I'm Drawing a Blank Here
I have a friend who was quite upset when the Baseball Hall of Fame vote was announced yesterday. While she was upset about Bert Blyleven getting in, she was outraged that there were five blank ballots. This is something my dad and I discussed many years ago, actually. In the discussion, we reasoned that blank ballots were legitimate votes. The voters have to send ballots in; otherwise, it will be presumed they are lost and replacements would be sent out.
When you’re voting for a political office, a blank ballot is pointless. Someone will be mayor/senator/president/etc. If all choices are bad, the voter must decide which is the better of the evils—or start a write-in campaign for a better choice. But there’s no law saying that someone has to be inducted into the Hall of Fame every year—nor should there be. Non-Hall of Fame caliber players shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame simply because they happen to be on a ballot in a weak year. Therefore, if a voter truly feels none of the candidates are worthy of the Hall of Fame, a blank ballot is an acceptable vote.
The thing is, like the MVP and Cy Young vote, the Hall of Fame vote is subjective. You have the “old school” guys, who feel that “wins” determine the Cy Young, RBIs and home runs determine the MVP (and their team making playoffs is the basis for both), and only super-super-stars like Babe Ruth and Willie Mays belong in the Hall of Fame. And then you have guys who feel that any player who had a pretty good year deserves the MVP, and anyone who played fairly well deserves to get into the Hall of Fame. (I know there were fans a few years ago that felt Derek Jeter should be MVP. No one in the AL had an outstanding year, and their argument is that he had been a good player for so many years, he deserved it. I call that the worst argument ever for MVP. There are guys who have won MVPs who don’t belong in the Hall of Fame, simply because that one year was the only year they played outstanding. As well, there are probably guys who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame who never won the MVP/Cy Young, because every year there was someone just a bit more outstanding than them, but overall, they were outstanding.)
It all comes down to how you feel about the Hall of Fame. Do you feel it’s only for the Elite? Or do you feel it’s more for baseball history?
Personally, I’m somewhere between.
As two examples, Roger Maris and Jack Morris are two names that are not in the Hall of Fame that people believe should be.
I would like to see Roger Maris in the Hall of Fame. Sure, he only had a few outstanding years, but I think his 1961 season is infamous—made even more so that the home run record wasn’t until the steroid era that the record was broken (I’m not implying that those that broke the record were on steroids, but the suspicion still stands). Maris held the title of single-season home run leader for longer than Babe Ruth.
Yet, on the same hand, I’m not sure Jack Morris deserves to go in purely for World Series Game Seven in 1991. Not everyone who throws a shut-out deserves to go into the Hall of Fame, no matter how dramatic the game was. The game itself should be in the Hall of Fame, but not the individual players unless they have a career of play to back them up. (And Morris might deserve to be in the Hall on his own merits; my problem is that most people point to Game Seven as the reason Morris should be.)
Really, because it’s subjective, it’s sadly up to the voters to decide whom they think it worthy for the Hall of Fame and who isn’t. But just like all votes, there will always be some voters who are, and I mean this in the politest way possible, idiots.
Timberwolves update: They have a 0-3 record since I last reported. They’re now at 7-29, or a 19.4% winning percentage; back under the 20% mark. The have the worst record in the West, but New Jersey has the worst record, 3-32.
Wild Update: The Wild have a 21-20-3 record, for a 47.7% winning percentage. The Wild are down to two players with concussions, and Brent Burns feels he’s almost ready to return; Pierre-Marc Bouchard is still completely unknown.
When you’re voting for a political office, a blank ballot is pointless. Someone will be mayor/senator/president/etc. If all choices are bad, the voter must decide which is the better of the evils—or start a write-in campaign for a better choice. But there’s no law saying that someone has to be inducted into the Hall of Fame every year—nor should there be. Non-Hall of Fame caliber players shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame simply because they happen to be on a ballot in a weak year. Therefore, if a voter truly feels none of the candidates are worthy of the Hall of Fame, a blank ballot is an acceptable vote.
The thing is, like the MVP and Cy Young vote, the Hall of Fame vote is subjective. You have the “old school” guys, who feel that “wins” determine the Cy Young, RBIs and home runs determine the MVP (and their team making playoffs is the basis for both), and only super-super-stars like Babe Ruth and Willie Mays belong in the Hall of Fame. And then you have guys who feel that any player who had a pretty good year deserves the MVP, and anyone who played fairly well deserves to get into the Hall of Fame. (I know there were fans a few years ago that felt Derek Jeter should be MVP. No one in the AL had an outstanding year, and their argument is that he had been a good player for so many years, he deserved it. I call that the worst argument ever for MVP. There are guys who have won MVPs who don’t belong in the Hall of Fame, simply because that one year was the only year they played outstanding. As well, there are probably guys who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame who never won the MVP/Cy Young, because every year there was someone just a bit more outstanding than them, but overall, they were outstanding.)
It all comes down to how you feel about the Hall of Fame. Do you feel it’s only for the Elite? Or do you feel it’s more for baseball history?
Personally, I’m somewhere between.
As two examples, Roger Maris and Jack Morris are two names that are not in the Hall of Fame that people believe should be.
I would like to see Roger Maris in the Hall of Fame. Sure, he only had a few outstanding years, but I think his 1961 season is infamous—made even more so that the home run record wasn’t until the steroid era that the record was broken (I’m not implying that those that broke the record were on steroids, but the suspicion still stands). Maris held the title of single-season home run leader for longer than Babe Ruth.
Yet, on the same hand, I’m not sure Jack Morris deserves to go in purely for World Series Game Seven in 1991. Not everyone who throws a shut-out deserves to go into the Hall of Fame, no matter how dramatic the game was. The game itself should be in the Hall of Fame, but not the individual players unless they have a career of play to back them up. (And Morris might deserve to be in the Hall on his own merits; my problem is that most people point to Game Seven as the reason Morris should be.)
Really, because it’s subjective, it’s sadly up to the voters to decide whom they think it worthy for the Hall of Fame and who isn’t. But just like all votes, there will always be some voters who are, and I mean this in the politest way possible, idiots.
Timberwolves update: They have a 0-3 record since I last reported. They’re now at 7-29, or a 19.4% winning percentage; back under the 20% mark. The have the worst record in the West, but New Jersey has the worst record, 3-32.
Wild Update: The Wild have a 21-20-3 record, for a 47.7% winning percentage. The Wild are down to two players with concussions, and Brent Burns feels he’s almost ready to return; Pierre-Marc Bouchard is still completely unknown.
Labels: G-g-g-girl, Hall of Fame, MLb
posted by thisisbeth | 9:33 AM
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