In the spirit of the class of '07 Baseball Hall of Fame, I wanted to throw out a question. In light of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Glenn Rice...errrr...Tony Gwynn setting the record for highest percentage of votes received out of a record 545 total ballots, I'm curious what future Hall of Famer will break that record. But first, I want to give a little background: Of the 545 votes, Cal received all but 8 votes and Tony 13. Okay...question: What in the world were those 8 and 13 people thinking not selecting Cal and Tony for the HOF? What more were you expecting out of them from their careers? Compared to the other people in the list of HOF candidates, what didn't they accomplish in order to be put on your ballot? I mean, we're talking about Cal freakin' Ripken and Tony Gwynn.
So, that leads me to my question. If Cal and Tony didn't earn every vote, and they did deserve every vote, then what future player could ever get a higher percentage and is there any that could get every vote?
I think a few things need to be covered first. One, you probably have the typical voter that has an ego or chip on his shoulder and his agenda is going to come across. Some might think you have to "pay your dues" and can't get elected the first year. Or, some might know the guy is going to get voted in anyway, so why not use my vote on a guy that will need some help getting votes. And I think that is valid. If Cal and Tony pick up 1070 votes, I can't imagine there are many votes left to be given to anyone else. It will also be more difficult to get the hightest percentage as more voters are added each year (226 votes in 1936 and 497 in 1999). And, of course, biasness. If the best player ever to play the game was from the Red Sox, you know a Yankee writer isn't going to vote for him.
Ok, so here is my list of guys I think should or could get every vote, if not set the record for highest percentage of votes received:
1. Derek Jeter
2. Roger Clemens
3. Greg Maddox
4. Alex Rodriquez
5. Albert Pujols
6. Mariano Rivera
7. Randy Johnson
Cal Ripken Jr. 537 votes 98.5%
Tony Gwynn 532 votes 97.6%
3 comments:
Thanks for picking up the posting slack. There was an article in the Detroit News about this which I'll post later if I can find it. The short version is that some punk writers way in the past didn't want to vote for some guys who should have been unanimous picks, so now there's a bunch of writers who think it's one of baseball's traditions. These people are also known as "jerks" or "idiots."
Here it is: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070109/SPORTS08/701090385/1004
Fritz says to add Ricky Henderson to the list. I forgot about him. But mentioning Ricky created this idea: What if Julio Franco would have retired at 40. Then wait his mandatory 5 years to enter the Hall. Then play for another 2 years in the MLB. He could have been the only Hall of Famer still playing.
He might be one guy where his grill etched in bronze actually looks better than the real thing.
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