In the Hall

Via BBTF, Ryan Fagan discusses his Hall of Fame ballot on the occasion of his first time voting. He makes a point that I’ve made before:

The second thing was this: It’s the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It’s the reality of the “and Museum” part that surprised me a bit. The Gallery, where they have the plaques of enshrined players, managers and executives, is essentially completely separate from the museum. The truth is, Barry Bonds already is in the Hall of Fame. I took a picture of the ball he hit for his 756th home run, which was in a display case dedicated to Bonds’ achievement. Pete Rose already is discussed in the Hall of Fame. So is Shoeless Joe Jackson. Those guys don’t have plaques in the Gallery, of course, but they’re well-represented in the museum.

I used to make this point when someone brought up Roger Maris. If you visit the Hall of Fame, you learn about Roger Maris. Roger Clemens entered the Hall if 1986 when the game ball from his 20 strikeout game landed in Cooperstown. No one has been wiped from the museum. The arguments are about plaques.

The latest vote totals show Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines getting in, with Vladimir Guerrero and Ivan Rodriguez also pulling plenty of support. The firewall that was keeping Clemens and Barry Bonds out appears to have broken as well, as both are pulling 70% so far.

I believe there are a number of factors for the Bonds/Clemens increase:

• There is an unofficial ranking of the players in the Hall based on the number of years on the ballot. If you make it the first year, you’re the cream of the crop. If you make it on the last ballot, you were borderline. It’s quite possible the writers see a five-year penalty for Bonds and Clemens as being enough, especially since the standard story is that these two were Hall of Famers before that started using PEDs in the late 1990s.
• Some writers are using the excuse of Bud Selig’s election as a reason to vote for Bonds and Clemens. However, they don’t appear to be voting for Sammy Sosa, so again, there appears to be an exception based on the belief that the player would or would not have been a Hall of Famer without PEDs. Manny Ramirez is pulling many more votes that Sosa, despite actually failing drug tests. They may see Manny as a great player who game to PEDs late.
• The newer writers coming online grew up with Bonds and Clemens as their stars. They don’t have the Henry Aaron blind spot.

I don’t think Bonds and Clemens will make it this year, but expect them to break the 75% barrier in the next two years.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2iblLgZ