Hall of Fame Game

The Hall-of-Fame ballot for 2008 is being mailed out to voters -- myself included -- and includes only one truly mortal lock for immortality: outfielder Rickey Henderson

Players that have accumulated 10-plus years of time in the majors and have been retired for five years are eligible to be included on the ballot. A player receiving 75 per cent of votes cast enters the Hall. If a player receives a certain minimum of votes each season, he can remain on the ballot for a maximum of 15 years. At that point their candidacy is handed over to the Veterans Committee and that's a tough, tough screening group.

Henderson retired in 2003 and tried to get back to the majors, putting some time in an independent league. That didn't count against his waiting time.

The voting is conducted among 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Association, who consider this the most significant responsibility of their sometimes less-than-august group. It's not getting any easier in terms of the Steroid Era and other extenuating factors in steering a vote away from certain candidates. Each ballot, returned before the end of the calendar year, may include up to 10 nominees.  

Here is a list of this year's candidates by position:

Pitchers: (7) Bert Blyleven, David Cone, Tommy John, Jack Morris, Jesse Orosco, Dan Plesac, Lee Smith.

Outfielders: (9) Harold  Baines, Andre Dawson, Ron Gant, Rickey Henderson, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, Greg Vaughn.

First-basemen: (4) Mark Grace, Don Mattingly, Mark McGwire, Mo Vaughn.

Other Infielders: (3) Jay Bell, Alan Trammel, Matt Williams.

I'll be writing a column on the '08 Hall-of-Fame class once I receive my ballot with the accompanying literature. But it seems that this would be as good an opportunity as they will ever get for other outfielders - Rice, Dawson and Raines - to make a significant move.

McGwire, the poster boy for the disgraced era of steroids has received the exact same percentage of votes his first two years on the ballot, far short of inclusion. Whether you agree with it or not, that is unlikely to change. 

Comments

[Jeff D.]

Henderson is obviously a no-brainer.

I personally don't believe that Dawson or Rice belong in the Hall. I think Raines is more deserving than either. I expect Rice to get in since there aren't a lot of other "star" candidates and it's his last year of eligibility...though why someone would not vote for a player in one year and then vote for him the next year escapes me. What's changed?

The one player who won't get in and should clearly be in is Bert Blyleven. It's a disgrace that he's not enshrined. I'm crossing my fingers on Big Griff recognizing this and ticking Bert's name on his ballot.

[Brian Sells]

Couldn't agree with you more about Ricky Henderson. A surefire first ballot HOF. Some of the names on the list are most interesting, Blyleven, John, Morris, Baines, Dawson, Murphy, Raines, Rice, and Mattingly were all very good ballplayers and in many cases very close to being HOFers, but come up just a little bit short. Having visited the shrine in Cooperstown several times, I have always been in awe when I realize just how special a player has to be in order to be granted this enormous honour. Personally I like how exclusive the Baseball Hall Of Fame is. Any of the above candidates were great players and an excellent argument can be made for any of them. I am certain that a couple of them will find their way to Cooperstown. The one player who doesn't deserve to be included is McGwire. Without the use of steroids his career would have ended far sooner and he would not have produced the home run numbers he did in his last few years. He was truly a representative of the steroid era and most of his accomplishments would not have been possible without steroids.

[Kevin]

Character, apparently plays a part in the HOF process, which is why McGwire isn't in there yet, and doesn't deserve to be, and why Roger Clemens is probably not a first-ballot shoo-in when he is finally eligible. So what about Henderson? Yes, his stats were impressive, but does his ego count against him? Roger is probably the only one in the game who's ego was even close to Ricky's. I suppose he deserves to be there for his uniqueness - the only player to ever go on the DL because of frostbite! As for the rest of the ballot, the only other "maybes" are Morris, Mattingly and Trammel. The rest of them, well, they were good, but not great. And this is the Baseball HOF we're talking about, not the Hockey HOF, so it is a more exclusive list.