July 26, 2014

Fame Change

The Hall of Fame changed an aspect of the balloting, shortening the time a player can remain on the ballot:

The Baseball Hall of Fame has reduced the number of years a player can remain eligible to be voted in by the writers to 10 years from 15, giving Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens less time to be considered.

The Hall of Fame announced the changes Saturday. They are effective immediately and will be reflected in 2015 Hall of Fame voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Three players were grandfathered out of the restriction.

I actually think this is fine. My feeling is, if you don’t get elected the first three years, you’re probably not really a Hall of Famer. While it did take a long time to convince people Bert Blyleven belonged, he wasn’t a slam dunk candidate either. I would say Mark McGwire should be more worried than Bonds and Clemens.

3 thoughts on “Fame Change

  1. M. Scott Eiland

    This was not helpful–it just means that the old idiots who are currently clogging the process will be more able to obstruct the process than they are now, since it is less likely they will die or retire before some worthy candidates age off the ballot. It might be time to abandon Cooperstown altogether: the current process is broken without any reasonable hope of repair.

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  2. Devon

    I like this. I’d even be happy if they reduced it to 5 years. Like you said, it should be obvious by then (for most players) if one’s a HOFer or not. The rest can get in thru the Vet’s committee. I’d also like to see them change the voting to a borda count, like the league does with MVP’s, ROY’s, & Cy’s.

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  3. M. Scott Eiland

    I agree that McGwire isn’t the one most heavily impacted by this–barring a seismic change, he’s not getting close to admission. Tim Raines, however, will only have three more tries under this new rule, and the epic incompetence involved in him not being inducted on any of the first seven times gives me little hope that the voters will get it together in only three more. Disgraceful.

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