Hall of Fame Ballot: 2019 Induction

scottyno

late Bloomer
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Dec 7, 2008
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Baines who is now a hall of famer 39 career bwar 38 career fwar. Placido Polanco who is on the current ballot and will receive at most 1 vote and will never be on any ballot ever again, 42 career bwar 38 career fwar. What a massive failure of a committee.
 

SumnerH

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Yeah, these don't scream HOF'er to me. Dwight Evans has a better case than Baines.

I guess I'd be okay if Hershiser had made it through this committee--200 wins, postseason stud, that 59 inning scoreless streak. That's something. Baines was just kinda...there.
Amplifying this, people also seem to get hung up on who was better on the field, forgetting that it's a Hall of Fame. We can pull WAR rankings ourselves, the point of the Hall should be to highlight people with actual fame in baseball history.

As a small hall advocate, I wouldn't enshrine Hershiser but at least with the streak and postseason storylines he had some actual swagger and acclaim going for him. As you note, Baines was basically invisible.
 

E5 Yaz

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espn:
Baines and Lee were joined by Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Charlie Manuel, Lou Piniella and George Steinbrenner as candidates on the ballot.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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With Baines being elected to the HOF. Any argument against electing Edgar Martinez to the HOF has gone up in smoke.

There is no argument that can now be made that says he is not worthy of the HOF


and

If he does not get elected to the HOF, the HOF has become a meaningless organization
 

Plympton91

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Oct 19, 2008
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Forget Edgar, any argument against David Ortiz being a slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer is up in smoke as well.

And as someone else said, it remains a travesty that Dwight Evans wasn’t elected.
 

Plympton91

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Oct 19, 2008
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  • Roy Halladay (first year)
  • Andruw Jones (2nd year, 7.3%)
  • Jeff Kent (6th year, 14)
  • Edgar Martinez (10th year, 70.4%)
  • Fred McGriff (10th year, 23.2%)
  • Mike Mussina (6th year, 63.)
  • Mariano Rivera (first year)
  • Scott Rolen (2nd year, 10.2%)
  • Curt Schilling (6th year, 51.2%)
  • Larry Walker (9th year, 34.1%)

Reasons
1 Too few pitchers from this era are getting in.
2. McGriff gets boosted for me given Baines enshrinement
3. Jones and Rolen get bonus points for their defensive excellence
4. Kent one of the best offensive 2nd basemen ever.
5. Fuck the steroid guys.
 

hbk72777

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Ahh, nevermind, now they have 4 different committees?

Well, whichever Mattingly is on, hopefully these 2 players helped his case
 
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The Needler

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Dec 7, 2016
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So Joe Morgan is exacting his revenge on Billy Bean and the book he wrote. Good for him.

I look forward to comment from Tim Kurkjian, who has gotta be one of the no votes. Who are the other three, I wonder.
 

j-man

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Dec 19, 2012
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my ballot
Barry Bonds (7th year, 56.4% in 2018)
Roger Clemens (7th year, 57.3%)


Roy Halladay (first year)


Jeff Kent (6th year, 14.5%)

Edgar Martinez (10th year, 70.4%)
Fred McGriff (10th year, 23.2%)
Mike Mussina (6th year, 63.5%)


Mariano Rivera (first year)

Curt Schilling (6th year, 51.2%)


Larry Walker (9th year, 34.1%)
 

hbk72777

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espn:
Baines and Lee were joined by Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Charlie Manuel, Lou Piniella and George Steinbrenner as candidates on the ballot.

Baines and Lee weren't even the best out of this group
 

Hoya81

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espn:
Baines and Lee were joined by Albert Belle, Joe Carter, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Charlie Manuel, Lou Piniella and George Steinbrenner as candidates on the ballot.
Of that list, the only player I wouldn’t put above Baines is maybe Will Clark.

I’m surprised that Davey Johnson didn’t get more consideration as a manager. Two-time MOTY, finished 2nd four other times.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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Jul 15, 2005
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I'd really like to hear voters supporting Baines explain this. He literally had none of the req's for admission. No great season hardware (MVP) or postseason heroics or iconic moments. No career milestones (3,000... 500 HR etc). Was a DH. Literally nothing other than the "professional hitter" label which describes a good, NON-HOF type. Baffling
 

Dehere

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Would anyone like to make a case for Harold Baines as a HOFer, just as a thought exercise?

