2013 Baseball Hall of Fame

[Brian in Boston]

Congrats Baseball writers... you have gotten your revenge and made the story about yourself.

That's one way of looking at it.

One could also choose to accept that a significant percentage of the current membership of the Baseball Writers' Association of America chose to take seriously that election to the Hall of Fame be - as settled upon at the institution's outset - "based upon the player's record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."

The Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the Baseball Writers' Association of America laid out integrity and character as criteria upon which a potential inductee to the Hall of Fame should be judged. Whether integrity and character should be amongst the criteria considered when determining suitability for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame is open to debate. That said, until such time as the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum sees fit "to revoke, alter or amend these rules" - as said rules allow for under Section 9 - to remove integrity and character from amongst the list of criteria that they've charged the BBWA with using to determine whether a candidate should be elected to the Hall of Fame, members of the BBWA should be expected to consider the integrity and character of potential Hall of Fame candidates when voting.

Further, simply because past members of the BBWA have apparently chosen to ignore integrity and character as amongst the criteria agreed upon with the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to be considered when determining whether a player should be elected to the Hall of Fame, that does not excuse current members of the BBWA from following the method of election as prescribed.

Bottom line? If you want to vent your anger over members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America actually considering player integrity and character as part of the criteria for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, said ire would be more appropriately aimed at the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. After all, the latter body could remove integrity and character from the list of criteria used by the BBWA to determine the suitability of Hall of Fame candidates. Until the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame chooses to do so, I - for one - applaud those BBWA members who vote on Hall of Fame membership based upon all of the criteria laid out in the Hall of Fames election rules.

[NJTank]

Yogi did not get in on the first try because writers were expressing douchbaggery by not voting on any first year players.

[Shumway]

How the did Aaron Sele get Hall of Fame votes?

I really thought we'd see Biggio be the only one, while hoping Trammell and Lee Smith got in as well. I still feel like Bonds and Clemens will get in, and rightfully so. I just assumed that this year was a conclusive no-go for either.

[pmoehrin]

How the did Aaron Sele get Hall of Fame votes?

A writer may have just tossed him a bone.

There's been a bunch guys over the years with no chance to get in the Hall that got a vote(s). Jim Hickman, Danny Tartabull, Dock Ellis, Terry Kennedy Its nothing new and it has no real impact on who gets in or not.

If somebody wants to make a photo copy of their Hall of Fame ballot with Aaron Sele on it just so Sele can hang it up in his office or something, good for Aaron Sele then. I don't have a problem with it.

[Needschat]

Congrats Baseball writers... you have gotten your revenge and made the story about yourself.

That's one way of looking at it.

One could also choose to accept that a significant percentage of the current membership of the Baseball Writers' Association of America chose to take seriously that election to the Hall of Fame be - as settled upon at the institution's outset - "based upon the player's record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."

The Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the Baseball Writers' Association of America laid out integrity and character as criteria upon which a potential inductee to the Hall of Fame should be judged. Whether integrity and character should be amongst the criteria considered when determining suitability for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame is open to debate. That said, until such time as the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum sees fit "to revoke, alter or amend these rules" - as said rules allow for under Section 9 - to remove integrity and character from amongst the list of criteria that they've charged the BBWA with using to determine whether a candidate should be elected to the Hall of Fame, members of the BBWA should be expected to consider the integrity and character of potential Hall of Fame candidates when voting.

Further, simply because past members of the BBWA have apparently chosen to ignore integrity and character as amongst the criteria agreed upon with the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to be considered when determining whether a player should be elected to the Hall of Fame, that does not excuse current members of the BBWA from following the method of election as prescribed.

Bottom line? If you want to vent your anger over members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America actually considering player integrity and character as part of the criteria for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, said ire would be more appropriately aimed at the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. After all, the latter body could remove integrity and character from the list of criteria used by the BBWA to determine the suitability of Hall of Fame candidates. Until the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame chooses to do so, I - for one - applaud those BBWA members who vote on Hall of Fame membership based upon all of the criteria laid out in the Hall of Fames election rules.

Player character and integrity? How many racists are in the Hall? How many cheaters, on and off the field, are in the Hall?

[cmm]

Since the steroid users (and suspected users) didn't get in they will be clogging the ballot the next few years--which is why they should get rid of the 10-player limit. Jayson Stark wrote that he couldn't vote for guys he did last year because he voted for Bonds, Clemens, Piazza, Bagwell, etc this time around. The longer those guys remain in HOF limbo, the longer they will clog up votes and the harder it will be in for anyone to reach the 75% threshold.

[JayJaxon]

I think empty ballots should result in that voter having his privilege revoked. It shows me that the voter isn't serious about the responsibility and if he doesn't want it, he shouldn't be given another opportunity to do it. I'm also of the belief that writers are the wrong group to be voting for these things. Many of them use it as a way to get back at players. If you talk to 100 different voters you will get 100 different processes in which they came to the conclusion of their ballot. I just saw a writer say he had been a fan of Jack Morris getting in for years yet this year he voted for only 3 guys and Morris wasn't one of them.

Then there is the matter of there being so many voters. 569 ballots were cast this year. That is way too much. Many of these voters have been away from the game for years and have no business voting. I'm not suggesting that voters be made to put 5-6 guys in a year like the NFL. But there comes a time where the board of Directors for the Hall of Fame have to take control of the process and put it in the hands of people who will take it seriously.

