damn writers

[Pills]

The above two posts are why I think he's not first ballot. Hell, the only reason you ever heard a peep about him in NY is because he's from Long Island.

He'll be in by 2015 at the latest.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I would vote for these guys, I see them as no-brainers:

Larkin
E.Martinez
Bagwell
Raines
L.Walker
B.Williams
Palmeiro

Yeah, Palmeiro. I'm over the steroids thing. They all fucking did it, I don't care anymore. With that said, as long as the voters are consistent, and leave all of the KNOWN cheaters out, i'm ok with that. No picking and choosing. So far, they haven't done that. Next year will be telling.


Here is the group I would call "on the fence" for me:

D. Murphy - Short peak, but back-to-back MVP's are hard to ignore. .900+ OPS, .500+ SLG guy for a few years, but did not sustain it. 2100 hits doesn't blow you away. By '88 he was done. Big time player from '80-'87. Somebody sway me, make a compelling argument.

McGwire - Steroids or not, I never saw him as HOF caliber. He is such a massive and obvious steroid abuser though that I find it hard to justify his entry, even if other juicers get in, because his one & only skill is most affected by steroid use.

McGriff - Another guy that I can't pull the trigger on. Again, compel me, i'll listen.




No:

Morris - If you are into "big game pitchers", he's you're dude. I don't like the 3.90 ERA (105 ERA+), no Cy Young's, no blow away trademark season.

L. Smith - No way. Lee Smith was no better than any of the middling closers of today like Cordero, F-Rod, Heath Bell, etc etc. Closers need to be special, I would never vote for this guy.

T. Salmon & A. Trammell - Nice players. Both had nice careers. Salmon is better than people think. But no.

Nobody else can even be taken seriously.

[Houston]

Bagwell