My Hall of Fame Ballot
Tony Gwynn- Since World War II, only Ted Williams hit for a higher batting average than Tony Gwynn. Gwynn hit .338 over his career, and .368 over a five year stretch from 1993-97. Eight batting titles makes Gwynn as sure a candidate as anyone in the history of the balloting.
Cal Ripken- What surprised me in looking up the statistics is that Cal doesn't appear on many lists of shortstops in terms of percentages. His case is based largely on longevity. Nothing wrong with that, as Cal's peak was plenty good too. Ripken won two MVPs and hit more home runs than any shortstop in history.
Mark McGwire- We all know McGwire's candidacy comes down to a moral choice and there's really no arguing that. This is where I stand and I respect where you stand for the time being. What I would address is the notion that McGwire was a undeserving player except for his late home run surge. McGwire was the percentage leader amongst first basemen in home runs prior to 1998. He ranked eighth in OPS, Offensive Winning Percentage and Runs Created per game, and second in Secondary Average. McGwire walked nearly as often as he struck out. Yes, he probably used steroids, but he was a Hall caliber player before 1998.
Bert Blyleven- The sabermetric darling of the Hall ballot. I think Blyleven's big problem is that he had his great seasons early and then stayed around as an above-average pitcher for a long time. I'm not going to slog through the stats because the arguments have been presented before. Let me just state that if Blyleven had 13 more wins, this wouldn't even be discussed.
Alan Trammell- Trammell and Ripken were roughly contemporaries. Ripken outslugged Trammell .447 to .415. Trammell had a higher career OBP however, .352 to .340. Ripken's career ERA+ was 112, Trammell's was 110. Now, remember that Trammell stole 236 bases to Ripken's 36, largely offsetting the edge in extra bases. Trammell had a better range factor at shortstop and won more gold gloves. Ripken lasted two years longer than Trammell. Ripken's considered an automatic inductee, while Trammell fell below 20% of the vote. Now ask yourself, was Cal Ripken really THAT much better of a player than Alan Trammell?
Andre Dawson- Poor OBP be damned. Dawson hit 438 home runs, stole 314 bases and was a GOLD GLOVE center fielder in his prime.
Goose Gossage- If you are going to elect relievers, you need to elect the Goose. Now that a standard is established thanks to Bruce Sutter, I think Gossage will earn induction (but not until next year).
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