THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

Buster Olney has been writing columns for a while now, saying how the HOF voting is messed up and that there are a lot of players who deserve induction, but will miss out because of the voting procedures. A voter can only name 10 players for induction. Players can only stay on the list for 10 years instead of 15. Mr. Olney says that this severely limits all the players who should be inducted. He also complains about the "character clause" which also affects the voters choices, speaking specifically about the steroid and drug use.  I made this comment at the end of Olney's column today:

It still comes down to how you view the Hall of Fame. Is it for the absolutely outstanding players (without felonies, of course) or does it include some very good players ?  Two of the players you mentioned, Jim Kaat and Dale Murphy fall into the 'very good' category. There are already at least a dozen players in the Hall who don't belong there at all. There are some who should never have even been considered. I would love to see Mike Mussina elected. Same thing for Jim Kaat. These were two of my favorite players, but I wouldn't be offended it they don't make it.
Buster, you make a very good case - if we were talking about the "Hall of good Players."  I expect people will start posting comments making cases for their favorites and saying - as you do - that are 12-15 players on the list that should be elected.
But there aren't.

I still don't know how to deal with the steroid users or the 'suspected' steroid users. What makes it difficult is the major players in this category, i.e. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, et al, were very talented players in their own right and probably would have made it without the chemical help. But, how do you ignore the outlandish numbers that resulted?

Buster Olney abstained from voting because he felt he couldn't ignore the five players he would have voted for if the limit were 15 players instead of 10. This is why I don't think his arguments hold water.
Here's the official ballot. I don't see 15 players I think are deserving. Maybe nine, but that's stretching it.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2015.shtml

It's  interesting that a defensive player can mug a receiver in Big D and not have a foul called. Actually, one ref did call a foul but was over ruled by the others. Hopefully, this will be the last game played in Dallas this year.

***THEY SAID IT***

"So now the Granddaddy of Them All is now officially “The Rose Bowl Game Presented By Northwestern Mutual”? Hopefully they’re not paying the trophy engraver by the letter."  -- Dwight Perry

"Detroit Lion Ndamukong Suh was fined for stomping on Green Bay Packer QB Aaron Rodgers during a game last week. Suh claimed it was so cold, his feet were frozen and didn’t know he stepped on Rodgers. This is of course different from his other dirty hits and cheap shots where it was his brain that was frozen."  -- TC Chong

"Saturday in Washington, the Creighton’s men’s basketball team faced Georgetown center Joshua Smith, who’s 6-10, 350 pounds. Congress just granted him statehood."  -- Brad Dickson

"Florida basketball player Jacob Kurtz inadvertently tipped in the game-winning shot at the buzzer for rival Florida State last week. When Gators coach Billy Donovan said “we beat ourselves,” he wasn’t kidding."  -- Dwight Perry

"Not a big Ravens fan, but having a very hard time seeing how any woman can root for Ben Rothlisberger. Or any man with daughters."  -- Janice Hough

"It’s reported that the Philadelphia Flyers’ Claude Giroux “rubbed boogers on a referee’s back.” I’d think of a joke, but I’m too busy pondering the fact that I’m a college graduate who types sentences like that for a living."  -- Brad Dickson

Condolences to the family of Stuart Scott of ESPN, who died of cancer at age 49. He treated sports with respect and humor. He was one of Annie-O's favorites. He will be missed.

CP-