Baseball Hall of Fame 2011 Edition

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12/31/2010 3:35 am

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It's time for my eighth annual "If I had a Hall of Fame Vote" post.

My previous ballots:
2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010

A few reminders:
1. Voters can vote for up to ten players.
2. I'm a "Big Hall" guy so I voted for ten.
3. I reserve the right not to have reasonable explanations for any or all of my selections.
4. To be inducted, players need to be named on 75% of the ballots cast.
5. The real results will be announced on January 5th.

Eligible Players:

Holdovers from last year - Roberto Alomar, Harold Baines, Bert Blyleven, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell

First-timers - Carlos Baerga, Jeff Bagwell, Bret Boone, Kevin Brown, John Franco, Juan Gonzalez, Marquis Grissom, Lenny Harris, Bobby Higginson, Charles Johnson, Al Leiter, Tino Martinez, Raul Mondesi, John Olerud, Rafael Palmeiro, Kirk Rueter, Benito Santiago, B.J. Surhoff, Larry Walker

Go to Baseball Reference.com for player stats.

My Ballot:

Roberto Alomar - Eligible since 2010; 2nd time on my ballot ('10,'11)
Jeff Bagwell - Eligible since 2011; 1st time on my ballot ('11)
Bert Blyleven - Eligible since 1998; 8th time on my ballot ('04-'11)
Barry Larkin - Eligible since 2010; 2nd time on my ballot ('10,'11)
Edgar Martinez - Eligible since 2010; 2nd time on my ballot ('10,'11)
Fred McGriff - Eligible since 2010; 2nd time on my ballot ('10,'11)
Mark McGwire - Eligible since 2007; 5th time on my ballot ('07-'11)
Dale Murphy - Eligible since 1999; 4th time on my ballot ('08-'11)
Tim Raines - Eligible since 2008; 4th time on my ballot ('08-'11)
Alan Trammell - Eligible since 2002; 8th time on my ballot ('04-'11)

Dropped from last year's ballot:
Andre Dawson ('04-'10) (elected)

Added this year:
Jeff Bagwell (first-time eligible)

Eligible, and voted for in the past, but not this year:
Jack Morris ('04-'09)
Lee Smith ('06,'07)

	Matt - 3941 Posts 12/31/2010 @ 04:31:36 AM
This is the first year I really struggled with the 10 player limit. There have been a few other times when I've had an 11th or 12th person that I probably would have voted for, but on this ballot, there are about 15 or so players that have legitimate cases for the Hall. This year I really feel bad about leaving Larry Walker and Rafael Palmeiro off. If there was no player limit, they would definitely have my vote. They may even be more "deserving" of a spot than some I voted for, but in the end, I decided to keep my holdovers on, and use the one open spot for the best of the newcomers - Jeff Bagwell. In addition to Walker and Palmeiro, you could make cases for Jack Morris, Lee Smith, and Kevin Brown. At this point, I'm on the fence with these three. I'm not sure I would vote for them, but I wouldn't view it as a travesty if they got in. In last year's thread there was some discussion of a Jim Caple article about lifting the 10 player limit, and how crowded the ballot is likely to become in the next few years. He came back to the issue again this year (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/101222_hall_of_fame_voting&sportCat=mlb), and I have to say I agree with him.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt messed with this at 12/31/2010 4:33:33 am

	Alex - Ignorance is bliss to those uneducated 12/31/2010 @ 12:56:06 PM
Bert Blyleven, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Edgar Martinez, Alan Trammell, Rafael Palmeiro, Tim Raines, Roberto Alomar, Mark McGwire Dropped: Dawson, Morris, McGriff Added: Bagwell, Walker, Palmeiro		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Alex - I was too weak to give in Too strong to lose 12/31/2010 @ 01:06:09 PM
I'm iffiest on Martinez because of the DH. But I don't know how you'd pick one of the closers over the other, so this was easier.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 12/31/2010 @ 02:06:46 PM
I read some blogs on the HOF a couple days ago. One guy made a point about him that I think is great. I don't know much about Martinez himself, but the blogger basically said that you can't use "He's just a DH" as an argument to keep a guy out. Like it or not DH is a position on half of MLB teams, and if a guy was the best to ever play in that position, you have to elect him. We've probably talked about this before, but the limit makes no sense to me either. They deserve to be hall of famers, or not. No hall of fames should come down too who is also in your "class."		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - If you aren't enough without it, you'll never be enough with it. 12/31/2010 @ 04:39:56 PM
I'd rather they have a system of "a maximum number of players can be elected each year" than the minimum number then NFL uses.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - Ombudsman 12/31/2010 @ 05:45:38 PM
Jeremy Wrote - Today @ 02:06:46 PM I read some blogs on the HOF a couple days ago. One guy made a point about him that I think is great. I don't know much about Martinez himself, but the blogger basically said that you can't use "He's just a DH" as an argument to keep a guy out. Like it or not DH is a position on half of MLB teams, and if a guy was the best to ever play in that position, you have to elect him. We've probably talked about this before, but the limit makes no sense to me either. They deserve to be hall of famers, or not. No hall of fames should come down too who is also in your "class." Was it Joe Posnanski? He makes a good case for Edgar by basically saying the same thing. He was such a good hitter that if there were no DH, the Mariners would have stuck him in the field somewhere. Sure he would have been a poor defender, but that hasn't kept other great hitters out.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 12/31/2010 @ 07:11:50 PM
No, it was just some blogger.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - Washington Bureau Chief 01/05/2011 @ 07:09:15 AM
The voting results are announced today. You can watch it live on MLB.com or on the MLB Network. The show starts at 12:00 pm CT, with the actual announcement coming around 1:00 pm CT.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt edited this 5 times, last at 01/05/2011 7:12:24 am

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/05/2011 @ 01:15:15 PM
Ba Ba Ba Bert Bert Bert...the Bert is the word. Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven in Hall		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Alex - 3619 Posts 01/05/2011 @ 01:43:16 PM
No one else over 62.1% and only 2 guys over 46%? What a joke.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.