Late HOF Rant. What a Joke
This year’s HOF numbers go a long way in confirming that many MLB writers have absolutely no clue.
Myself and Callum both selected the same four players for inclusion to Cooperstown. Here’s how they each did.
Rickey Henderson – Elected with 94.8%
We’ve discussed numerous times 100% rate. Surprised by such a low total. Officially one in twenty writers are as knowledgeably as Corky Simpson
Bert Blyleven – 62.7%
Bert’s starting to pick up steam. If Jim Rice’s election this year proves anything, its that voters tend to give more leeway to a player approaching the maximum 15 attempts. Twice in Rice’s past voting record he’s received less than 30% of the vote. In four of the past five years his vote total has increased. Is there a logical reason for this outside of the impending ’15 attempt lockout’? I don’t think so. Blyleven has three more years of eligibility left.
Tim Raines – 22.6%
Actually lower than his 2008 vote percentage of 24.3%.
I wonder if the lack of respect for Raines and Rickey has to do with the modern day lack or emphasis on the speed game?
Mark McGwire – 21.9%
McGwire was probably the most written about player for a two year stint back during his Cardinals days. He sold quite a few tickets, not to mention many newspapers, increased TV & Radio ad revenue, etc. The writers have a short memory, don’t they? McGwire has the numbers. If no steroid taint existed he’d be elected in his first year with a 95%+ approval rating.
Kman, Keith Law brings up an interesting theory in his Raines article here: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof09/columns/story?columnist=law_keith&id=3825493
Basically the executive summary is this: Why does Molitor (another admitted cocained user) get a free pass on the first ballot while Raines struggles to reach even a quarter of the vote? The BBWAA members who are eligible to vote are overwhelmingly white. This is an example of American Media treating white drug users differently from African-American drug users. Any gap between Raines’ and Molitor’s on-field performances could not begin to justify the gap in their Hall of Fame vote totals.
Your thoughts?
If that is your agrument just look at this years voting. Drug user Raines had more votes than steriod using McGwire. It is a long stretch to think that the reason drug user Molitor is in the HOF and drug user Raines is not in the HOF is due to race. Look elsewhere for the gap and there are many reasons that have been discussed. Popularity and nice guy being being at the forefront after over all on field performance.
A better example about Raines is given in the artcle above regarding the speed game.
Just to clarify, the argument does not state it is a clear cut case of racism. It is more of how drug users are portrayed in the American media.
“Princeton professor Cornel West has written about the way that the American media treats white drug users differently from African-American drug users; perhaps this inequity has seeped into its treatment of baseball players with distant histories of drug use as well. This is not to say that any individual voter is racist, but that pervasive societal stereotypes may be hurting Raines’ Hall chances.”
A qualifying word such as “perhaps” at the start of the sentence…..this is an example of ……. rather than a definitvie statement would have been more appropriate and understandable.