There are guys I can at least build a rationale for even if I wouldn't vote for them myself. Lee Smith is one of those guys. Harold Baines, nothing against him, but I don't see the argument.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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I don’t understand the difference. Seems like same thing with a minor name change

I mean, yeah, different voters looking at different era of players. It’s more diluted.

Its a committee to look at players/managers/executives that didn’t get enough support from regular voters. Which is dumb for players that played into the 90s.
 

Spacemans Bong

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I mean, yeah, different voters looking at different era of players. It’s more diluted.

Its a committee to look at players/managers/executives that didn’t get enough support from regular voters. Which is dumb for players that played into the 90s.
It's not really, because the writers screw up all the time. Trammell was an egregious miss by the Hall, and it took huge, concerted campaigns to get clear Hall of Famers like Tim Raines and Bert Blyleven in, two guys who got elected with barely any eligibility left. If Edgar Martinez doesn't get in this year, he's appearing on this ballot next time. Larry Walker's probably going to be on this ballot, as will Kenny Lofton.

That said, that was a weak af ballot. Clark is probably the best player there, but the only person I would say is a definite yes from me (putting away my Giants hat for the sake of argument) is Davey Johnson.
 
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Philip Jeff Frye

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When I saw the headline on ESPN "Chicago legends Baines, Smith picked for Hall," I assumed this was some kind of Chicago Hall of Fame.

I for one look forward to Toby Harrah's HOF induction ceremony.
 

BoSox Rule

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There are some players that have absolutely horrible cases for the Hall of Fame. Jack Morris was the best pitcher of the 80s (he wasn’t, but that’s what people said.) Lee Smith was the all-times saves leader before Hoffman and Rivera (ok, this is true but it shouldn’t really matter) and Vizquel was basically Ozzie Smith so why not (he wasn’t nearly as good.)

I can’t think of a SINGLE FUCKING REASON that Harold Baines could have possibly been elected by even a stupidly small sample size of 12/16 people in this pointless made up ballot.
 

Clears Cleaver

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Given the news of Baines enshrinement, it kind of makes the entire BBWAA vote somewhat meaningless. I mean every marginal candidate on the ballot has precedent to get in. Jeff lent? Lock. McGriff? Done and done. Dewey?? Red carpet.

I’m sure Harold baines is a nice guy. But there needs to a Baines wing (Morris rizzuto et al) now. It really undermines the Hall

Perspective: Mookie Betts needs to play through May this year to pass Baines 20-year career WAR totals.
 

moondog80

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The reaction to this has been near unanimous that it is a joke. I expect the voters will come out today and make their case?
 

BoSox Rule

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These were the 16 voters:

Roberto Alomar
Bert Blyleven
Pat Gillick
Tony LaRussa
Greg Maddux
Joe Torre
Joe Morgan
Ozzie Smith
John Schuerholz
Al Avila
Jerry Reinsdorf
Paul Beeston
Andy MacPhail
Steve Hirdt
Tim Kurkjian
Claire Smith
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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It's not really, because the writers screw up all the time. Trammell was an egregious miss by the Hall, and it took huge, concerted campaigns to get clear Hall of Famers like Tim Raines and Bert Blyleven in, two guys who got elected with barely any eligibility left. If Edgar Martinez doesn't get in this year, he's appearing on this ballot next time. Larry Walker's probably going to be on this ballot, as will Kenny Lofton.

That said, that was a weak af ballot. Clark is probably the best player there, but the only person I would say is a definite yes from me (putting away my Giants hat for the sake of argument) is Davey Johnson.
Point taken. I just meant I could more understand the idea of going back and finding guys from long ago. Do we really need to retcon Harold Baines?
 

hbk72777

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I'm guessing there was some backdoor politicking.

I can't imagine that Baines coincidentally got so many votes while others didn't get even half as much.

Just wondering which one of those voters was the one that started the push?
 

