Dissecting The HOF Ballot

This week's Hall of Fame election has left us with several unanswered questions, some inconsistencies, and some flat-out perplexing voting patterns. Let's take a look at some of the peculiarities.

*A total of 28 voters did not deem Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time, worthy of the Hall of Fame. To my knowledge, only one (a writer named Corky Simpson) has explained his no-vote for Henderson, saying that Rickey wasn't "his kind of player." Let's hope that a few other writers are brave enough to tell us why Henderson didn't merit their votes. If they did it as a protest against Henderson's occasional malingering, a problem during Rickey's stays with both the Mets and Yankees, I can somewhat understand the reasoning. But if they did it for some other reason, such as the antiquated belief that no one deserves a unanimous vote, they deserve the public ridicule.

*Of the 28 voters who left Henderson off the ballot, two actually submitted entirely blank ballots. Of the 23 players listed, they deemed absolutely no one worthy of the Hall. No Henderson, no Jim Rice, no Bert Blyleven, no Andre Dawson. Methinks their standards are a bit too high. The Hall of Fame has never been about honoring only the game's immortals--the Babe Ruths, the Ty Cobbs, the Ted Williams, the Willie Mays. There has always been room for other tiers of players, players who don't quite reach the godlike quality of Ruth and Mays. I understand the argument about a "small Hall," but when a superstar like Rickey Henderson doesn't merit inclusion, the standards for election have become a bit too lofty.

*The voters once again completely missed the boat on Tim "Rock" Raines, who was basically the equal of Tony Gwynn. (If you don't believe me, consider that Raines reached base as much as Gwynn did during his unquestioned Hall of Fame career.) Not only did Raines finish well down on the ballot, his level of support actually dropped to 22 per cent. That's shameful support for the National League's best leadoff man of the eighties, a legitimate four-tool player who did everything well but throw.

*Mark McGwire's voting support fell off by four per cent, dropping from 25 per cent, the level it had been during his first two years on the ballot, to 21 per cent. Why the falloff? Some writers have theorized that a few voters took their votes away from Big Mac and gave them to Rice, who happened to enjoy a four per cent increase. Without seeing individual ballots, the theory will be hard to prove, but it's an interesting theory nonetheless.

*Two voters decided that Jay Bell--yes, that Jay Bell!--was somehow deserving of the Hall of Fame. I'd be curious as to whether those same voters put Alan Trammell's name on their ballots. If Jay Bell merits the Hall of Fame, then Cooperstown will need to open its doors to Dave Concepcion, Bert "Campy" Campaneris, Leo "Chico" Cardenas, Mark Belanger, Eddie Brinkman, Shawon Dunston, Greg Gagne, and a few other shortstops of yesteryear. Jay Bell? He must have been a good to interview--or something.