This was 17 years ago? God, I'm getting old.
The 2009 Hall of Fame Ballot was unveiled yesterday and there’s bound to be some controversy involved as a few of the holdovers face a possible last shot at the Hall. Headlining the ballot is Ricky Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time along with newcomers Mark Grace, Jay Bell and David Cone.
Ricky Henderson is so obviously a first ballot Hall of Famer that to spend more than a few moments laying out his case is an insult to everyone involved. He’s the all time leader in stolen bases and runs scored and second in base on balls with 2190. In fact, his 1406 stolen bases are 468 more than the next closest player. His .401 OBP combined with his 297 career HRs are a rare combination of speed and power that deserve to be honored with an unanimous vote.
Additionally, it’s JIm Rice’s 15th year on the ballot and it will be his final year one way or another. Either he’ll be voted in to the Hall or his name will finally be removed from the list and he’ll have to take a shot at getting in by way of the Veteran’s Committee. I have been on record numerous times saying that I love Jim Rice, my family loves Jim Rice, but Jim Rice does not belong in the Hall of Fame. He was a hell of a left fielder and was the heart and soul of the Red Sox for a large portion of his career but he was undeniably a product of Fenway and this is not good enough for the Hall of Fame.
Bert Blyleven is another story. Bert should have gone to the Hall many years ago. His case has been made on this site numerous times and here’s one such post.
And I will not spend any more time arguing against Andre Dawson. He’s a great player who should miss the cut.
But there are other new names on the ballot this year. It’s Mark Grace’s first year and I find this as funny as Grace’s famous slump buster story. Mark Grace lead all hitters in the 90s in both hits and doubles and he was a hell of a defensive first basemen, but there is no way in hell that Gracie deserves to be enshrined in the Hall. He was one of my favorite players growing up and he was the reason I stepped into the batting cages with an aluminum bat without batting gloves when I was 12 (first and last time that happened).
Why is Jay Bell on this list? His career 101 OPS+ is almost the definition of average. Good fielder though and he did score the winning run in the 2001 WS. But by that standard, Craig Counsell would be a first ballot HoF himself.
And let’s not forget Big Mac. Mark McGwire is on the list for the third time and I don’t see him getting in, though I imagine he’ll get more votes this year since the Mitchell Report came out and named so many names. It kind of makes his crime look less heinous. The first two years he recieved about 23.5% of the vote and I imagine he might move up to 30% this year.
LoL. Hef this is good stuff.
Rickey’s “quotes” to John Olerud make me laugh still.
If Bert doesn’t make it I’m setting fire to that whole museum
Craig Counsell is a HOFer.
/sincere.
this is outrageous…would you say rickey is underrated?
and shame on you for not having at least 50 rickey quotes in this post.
if blyleven makes it…the baseball HoF is dead to me.
spence we don’t want to get into this argument again do we? ive had enough of bitch slapping you over it.
/fixed for context
im a glutton for punishment.
mcqwire should be in…no doubt about it.
Jay Bell is awesome, though not quite a HOFer.
I once read somewhere that as a SS, if you’re better than Jay Bell, you’re in. If you’re worse, you’re out.
He’s the line.
Isn’t Barry Larkin eligible? He’s an easy first ballot, if so. Might be eligible next year.
Nick..Didn’t Larkin already get into the Reds HOF first Ballot..I think that is the extent of his HOFness
barry larkin was the absolute tits…if cal ripken gets in, larkin should be a no brainer.
/not clouded at all by anti-cal bias.
Larkin was bomb.
Wait… I thought Ricky was still playing?
Mark Grace was a much cooler version of Will Clark to me growing up.
I actually went goose hunting with Will Clark when I was much younger. He’s pretty f’ing red.
My dad took Jeff Treadway hunting this past year for a charity event.
/random
Ricky Henderson will have to leave his own funeral early because he’s got a game.
I once gave Harry Connick Jr a key so he could take a dump at a gas station.
/random
ill…what wouldve made it better is if you went hunting with john olerud while he was wearinga bright blue blue jays helmet.
Spencer – haha. I doubt we would have killed a thing. I would have asked to spray paint that fucker brown or black.
you never know…it might have attracted a blue jay. you can kill those things right?
how do you get on the ballot? how the eff did Greg Vaughn get on there.
wow…roman is on the ballot. apparently his life he vicariously lived through tatis this summer got him on there.
Spencer…that is just silly..Tatis is still an active God-Like creature…he is sure to make the HOF in heaven
Funny story about Tatis: He was just inducted in the inaugural class at the Balco Hall of Fame.
clown…Jesus saves…and so does Tatis
Any love for Alan Trammell? If you look at all the SS in the HOF, Trammell is better than most of them. If he didn’t play in the same era as Ripken he’d be a no-brainer.
Tim Raines I’d vote in too, but he’s borderline.
Trammel and Whitaker have great cases.
Raines should have been 1st ballot. Voters will probably wait till next year (after Rickey).