OnWisc

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Just wondering which one of those voters was the one that started the push?
Reinsdorf

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/jerry-reinsdorf-ecstatic-over-harold-baines-hall-fame-election-he-really-chicago-white-sox

"He just deserved it," Reinsdorf said. "It was just a shame he didn’t get in sooner than this. Harold is a great player. You look at the numbers he put up in the '80s and the '90s and played in the Majors for 22 years. I don’t think he ever had a bad year. Of course, there’s no finer person than Harold Baines.

"When the game was on the line in the eighth or ninth inning, and you can pick somebody to you wanted up, it was Harold Baines."

Reinsdorf was a member of this year's 16-person committee, along with former White Sox manager Tony La Russa, who managed Baines for many years during the 1980s.

Asked how he reacted when Baines was officially elected, Reinsdorf said, "I just went like that," showing reporters a fist pump, "and I looked up at Tony La Russa and I thought he was going to cry."
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
I realize this sounds a bit cliché but... At no time watching either Baines or Smith did I ever think "That guy's a HoFer." No sir.
One of these is not like the other, though. You can make a pretty solid argument that Lee Smith is a top-10 relief pitcher. (He's #5 in fWAR, for instance.) How being a top-10 relief pitcher stacks up in the grand scheme of baseball achievement is another question, of course, but still.

The only thing Harold Baines was one of the best at is longevity (#20 all-time in games played). In Bill James' taxonomy, he's a Definition-D HoFer, at best:

Definition D: A Hall of Famer is a player who rises well above the level of the average player, a player who would be capable of contributing to a pennant-winning team, and would be one of the outstanding players on an average team.
One thing I think we can safely conclude: Harold Baines must be a hell of a nice guy.

EDIT: To expand on this, here are some players who were Baines' contemporaries (1980-2001) and are not in the Hall despite having more rWAR than his 39.9. I'm leaving off the obvious steroid red-flaggers and people still on the ballot:

Albert Belle, Jack Clark, Julio Franco, Andy Van Slyke, Gary Gaetti, Darryl Strawberry, Don Mattingly, Ellis Burks, Keith Hernandez, Lenny Dykstra, John Olerud, Dwight Evans....

There are a bunch more names, but I had to stop there for a moment. Dwight Evans has more rWAR than Harold Baines during Baines' playing years, even though the first eight years of Evans' career fell outside that period. Yet Baines is in and Evans is not.

....Mark Grace, Chuck Knoblauch, Matt Williams, Willie Randolph, Tony Fernandez, Devon White, Dale Murphy, Robin Ventura, Brett Butler, Tony Phillips, Kenny Lofton, Will Clark, Lou Whitaker.....

Now of course WAR is not and should not be the ultimate arbiter of these things, but it seems like a particularly valid yardstick in this instance because Baines played for so long. A guy who played for 22 years without producing more value than Andy Van Slyke did in 13 is not a Hall of Famer. It really is that simple.
 
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lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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Career OPS+:

Dwight Evans: 127 (2146 games in OF)
Fred Lynn: 129 (1825 games in OF)
Jim Rice: 128 (1543 games in OF)
Edgar Martinez: 147
Papi: 141

Baines: 121 (1061 games in OF)

There are about 2 notable things I can recall from Harold Baines' career:

- He had some success against Roger Clemens (0.782 OPS in 126 plate appearances). And Jack Morris, fwiw.

- He appeared in the All Star game when he was 40 years old on his way to a 0.919 OPS that season.

If either Martinez or Papi miss the Hall, they should just create a new one from scratch.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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Jul 19, 2005
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I’m going to predict that the backlash to this will actually inspire an overcorrection from both the writers and VC and we’ll be back to the days of barely anyone getting in.
 

Spacemans Bong

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Point taken. I just meant I could more understand the idea of going back and finding guys from long ago. Do we really need to retcon Harold Baines?
It's nice that a guy like Trammell didn't have to die to get in (eg Ron Santo), but I get your point. If the Hall kept the 15 year rule, and if Baines had gotten enough support, he could conceivably still be on the ballot. In fact, his first year on the ballot was 2007 so he would have several years to go.
 

