Did Baseball Hall of Fame voters get it right this year?
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Did Baseball Hall of Fame voters get it right this year? It seems like they did, even if there’s still so much debate about whether Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens belong in. – Dave H.
Generally, I’d say yes. Chipper, Thome, Vladi and Hoffman is a terrific class, featuring three of the most enjoyable hitters of their time, and a closer who threw about as hard as your average second baseman.
Chipper got 97.2 percent, which is about where he should be. He’s the definition of a first-ballot Hall of Famer – heck, the Braves probably thought Cooperstown was a possibility when they took him No. 1 overall in 1990 — but I understand a few voters leaving him off, especially if the motivation was to vote for other deserving players in danger of falling off the ballot.
I was surprised Thome got such a high percentage (89.8) in his first year on the ballot, but he did bash 612 home runs. Vladi makes it on stats and style. Hoffman is a bit more of a debatable choice to me – Billy Wagner was a better pitcher – but I have no qualms with him making it.
Could it have been an even better class? Yep, that is true too. Edgar Martinez belongs in, and he will get there, but it’s annoying to watch qualified candidates have to wait. And there are as many as a half-dozen other candidates on the ballot that are worthy of election, including Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Larry Walker, and the giant-headed Bonds/Clemens duo.
I’d vote for Manny, too, and Sammy Sosa deserves deeper consideration than he is getting. The steroid era never led me to go out and buy a fainting couch. Maybe someday there will be some clarity and consensus with how to judge the PED heyday. But I doubt it.
So, yes, the Hall of Fame voters got it right this year, within the guidelines and parameters of the voting process anyway. But what do you guys think? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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