January 7th in Callum, Commentary, Hall of Fame by Callum Hughson .

Henderson Hall Update

Henderson Hall Update

Not long ago I wrote a post on Rickey Henderson becoming possibly the first unanimous hall of fame entrant.  Well, now we know this is not going to be the case.  With a tip of the hat to ESPN’s Rob Neyer, BBWAA member Corky Simpson left Rickey off this year’s ballot.  He does, however, vote for Tim Raines. WTF?

As Neyer points out:

But you also know that Raines, as great as he was, wasn’t nearly as great as Rickey Henderson.

Another oddity: Simpson couldn’t be bothered to explain his non-vote for the greatest leadoff man ever. Here’s the only mention:

Others honored with nomination this year who may well be voted into the Hall of Fame include Harold Baines, Jay Bell, David Cone, Ron Gant, Mark Grace, Rickey Henderson, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Jesse Orosco, Dave Parker, Dan Plesac, Lee Smith, Greg Vaughn and Mo Vaughn.

Obviously he is taking this vote personally, which is of course his prerogative, and a single voter can not skew the entire voting process. But what is one to make of the credibility of someone who votes for Tim Raines but not Rickey Henderson?  What does this do for the credibility of the BBWAA and the HOF balloting process in general?

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  • Callum
    January 7, 2009
  • Kman
    January 7, 2009
  • Kman
    January 7, 2009
  • daperman
    January 8, 2009

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