Should Crime Dog Take A Bite Out Of Hall?

The Hall of Fame ballot came in the mail today. This is my second time voting, my second year with the privilege of helping to choose which baseball greats are enshrined at Cooperstown.


I'll never forget the thrill of receiving my first ballot in the mail last year. I've been waiting for this year's since Dec. 1. It was post-marked Nov. 30 out of Long Island, so I'm not sure what took it so long to get here. But it's here now. Let's take a look at the candidates (the guys I voted for last year have an asterisk; I also voted for Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, but they're not on this year's ballot because they got in; and I voted for Tommy John, but it was his final year of eligibility).


2B Roberto Alomar
P Kevin Appier
OF/DH Harold Baines
P Bert Blyleven*
OF Ellis Burks
OF Andre Dawson
1B Andres Galarraga
P Pat Hentgen
P Mike Jackson
1B Eric Karros
OF Ray Lankford
SS Barry Larkin
DH Edgar Martinez
1B Don Mattingly
1B Fred McGriff
1B Mark McGwire
P Jack Morris
OF Dale Murphy*
OF Dave Parker
OF Tim Raines
P Shane Reynolds
1B/DH David Segui
P Lee Smith*
SS Alan Trammell
3B Robin Ventura
C Todd Zeile

I'll definitely vote for the players I checked last year, and I will not vote for the players who received the required five percent for carryover but did not receive my vote. That means no McGwire, no Morris, no Raines, no Trammell, no Parker, no Mattingly, no Dawson.

That eliminates a good portion of the ballot. I can also say right now that these are the only players I'm considering to join Blyleven, Murphy and Smith on my ballot: Alomar, Larkin, Martinez and McGriff.

I'm not one of those who believe in the concept of "good enough for the Hall, but not great enough to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer." Either a player is a Hall of Famer or he's not. Once I've eliminated that player from consideration, almost nothing will change my mind in subsequent years (assuming I still have a vote next year; the BBWAA membership is a precious thing, and even those of us who've been in it long enough to vote for the HoF aren't guaranteed anything if we're not affiliated with a newspaper or a Web site. So ... anyone out there hiring? No? Didn't think so.) I say almost nothing will change my mind, because if anyone ever proves without a shadow of a doubt that McGwire did not use performance-enhancing drugs during his career, his candidacy will deserve serious consideration. Now, do I have hard evidence that McGwire used steroids or anything else to crack the top eight all-time in homers? That he cheated when he became the first to hit 70 home runs in 1998? Nope. But the guidelines we're given for Hall of Fame voting are important to remember.

What are the guidelines? I am allowed to vote for up to 10 players. I don't have to vote for any. As I did last year, I'll just show you in its entirety my favorite rule for election, Rule No. 5: Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.

Rule No. 5 means I will not vote for anyone who can't sit before a Congressional hearing and say, unequivocally, that he did not use steroids. (Or for anyone who can't sit before a Congressional hearing and say, honestly, that he did not use steroids. I'm looking at you, Rafael Palmeiro. But you're next year's problem.)

I'll probably send my ballot by fax to secretary-treasurer Jack O'Connell of the BBWAA the final week of December. Meanwhile, I'll review the records of my viable candidates, making liberal use of my favorite Web site for answers to all things MLB: baseball-reference.com.

The candidate I know best, of course, is McGriff. I saw him play nearly every day during the twilight of his career with the Devil Rays. I saw his last home run, No. 493, lifted high down the right-field line at Petco Park and into the little group of seats that juts out into short right, the homer that tied him for 26th all-time with Lou Gehrig. The Crime Dog and the Iron Horse have the most home runs of anyone short of the formerly magic 500 plateau.

Fred McGriff hit exactly the same number of major-league home runs as Lou Gehrig. That's a powerful sentence. A powerful argument.

Of course, home runs are not the only measuring stick. I'll take it all into account: fielding, hitting, character, sportsmanship, etc.

I'll take a gander at the high-brow statistics concocted by the high-brow, smarter-than-me guys who worship at the Church of Bill James.

I'll also listen to anyone who cares to weigh in. So, this is your chance to participate in one of the most hallowed responsibilities a sportswriter can earn. Let me know what you think.

Voting For Baseball's Next Hall Of Famers

One of my goals when I became a sportswriter in 1986 was to become a voter in baseball's Hall of Fame. In order to become a voter, a sportswriter must maintain membership in the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) for 10 consecutive seasons. I got my decade in this year, which made me eligible to vote for the first time.

My situation was complicated by my layoff from the Tampa Tribune in July. The day after I was let go, I e-mailed BBWAA secretary/treasurer Jack O'Connell, wondering whether the loss of my job affected my status as a Hall of Fame voter. As it turned out, because my dues were paid for this season, I maintain my status as a voter even though I no longer work for the newspaper.

Unfortunately, unless I join another news organization and maintain my membership in the BBWAA, this might be the only year I get to cast a ballot. So, I might only enjoy briefly one of the great privileges afforded members of my chosen profession.

My ballot came in the mail today. It included a letter from Jeff Idelson, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame; a page showing how last year's voters cast their ballots; a ballot with the 23 eligible players; biographical information on the 23 eligible players; a stamped envelope in which to return my marked ballot; and on the back of Idelson's letter, an explanation of voting rules.

The voting rule that I wrote most about as the steroid era deepened over the past five years was Rule No. 5: "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."

The italics and boldface type were inserted by me. You won't find these qualities included in the rules for election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In fact, the roomful of reporters who elect the NFL's greats each winter are specifically reminded only to consider a player's contributions ON THE FIELD.

We baseball writers have to take the measure of the man, as well as the player. That's a complicated thing. Who are we to judge based on the character of a fellow human being? Still, that's the rule. Character counts. It's a blurred line, though. Was Ty Cobb a good guy? Based on everything we think we know today about the man, not really. Yet, was he a Hall of Famer? You bet.

So, it's time to ponder my vote. Here are the eligible players, in alphabetical order: Harold Baines, Jay Bell, Bert Blyleven, David Cone, Andre Dawson, Ron Gant, Mark Grace, Rickey Henderson, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Jesse Orosco, Dave Parker, Dan Plesac, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell, Greg Vaughn, Mo Vaughn, Matt Williams.

The only players on the list I did not see play in person were Blyleven, John, Mattingly and Rice. I wrote often about Greg Vaughn, a former Devil Rays outfielder. I followed the career of one, Dale Murphy, as closely as any player I can recall (my cat's name is Murphy because of him). I'll carefully consider the qualifications of each before I mark my ballot. I can vote for no more than 10, and I'm not required to vote for any of them.

Meanwhile, I am open to advice from anyone who cares to weigh in on the merits of any of the 23. I can't promise I'll take that advice, but I will listen and consider everything I hear and read before I send off my ballot in time to meet the deadline of Dec. 31.