Congratulations to Andre Dawson, but the voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame is a joke.
Every year baseball fans make a big deal about the Hall of Fame elections. Every year before the votes are cast, writers everywhere make their cases for who deserves to be in and who doesn't. Every year when all is said and done the fans complain about who got in and who didn't get in.
Bert Blyleven is the strongest force in the complaint department this year.
This year's crop of players gave us a much less obvious list of candidates than last year. Rickey Henderson was by far deserving of getting to Cooperstown. This year there was nobody as obvious.
That's all well and good; there are very few players like Rickey and they won't be on the ballot every year. But there are many players who will get in some day, but haven't yet.
I am here to question about the players who have been there for a while. You can pick any example. Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Alan Trammell. It really doesn't matter. I choose to pick on the writers about Bert Blyleven because he was a mere five votes shy of election.
Five votes.
History tells us he will get in next year. But what I have to ask to the five voters who will change his tide is this: Was Bery Blyleven, or any other player who will get in after multiple times on the ballot, any less of a Hall of Famer now than he was thirteen years ago? No. Do the 62 voters that did not vote for him last year, but did this year, think he was any less deserving last year? Probably not.
Why do the writers make a guy sit around and wait to get the call? If anyone can give me a solid answer to than question, I will give them my life savings (which isn't that much, I'm afraid).
The best answer that someone will give me would probably be "He wasn't good enough to get in that early." But he will get in eventually anyway. So why not just let the guy in now? End his wait and let us all move on to the next crop of great players.
The Baseball Writers Association of America needs to get their act together and stop making guys wait forever to get in. Bert Blyleven is no less deserving now than he was thirteen years ago. Barry Larkin won't be any better of a candidate next year than he is now. Any player on the ballot, who eventually will get in, is no less deserving now than he will be years down the road.
Congratulations to Hawk for getting in this year, but he should have been elected nine years ago, when he was just as deserving.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments