Over the past week I created a survey so we could conduct a BBWAA style ballot for the readers of NYBD. Last year, you elected both Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven to the Hall of Fame. The BBWAA disagreed and elected only Andre Dawson.

This year we had greater participation in the vote, and the results were interesting. No one received the necessary 75% support in order to gain election into the Hall. Click on the chart to see the final tallies.

As I said on last night’s Hall of Fame show, I think there is a good deal of “New York bias” in the results. I suspect that Alomar is penalized for his time with the Mets, which explains less than 70% of the vote. To a less extent, I understand Blyleven because he seems to be a polarizing topic when it comes to his candidacy. Still, the more statistically advanced internet readers usually support him. Don Mattingly, as usual, had a strong performance with almost a quarter of the voters selecting him on their ballot. Former Mets John Franco and John Olerud had more than 10% support. Al Leiter received just a shade under 5%, which would eliminate him from future ballots if this were the real vote. Someone even voted for Carlos Baerga, if you could believe that.

Barry Larkin, Jeff Bagwell, and Tim Raines earned support in the forties. I suspect that Bagwell won’t get that much from the BBWAA because of the steroid suspicions. I was a little disappointed that only 31% support Edgar Martinez, who had eight premium offensive seasons.

I expected both Alomar and Blyleven to earn election in our vote. These results disappoint me a bit, but it validates how polarizing the Hall of Fame debate has become.

To read my ballot you can click here, and see why I selected Alomar, Blyleven, Morris, Martinez, McGwire, Bagwell, Palmeiro, and Raines.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: Al Leiter, Barry Larkin, Bert Blyleven, Carlos Baerga, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Edgar Martinez, Hall of Fame, Houston Astros, Jack Morris, Jeff Bagwell, John Franco, John Olerud, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Roberto Alomar, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays