January 02, 2008
Hating the Hall
Jeff at Brew Crew Ball explains why he hates the Hall of Fame:
If the system were salvageable, I might feel differently. But as it is, we have a Hall of Fame that is ill-defined, one with low standards due to previous mistakes, and one with a very mixed bag (that's putting it mildly) of voters.
This year, statheads (at least the ones who are willing to put Bert Blyleven on the backburner) are going crazy trying to get Tim Raines elected. In response, they're getting stupid arguments about Raines's drug use, comparisons with Vince Coleman, and my all-time favorite: "I won't vote for him his first time on the ballot because he's not that good." [Not a direct quote, but too close for comfort.]
I don't hate the Hall, but I try not to get too caught up in the voting hoopla anymore. In general, the writers do a good job and the veterans committee doesn't. If you stuck with the writers version of the hall, my guess is people would be much happier. Still, it often comes down to popularity. If Jim Rice had Joe Carter's relationship with the press, he would have been elected on the second ballot.
Bill James' "Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame" includes a lot of useful information about why the HOF can be so exasperating at times. Everything about it was ad-hoc, including its very founding -- by a private non-profit foundation not directly connected to MLB. To this day, the Clark Foundation runs the place, and MLB has no vote, veto, or actual power. It has a lot of influence, obviously, but no authority.
It's a strange, patchwork institution; an accident of history. No wonder it occasionally screws things up.
The HOF is a tourist attraction - a museum - the problem is people give it all their own interpretations for who belongs and what it should be. I'm basically with Pete Rose on the question of who belongs. If you don't make it on the first ballot - do you really belong?
Maybe if Jim Rice were a better ballplayer, he would have gotten in. His numbers just don't match up with HoF numbers. (Check out his home/road splits.)
My favorite comp to Jim Rice is Jeff Kent. Rice is a little bit better than Kent because of the eras they played in, but the numbers are almost the same. The Pro-Rice people are the kind that think being in a good line up helps the hitter. Rice played with Yaz, Fred Lynn, Wade Boggs, Carlton Fisk and Dwight Evans. Kent had Bonds and he is only getting in because he's a second basemen.
