The Mets Police

The BBWA will announce their Hall of Fame voting tomorrow. As Shannon and I are still waiting for them to start including members of new media into the voting process, I thought I'd just reveal what my ballot would have been.


Players I vote Yes


Bert Blyleven: Can someone please explain to me how he has not yet been selected? He has 287 victories (24th all-time), 3,701 strikeouts (5th all-time), plus he ranks 8th in starts and 9th in shutouts. Had he played in NY or LA he would have been in 10 years ago.

Andre Dawson: An MVP, 8 All-Star games. 8 Gold Gloves. 438 homers - when it meant something to hit that many. Over 2700 hits and over 300 SBs. he came very close last year. There should be no question he gets in now.

Tim Raines: 808 stolen bases (5th all-time). OBP of .385. 7-time All-Star. Maybe the most feared man on the bases in the NL during the 80's. Dawson will be in, his Expos teammate should be too.

Mark McGwire: Please hold the steroid comments. Of course he did it (in my opinion) - but they were LEGAL in MLB at the time. And please, someone try to tell me that MLB wasn't condoning it. McGwire hit over 500 homeruns, held the season-best total for a few years, was a 12-time All-Star. His numbers scream HOF. Of course he will never get in because the writers that once praised him are now a bunch of hypocrites (yeah that will endear me to the BBWA)

Jack Morris: Winningest pitcher of the 1980's. Mr. Clutch. 254 Wins, 3 World Series rings, and a World Series MVP (one of the greatest pitching performances ever). Why is he not in yet?

Alan Trammell: Morris' teammate on the Tigers for so many years deserves to be in, unfortunately I doubt he will ever get in (at least this way). Look at Trammell's stats and then remember when he was playing. You can't compare him to the big SS that followed him - he was a throwback to when SS were there to get on base and for defense - both of which he did better than anyone else in the AL for most of the time he was playing. He wasn't flashy like Ozzie or a slugger like Ripken. But he was a great player nonetheless

Dale Murphy: The man won back-to-back MVP awards. The only other CF to do that was Mickey Mantle. He hit 398 homeruns when that meant something. 7 All-Star games and 5 Gold Gloves. Yet he has never received more than 23% of the vote. I don't get it.

Roberto Alomar: Over 2700 hits. Twelve consecutive All-Star games. 10 Gold Gloves. Yeah when he was with the Mets he sucked, but remember when they got him a)everyone was psyched, and b) (in typical Mets fashion) he was at the end of his career. Don't judge him as a Met, look at his numbers with Toronto, and Baltimore, and Cleveland.

Barry Larkin: A lot of people are promoting Larkin, and honestly I had to think about this one. Larkin was a lot like Trammell IMO - not flashy, a mainstay at SS for many many years. Played for one team in a smaller market. Interestingly, he and Trammell are very close stats-wise.

Players That Just Don't Cut It
Don Mattingly: A very good player, but Keith was better.

Edgar Martinez: Maybe if you had played a position. (As you can guess I am very anti-DH)

Lee Smith: The most meaningless stat category is Saves. And he accumulated among the most meaningless saves of all.

Fred McGriff: Sure good numbers, but I just don't think Hall of Fame when I think of the Crime Dog

All The Rest (the "Why Are You Even On The Ballot" group)
Kevin Appier, Harold Baines, Ellis Burks, Andres Galarraga, Pat Hentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Dave Parker, Shane Reynolds, David Segui, Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile


Realistically, I am thinking 3 of the ones I selected make it this year - Dawson, Alomar, and Blyleven.



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