Andre Dawson Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, Roberto Alomar Snubbed

Perhaps one of the benefits of being unemployed, is that I get to see things happen live right before my eyes during the day.

Take today for example.

Today, it was announced who the Baseball Writer’s Association of America voted into the 2010 class of Baseball’s Hall of Fame. The announcement was made at 2:00 pm ET.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I was around to watch the announcement as it happened. And what I heard was shocking.

When it was announced that only one player was elected for 2010, I was positive it was Roberto Alomar. Instead, it was Andre Dawson.

Dawson received 77.9 percent of the vote. Bert Blyleven just missed induction with 74.2 percent of the vote and Alomar was right behind him with 73.7 percent of the vote.

75 percent is needed for election.

First, congratulations to Dawson. Growing up in New York and without cable for most of the '80s, I didn’t get to see Dawson play as a Montreal Expo.

The first time I was able to see Dawson play on a regular basis and on a national stage, was in 1987 with the Chicago Cubs. That year he terrorized pitchers to the tune of 49 home runs and won the National League MVP.

I really wish I had the opportunity to watch Dawson as a member of the Expos. When he was with Montreal, he was a five-tool player who could change the game both offensively and defensively.

As a member of the Cubs, he was more of just a power hitter whose legs started to fail him as the years went on. He still had a great arm with the Cubs, but he was became a one-dimensional player in the late '80s and early '90s.

Dawson finished his career with a .279 average with 438 home runs, 314 stolen bases, 1,591 RBI, and an .806 OPS. He is one of three players in major league history to have 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases.

Dawson will also have the lowest batting average and OBP of any batter in the Hall of Fame. His Hall of Fame status is certainly debatable.

Now on to something that is not debatable.

Roberto Alomar is a Hall of Fame player. The fact that he didn’t get in on the first ballot is a complete joke.

Alomar is one of the top-five second baseman of all time. Did he have an ugly on-field incident when he spit in the face of umpire of John Hirschbeck? Yes, he did.

But I don’t think Alomar should be punished for that incident. There are guys in the Hall of Fame who have done worse.

I loathe the fact that some of these writers have this policy that they can’t vote in a guy on the first try. That is just utter stupidity.

I also have felt for a long time that it is utter stupidity that guys get in on the third try, the seventh try, or even the 12th try. Either you are a Hall of Famer or you aren’t a Hall of Famer.

Once a player retires, his stats don’t change.

Why is Alomar more qualified in 2011 than he was in 2010? Why was Jim Rice more qualified on his 15th try than his first try?

How does a guy get 40 percent of the vote in his first year and then 10 years later, he is a HOF’er? So less than 50 percent of the voters don’t think you are qualified for the HOF, but because of weak classes, 10 years later you are worthy?

That never, ever made any sense to me.

Five years after a guy retires, he should have one shot to get into the HOF and that’s it.

Here are some other notables and the percentage of vote they received:

 

Jack Morris: 52.3 percent

Barry Larkin: 51.6 percent

Edgar Martinez: 36.2 percent

Tim Raines: 30.4 percent

Mark McGwire: 23.7 percent

Alan Trammell: 22.4 percent

 

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