Hall of Fame Ballots Are Due In

I do not have a vote with the Baseball Hall of Fame. In order to have one, you need to have been a baseball writer at a certain level of prominence for at least 10 years. I have none of those credentials.

Still, if I had a ballot I would have voted for 9 players, out of a maximum allowed of 10.

In alphabetical order

Roberto Alomar
Jeff Bagwell
Harold Baines
Bert Blyleven
Barry Larkin
Edgar Martinez
Fred McGriff
Jack Morris
Tim Raines

A few notes:

I've read a lot of "new Age"/ Bill James/ sabermetrical statistical analyses either defending or debunking the Hall of Fame candidacies of Blyleven and Morris. This is the way I've come out. I understand, in any given year, how much luck goes into a win-loss record. Oliver Perez wins 15 games, and he's not really that good. Felix Hernandez wins 13 games, and everyone agrees he's a Cy Young winner. However, over the long term, a starting pitcher's job is to win ballgames. And both Morris and Blyleven won a whole lot of games.

I never thought of Baines or McGriff as Hall of Famers until I looked at their stats on-line. I might feel differently about them next year.

Larry Walker is another player I never thought much about until I looked at his stats on-line. But I left him off because I did not see him play that much.

I have mixed feelings about Mark McGwire and the obvious steroid users. I am not prepared to let any of these guys in yet, but I know that in my heart of hearts, if it was up to me, I would put them in eventually. One reason is that it was obvious that something was happening, even if we weren't 100% exactly sure of what. But I watched the games anyway. And I enjoyed them immensely.