[ElwoodCuse]

Player character and integrity? How many racists are in the Hall? How many cheaters, on and off the field, are in the Hall?

Also if they were so concerned about integrity, why didn't they vote for the guys like Piazza and Bagwell and Biggio? There's no positive test or post-career admission or government investigation there. This was a childish tantrum, nothing more.

[infrared41]

I - for one - applaud those BBWA members who vote on Hall of Fame membership based upon all of the criteria laid out in the Hall of Fames election rules.

As do I.

[rams80]

The Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the Baseball Writers' Association of America laid out integrity and character as criteria upon which a potential inductee to the Hall of Fame should be judged.

And yet they let in/kept Ty Cobb. Or is he in because he was a character?

[Brian in Boston]

Player character and integrity? How many racists are in the Hall? How many cheaters, on and off the field, are in the Hall?

I'm sure that there's no shortage of players ensconced in the National Baseball Hall of Fame who were "racists" and/or "cheaters". Clearly, in voting said players into the Hall of Fame, some past members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America chose to ignore failings in the areas of integrity and character on the part of said players. Similarly, some past members of the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum obviously chose to turn a blind eye to the actions of those BWAA members who engaged in ignoring failings in the areas of player integrity and character when casting Hall of Fame ballots.

That said, past failings on the part of Baseball Writers' of America members, as well as members of the Board of Directors of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, to see to it that integrity and character be taken into consideration when selecting players for induction to the Hall of Fame does not release current members of the BWAA and/or the Hall's Board of Directors from ensuring that the criteria - as currently codified - are adhered to.

Bottom line? Invoking failings in the past as a reason to engage in failings in the present is unacceptable. So long as the criteria for entrance into the National Baseball Hall of Fame calls for taking integrity and character into consideration, members of the BWAA should do so and members of the Board of Directors of the Hall of Fame should call them out when they don't.

As to whether integrity and character should be taken into consideration, that's open to debate. If the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum - as well as the membership of the BWAA - don't think so, than the criteria should be officially changed. However, until such a change in the criteria officially takes place, I can't see taking the BWAA membership to task for adhering to the parameters as they exist.

[pmoehrin]

Player character and integrity? How many racists are in the Hall? How many cheaters, on and off the field, are in the Hall?

Also if they were so concerned about integrity, why didn't they vote for the guys like Piazza and Bagwell and Biggio? There's no positive test or post-career admission or government investigation there. This was a childish tantrum, nothing more.

If your going to start throwing out guys just based on suspicion, then I don't you think you can vote anyone in, because I think reasonable suspicion exists for virtually every single player from the late 90's.

You really going to white wash an entire era just because it wasn't up to the level of moral integrity that has never really existed in the first place?

As far as the moral character argument goes to me it should be a secondary argument. It can be used to elevate borderline guys into the Hall as is the case with someone like a Willie Stargell or it can be used to keep borderline guys like Albert Belle from ever even being taken seriously because he was such a scumbag during his career. I don't think it should ever be the primary reason for voting somebody in or keeping him out though. Say what you want about Ty Cobb the guy has over 4,000 hits. I don't care what he did off the field. He has to be in the Hall of Fame.

[The_Admiral]

"BWAA," it even looks like the sound a crying baby makes.

[Kramerica Industries]

This Jack Morris for the Hall wagon needs to stop. His entire Hall of Fame credentials are based on his performance in the 1984 and 1991 World Series'. And kudos to him for stepping up in some crucial games, but those games do not make up for a career where he was not much more than an average pitcher, relative to his peers.

[HedleyLamarr]

I think it should be like the Heisman. If you're in the HOF, you're a voter. Why not? They earned it more than anyone.

Hell no.

Off the field (and even on the field), players are way too friendly with each other. The Hall voting will basically turn into "vote your friends or friends' friends and all your teammates in", and that isn't good for the Hall.

Heisman winners getting to vote works because they can't be buddy-buddy with many future players.

[rams80]

Heisman winners getting to vote works because they can't be buddy-buddy with many future players.

[The_Admiral]

I think it should be like the Heisman. If you're in the HOF, you're a voter. Why not? They earned it more than anyone.

Oh for cr--did we learn nothing from having to de-joemorganate the Veterans Committee?

[Gothamite]

I think this shows the system works.

It should be incredibly difficult to get into the Hall of Fame. Doesn't bother me in the least that every so often there is a year where nobody makes the cut.

[infrared41]

This Jack Morris for the Hall wagon needs to stop. His entire Hall of Fame credentials are based on his performance in the 1984 and 1991 World Series'. And kudos to him for stepping up in some crucial games, but those games do not make up for a career where he was not much more than an average pitcher, relative to his peers.

Agreed, mostly. There's more to the Morris argument than his World Series performance and he was more than just "an average pitcher." He was definitely among the better pitchers of the 80's but he is not a HOF pitcher. He's the perfect example of a guy you need to make a "HOF argument" for. In my book, if you can make a case either way on a player, that pretty much tells you that he's not HOF caliber.

[Funky Bunky]

Cool fact- Craig Biggio went to my cousin's bar mitzvah.