Silva’s Hall of Fame Ballot
By Mike Silva ~ December 2nd, 2008. Filed under: Hall of Fame.
No, I am not a member of the BBWAA, but I do write for Dugout Central and they actually have a pretty interesting exercise this week.
Each of the writers at DC are asked to submit their selections for the Hall of Fame by noon this Friday. The players up for induction are as follows:
Harold Baines
Jay Bell
Bert Blyleven
David Cone
Andre Dawson
Ron Gant
Mark Grace
Rickey Henderson
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Jesse Orosco
Dave Parker
Dan Plesac
Tim Raines
Jim Rice
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell
Greg Vaughn
Mo Vaughn
Matt Williams
The fun part is that my contemporaries are starting to show up on the ballot. I have always heard how great Tom Seaver was, but I never actually saw him pitch live. I can now weigh in on Jim Rice, Mo Vaughn, Tim Raines, and Tommy John. TJ is an interesting case, if you remember, I brought up the Hall of Fame conversation on my show last summer. It seemed to be a sore subject to him.
I am going to wait a few days to submit my ballot to Adam at Dugout Central. What do the readers and listeners think? How about you throw me some feedback in the comments section. Even though we kick off the winter meetings this Sunday, Howard and I will find time to discuss.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Vote For:
Bert Blyleven
Rickey Henderson
Tim Raines
Alan Trammell
Blyleven shoulda been in years ago and Rickey is a no-brainer.
Raines is the most borderline of this crew, but he has a 123 career OPS+ and outstanding .385 OBP, with 808 steals at an insane 85% success rate. Anyone who votes for Dawson and his .323 career OBP and leaves Raines off the ballot should lose their vote forever.
Trammell would be a no-brainer if he didn’t play at the same time as Ripken. Look at the SS in the HOF – Trammell is better than a bunch of them.
Best and quickest argument against Rice – his home vs. road splits:
Home: .320/.374/.546
Road: .277/.330/.459
Rice was a product of his home ballpark. On the road he was an average to below average hitter for a corner OF. Even if you don’t look at these numbers, he’s not a HOF anyway.