Courtesy of baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com
(If you want to read about who I’d vote for, follow this link: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/opinion/2012/01/mcgriff-raines-worthy-of-cooperstown.html)
BBA recommends Larkin, Bagwell for Hall of Fame
In the annual polling of members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin and former Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell were recommended for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is the third year the organization has conducted this survey of the membership.
Larkin, a 12-time All-Star who fashioned an .815 OPS over 19 seasons, received the largest percentage of votes, being named on 84.25% of the 148 ballots cast. This is the highest percentage garnered by any player in the three years of BBA voting.
Bagwell, who hit 449 HR and had a .948 OPS in his 15 seasons in Houston, was selected on 115 ballots for a 78.77% rate. As with the official voting done by the Baseball Writers of America, a player must be named on 75% of the ballots to be recommended by the alliance.
Last year, the BBA recommended second baseman Roberto Alomar and pitcher Bert Blyleven, both of whom were inducted into Cooperstown during the summer. In 2010, no player reached the 75% mark in BBA balloting, the year that outfielder Andre Dawson was selected for the Hall by the baseball writers.
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance’s vote has no impact on the official vote taken by the Baseball Writers of America. However, the BBA has often been a predictor of major awards granted by the writers.
The final voting results are as follows:
Barry Larkin 84.25%
Jeff Bagwell 78.77%
Edgar Martinez 60.27%
Tim Raines 57.53%
Alan Trammell 44.52%
Mark McGwire 41.10%
Larry Walker 35.62%
Lee Smith 33.56%
Jack Morris 32.19%
Don Mattingly 29.45%
Rafael Palmerio 28.77%
Fred McGriff 28.08%
Dale Murphy 16.44%
Bernie Williams 11.64%
Juan Gonzalez 6.16%
Javy Lopez 2.74%
Brad Radke 2.05%
Tim Salmon 1.37%
Bill Mueller 0.68%
Phil Nevin 0.68%
Ruben Sierra 0.68%
Tony Womack 0.68%
Jeromy Burnitz 0.00%
Vinny Castilla 0.00%
Brian Jordan 0.00%
Terry Mulholland 0.00%
Eric Young 0.00%
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was established in the fall of 2009 for the purpose of fostering collaboration and communication among bloggers from across baseball. The BBA has quickly grown to its current membership of 347 blogs, including some of the most prominent blogs on the Internet, spanning all major league teams and various other general aspects of the game.
More information about the BBA can be found at their website, baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com, or by contacting the founder and administrator of the organization, Daniel Shoptaw, at founder@baseballbloggersalliance.com.
Is Jack Morris really not warranting on HOF induction? Strikes me that his wins, coupled with his WS appearances should get him at least a sniff…
Thanks for the comment, Rob. I had Morris on my fictitious ballot last year. I can live with him in the Hall of Fame. But there was a convincing article released by a writer in the SABR community that indicated Morris’s overall value as a starting pitcher was equal to Brad Radke’s. That made me re-think things.
I think their top 4 are HOF’ers for sure so I am good with that. I love seeing Walker doubling his total from last year!
Fred McGriff’s 493 HR’s should be much higher! What’s the love affair with Trammell?!
Thanks for the comment, Scott. My fictitious ballot has Larkin, Bagwell, Raines, Walker, McGriff and Edgar Martinez on it. I just about included Trammell. There is strong support for Trammell in the SABR community. His career was actually almost as good as Larkin’s or Yount’s and he probably should have won the AL MVP Award in 1987.
There’s a schism between the sabermetric community (who are never wrong, just ask them) and the old guard. One can see merit in both views, but Morris to me is a Hall of Famer. One can argue that if Morris then Luis Tiant, Tommy John, Jim Kaat and Mickey Lolich should have gone in too. It’s a fine line.
Trammell is a legit candidate, I’m still on the fence about Raines, He was underrated so long that perhaps in retrospect he became overrated.
I’m still a Mattingly supporter too, short peak but others who starred at a very high level for a short time deservedly entered the Hall too, Puckett, Dizzy Dean, Sandy Koufax for starters.