I will never understand the baseball Hall of Fame. Roberto Alomar, one of the best second basemen to ever play the game, didn't get 75 percent of the vote last year, so he missed the Hall of Fame. He got 90 percent this year and is in. How does this make sense?
Alomar didn't play baseball last year, so he didn't improve or hurt his statistics. Why did so many more voters (Baseball Writers Association of America) decide he was more deserving this year than last?
Voters need to take their heads out of their asses and say a guy should be in the Hall or he shouldn't. Nothing changes after a player retires, unless it's found that they cheated. In the case of Alomar, such a discovery has not been made.
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| This blog does not support Alomar's actions in this photo. This blog also does not support BBWAA members spitting in the face of deserving Hall of Fame players every year. |
Yes, he spit in an ump's face, but that's not why voters kept him out the first year. They kept him out because they don't like giving players the status of being first ballot Hall of Famers. Is there a specific wing at Cooperstown for these individuals? I haven't been there so I honestly don't know. But if there is no special wing for first ballot guys, then voters need to not make such a big deal of it. Everyone ends up in the same place, so just vote the deserving guys in.
Also, ESPN.com's senior deputy director, Michael Knisley, voted for Edgar Martinez and not Alomar for the Hall. What? Martinez spent the majority of his career as a designated hitter. He finished his career with 2,247 hits, 309 home runs, 1,261 RBIs, .312 battling average and seven all-star appearances. Alomar had 2,724 hits, 210 homers, 1,134 RBIs, 474 stolen bases, .300 batting average, 12 consecutive all-star appearances, 10 Gold Glove awards and two World Series titles that he played a major role in winning. So how the hell does Knisley not vote for Alomar if he voted for Martinez?
Hell, there were a few member who didn't vote for Cal Ripken Jr. What I'm trying to say is that some of these voters clearly hate the world and want to try and bring others down to their level of misery? Do you have a better theory?
As for Blyleven, I've never seen him play. His numbers are certainly Hall of Fame worthy, but he's been kept out since 1997. Holy crap! He has steadily gained more votes every year until finally getting in on his 14th attempt. He still has the same number of wins, strikeouts and shutouts as he did in 1997.
So what changed the voters' minds? Did he wrong them, and his punishment was to have to keep waiting for entry? Did he not answer enough of Buster Olney's questions? Olney happened to vote for one guy who admitted to steroid (Mark McGuire) and another who tested positive for juicing (Rafael Palmeiro).
The BBWAA is full of individuals who abuse their power. The system isn't going to change anytime soon, but this making deserving players wait years to get in is a joke. Everyone else is beginning to see it, why won't these tools in the BBWAA open their eyes?
Just as a disclaimer, I do not think all of the BBWAA members are tools. Just a lot of them.
Public Enemy - Fight the Power
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