Spacemans Bong

chapeau rose
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These were the 16 voters:

Roberto Alomar
Bert Blyleven
Pat Gillick
Tony LaRussa
Greg Maddux
Joe Torre
Joe Morgan
Ozzie Smith
John Schuerholz
Al Avila
Jerry Reinsdorf
Paul Beeston
Andy MacPhail
Steve Hirdt
Tim Kurkjian
Claire Smith
Man, that's just a comically good group of people for Harold Baines. The guy who owns the franchise he is most associated with in Reinsdorf. His first manager (TLR), a guy who traded for him (Gillick), a former teammate (Alomar), several players and managers in the 80s and 90s AL (Alomar again, Torre, Blyleven), the president of a rival team in Beeston, the GM of a rival AL team in MacPhail and Schuerholz, someone who covered him extensively in the division in Smith and Kurkjian.

I don't know if all 11 of those people voted for him, but I bet they did and that means he just needed 2 of Maddux, Morgan, Smith, Avila and Hirdt to get in.

It's like if Fred Lynn (I'd say Dewey, but he's got a much better case) came before a panel of people comprised exclusively of 1970s AL East personalities, and the group was chaired by John Henry. Of course he's fucking getting in.
 

BoSox Rule

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Yeah, pretty much what you said. In fact, I edited my post but the original version was basically that it was Frisch having his buddies elected all over again. A complete and utter joke. McGwire didn’t even get a single vote TO GET ON the ballot.

Edit- McGwire was dropped from this ballot, the 0 votes I was remembering were from the 2016 ballot.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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I can vividly remember people writing towards the end of his career "Oh my god, what if Baines manages to hang around long enough to get 3,000 hits and then he'll have to get into the Hall of Fame when nobody in his right mind thinks Harold Baines is a Hall of Famer?" Turns out he didn't even need to do that.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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The Hall is already way too big, to the point where there are good cases for Trammel or Whitaker types because of past players at that level being let in. If everyone votes for borderline players that's never going to get fixed.

Bonds
Clemens
Mariano

Maybe Edgar and Manny, I'd have to think about it.
Why is it too big? Are they running out of space? I’d agree that mistakes have been made on who has gotten in (cough Jim Rice cough) but it’s a game that’s over 100 years old. I don’t think it needs fixing in a way that reduces players being let in, they just need to make better selections. And I don’t think the voting process is good. Players shouldn’t drop off the ballot so quickly.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I can vividly remember people writing towards the end of his career "Oh my god, what if Baines manages to hang around long enough to get 3,000 hits and then he'll have to get into the Hall of Fame when nobody in his right mind thinks Harold Baines is a Hall of Famer?" Turns out he didn't even need to do that.
I was looking up Baines' number last week when it was announced that he was on the ballot and I was legitimately shocked that he played until 2001. Gun to my head, if you asked me when Harold Baines retired, I would have said 1994.

I am legitimately confused as to how anyone considers him a Hall of Famer.
 

sheamonu

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Look, the Hall is already “big” and it is probably fundamentally unfair to attempt to change that now and revert to “immortals only” status. My problem with Baines getting in is that it clearly derives from a biased panel which included, amongst others, the guy who paid his salary for most of his career. How do you go back to a Dwight Evans and say “look, you’re better using any possible offensive metric, you played and excelled in the field at the highest level, you have at least one of the most iconic moments in WS history to your credit (the Morgan catch), given the personal travails you went through you’re one of the most admirable guys to play in you’re era - but I guess you’re no Harold Baines”. Shootout at Credibility Gap time.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Look, the Hall is already “big” and it is probably fundamentally unfair to attempt to change that now and revert to “immortals only” status.
I'm in favor of a big HoF too. But I don't want it infinitely big. First Jack Morris, now Harold Baines*. Who's next Fred Manrique?

* And Morris and Baines were above average major league baseball players. They were All-Stars and incredibly durable players. But they aren't Hall of Famers.
 

BoSox Rule

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Baines is now the 3rd 1-1 pick to be elected to the Hall, joining Ken Griffey Jr. and Chipper Jones. That is hilarious.