How many (if any) of these players will make the Hall of Fame?

[SlideRule]

I've enjoyed this debate. I certainly fall on one side more than the other, but just for discussion:

How much do we think these other factors influenced the relative HR rates of the "early" years vs. the "steroid era" or post-steroid era?

- league size (ie talent dilution, expansion teams - +2 in '93, +2 in '98)
- player development advances (ie numerous farm teams)
- equipment advances and technology
- stadium dimensions (weren't the fences generally moved in during the steroid era at a number of parks?)
- rumors of new ball makeup (more lively ball to add offense/HRs/fan interest)
- umpire strike zone changes (possibly nudged by QuesTec to be less generous?)

Also to consider:
- start of 2005 steroid testing (HR rates stayed basically at pre-testing levels)

[ironfist]

Heard a guy talking on the radio (WFAN) with Francessa today - not sure who it was, but he had a HOF vote. He said one of the reasons that he didn't vote for Piazza is because there's some new book coming out and he wanted to see what was in it. Could be some voters might think that it could clear or damn him and were waiting to see before committing him into the Hall. He also said that some voters wouldn't vote for a candidate their first time on the ballot regardless of whether they deserved it or not. Now this could all be nonsense, or maybe there were just enough to keep down the vote totals for some of the first-time candidates. Some of the other stuff he talked about was old-school kind of thinking (especially about Jack Morris, etc). I wonder if we'll see any uptick in some of these guys' numbers next year (hopefully).

[Judge Jude]

That was Bill Madden of the NY Daily News, pretty much the dean of NY-area baseball writers.

Madden also said he had no problem with votes for guys like Aaron Sele. He said he has told a few guys over the years that if they got onto the ballot, he'd "make sure they didn't get shut out" in the voting.
and yes, my mind reels.

Madden predicted that LaRussa, Cox, and Torre all would get voted into the non-playing wing next year, and that Maddux would get in, too. He said he had to vote for Frank Thomas, too, and he was inclined to vote for Kent as well. Wasn't clear re Glavine, and Mussina's name I don't think came up.

[Hornsby]

Jeezus...am I glad that this is over for another year. Mainly regarding twitter: Never has so much, been written by so many, who know so little...yet proclaim that they're the "experts". And this is on every side of the issue. Nobody really knows how PED's really affect a player, but everyone seems to think that their opinion is correct, and anyone who doesn't think their way is either a Luddite, or an egotistical moron. People who blog think that the writers are Neanderthals who don't deserve to have a vote for the Hall. People who are members of the BBWAA think all bloggers live in Mom's basement and haven't been out to see a game in person in their lives. And then there's the faction that thinks that only THEY have the way to "fix" the HOF voting or Cooperstown will simply dry up and blow away.

But hey, we'll do it all over again in about 11 months, right?

[ironfist]

If there's one thing that every single person on every side of the issue fully agrees with it's that writers are Netherlands.

yeah I hate reading articles in Dutch - so annoying.

[revo]

yeah I hate reading articles in Dutch - so annoying.

LOL. I can only guess he meant to write "neanderthals."

[ironfist]

LOL. I can only guess he meant to write "neanderthals."

gotta love auto-correct. I bet that's to blame.

[Hornsby]

LOL. I can only guess he meant to write "neanderthals."

Yep, that was it...you are both correct...

Last edited by Hornsby; Today at 08:17 AM. Reason: Didn't knotice spel chech made early hominid into present day Euro trash...