The two newest baseball Hall of Fame members are Derek Jeter and Larry Walker. Jeter was one vote short of unanimous and Walker squeaked in with 6 more than the required votes. The sports media are squawking about the one person who DARED leave Jeter off their ballots. I have news for them – NO ONE should get every vote! Mariano Rivera was a unanimous choice last year, and while he was a wonderful pitcher, he was not deserving of every vote. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Walter Johnson and other superstars were not elected unanimously. The voting is done by BBWAA members who are human beings. They will make good and bad choices and that is okay.
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I personally feel that Walker did not deserve to be elected because he was short of the big numbers in home runs and RBIs, although he was one awesome player for a while. The question is should players be chosen for the Hall of Fame on their entire career or on their prime? I believe we should judge the complete career, not a stretch of best years. Jay Jaffe’s book “Cooperstown Casebook” states the opposing view. Actually it is one really good book even though I disagree with his premise.
The other interesting result of the vote was that Curt Shilling moved closer to election, but Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens did not. Thumbs up to Hall voters for those three results!
I blame baseball fans for the state of baseball coverage today. We do not call the writers out for their often stupid tirades about the state of the game (e.g. replays) and they seem to feel they are bigger than the game (e.g. Dick Young in the 60’s and 70’s although he was so over the top it was fun to read his column). Baseball is a wonderful game and no amount of drivel from nitpicking writers will change that!
Today’s classic rock song is “Jesus Left Chicago” by ZZ Top.