Baseball Hall of Fame voting results out this week

[Judge Jude]

partial SPOILER alert - the BaseballThinkFactory tally of published ballots - about 25 pct of the total vote - may prevent you from being blindsided by Wednesday's announcement.

Bottom line at bottom line


Updated: Jan.7 - 9:20 ~ 147 Full Ballots ~ (25.8% of vote ~ based on last year)

100% - Maddux
97.3 - Glavine
92.5 - F. Thomas
80.3 - Biggio
———————————
71.4 - Piazza
63.3 - Bagwell
59.2 - Morris
58.5 - Raines
42.9 - Bonds
42.2 - Clemens
39.5 - Schilling
30.6 - Mussina
25.9 - E. Martinez
23.8 - Trammell
23.8 - L. Smith
15.0 - Kent
13.6 - McGriff
10.2 - L. Walker
10.2 - McGwire
8.2 - S. Sosa
6.1 - R. Palmeiro
5.4 - Mattingly
———————————

MADDUX won't get 100 pct because the blank ballot crowd will do him in
GLAVINE no doubt got a bump from being his teammate, though he was going in anyway
THOMAS has the numbers and the anti-PED stance
BIGGIO likely but not definite
PIAZZA too close to call
BAGWELL standing still
MORRIS will do better with final result but seems unlikely to get 75 pct
RAINES, pretty good given ballot
BONDS and CLEMENS, locked in cycle like Greek mythology
SCHILLING and MUSSINA compare well with Glavine; Mussina avoided 1st-yr blues
EDGAR, TRAMMELL, LSMITH found deep ballot daunting
KENT debuted into tough turf
MCGRIFF and WALKER lost in shuffle
MCGWIRE, SOSA two more fallen Greek gods
PALMEIRO nipping at those juicy heels
MATTINGLY needs 5 pct to get his 15th and last fling next year

[revo]

I was listening to MLB Radio the other day and the show hosts had NYT baseball writer Murray Chass on. Chass told them his "sources" claimed Biggio & Bagwell both used PEDs regularly and so he wouldn't vote for them. I thought Biggio, at least, was surprising.

[DMT]

I am sick to death of these utter dipshits that get to vote for the HoF. Murray Chass is emblematic of the rampant stupidity of the writers involved.

The HoF is soon to be an utter joke, I it isn't already. Thanks, assholes.

Already is.

[Stephen]

It already is - but nonetheless this Braves fan would love to go this year when Cox, Glavine and Maddux are all being inducted.

[dslaw]

I wouldn't be too surprised if Glavine fell short. A few other 300 game winners didn't make it the first time and Glavine didn't have the high K's or consistently league leader ERA stats so I can see him being left off ballots with this field and the way voters change minds from year to year. I was preparing my "how the heck did Glavine not get 75%?" speech but it looks like he may have enough support to make it this year.

[chancellor]

Anyone who does not vote Maddux in on first ballot should have their voting privileges revoked for life. They're simply too stupid to be entrusted with a vote.

[Judge Jude]

you asked for it!

http://deadspin.com/greg-maddux-will-not-be-a-unanimous-hall-of-famer-1496300490?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

KEN GURNICK, Dodgers beat reporter
Morris

"Morris has flaws -- a 3.90 ERA, for example. But he gets my vote for more than a decade of ace performance that included three 20-win seasons, Cy Young Award votes in seven seasons and Most Valuable Player Award votes in five. As for those who played during the period of PED use, I won't vote for any of them."

http://deadspin.com/greg-maddux-will-not-be-a-unanimous-hall-of-famer-1496300490?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

and here I thought Morris's Game 7 shutout was in 1991, during the Canseco-McGwire era. since this apparently was not during the period of PED use, am surprised he didn't vote for McGwire too!

[Moonlight J]

My thoughts on that - http://jasoncollette.com/2014/01/07/...eliest-number/

[Sour Masher]

I'm surprised Glavine has such a high % of vote. I think he is a low end HoFer, and I didn't think he was a lock to get in on the first try. That Piazza is borderline continues to perplex me. Unless you are convinced he cheated and are leaving him out for that, there is no way he didn't deserve to be a first ballot lock based on his production at catcher.

[whalewang]

My thoughts on that - http://jasoncollette.com/2014/01/07/...eliest-number/

Nice write-up. mlb.com needs to scrutinize the people on their payroll (i.e. Ken Gurnick).

[rhd]

BA had a mock HOF vote today, and here are the results:

Player Votes Pct
Greg Maddux 23 100.0%
Frank Thomas 23 100.0%
Tom Glavine 23 100.0%
Mike Piazza 21 91.3%
Roger Clemens 19 82.6%
Barry Bonds 18 78.3%
Jeff Bagwell 18 78.3%
-------------------
Craig Biggio 15 65.2%
Curt Schilling 11 47.8%
Mike Mussina 11 47.8%
Tim Raines 10 43.5%
Edgar Martinez 6 26.1%
Larry Walker 5 21.7%
Alan Trammell 4 17.4%
Jeff Kent 3 13.0%
Mark McGwire 1 4.4%
Jack Morris 1 4.4%
Lee Smith 1 4.4%

[rhd]

My thoughts on that - http://jasoncollette.com/2014/01/07/...eliest-number/

Jason's article brings up an intriguing point: when exactly did the 'steroids' era begin in baseball?

I saw a TV piece a while ago that indicated that the widespread use of steroids in sports began w the Olympics in 1956 (or was it 1960?). This is when the Russians began to become dominant in the 'strength' sports such as weightlifting, and steroid use supposedly is the reason why. It mentioned that linemen in the NFL began to get much bigger around the late 1960's. If steroid use became prevalent in football then, what about baseball? Could it have started that early? If so, why werent hitters hitting 60 and 70+ HRs back then? There's so much the average fan doesnt know about PED usage.

[heyelander]

From B-Fly's buddy David Cohen over at TheGoodPhight

Greg Maddux for the Hall of Fame ... Unanimously
Let me just get this out of the way up front. I hate the Braves probably more than any other team in professional sports. If I were as big a football fan as I am a baseball fan, I might hate the Cowboys more, but I am a baseball fan at heart, so I the Braves have this title.

And I especially hate the 1990s Braves. Bobby Cox, the wife-beater. John Smoltz, the bigoted loud-mouthed homophobe. John Rocker, the deranged xenophobe. And the king of them all - Chipper Jones, with so many awesome things to choose from. And the list goes on and on. The Braves are the worst of the worst and the 1990s Braves were the worst of the worst of the worst.

But there was one thing that I didn't only not hate about the 1990s Braves but actually loved (in the baseball sense of the word) - Greg Maddux. And this week Greg Maddux should be the first member of the Hall of Fame to get in unanimously.

As much as I love baseball, I hate the superstitious tradition of the game and the forced genuflecting to history that many demand. So it should come as no surprise that I couldn't care less that Babe Ruth didn't get into the Hall of Fame unanimously, nor do I think because of that no one else should. There are lots of baseball players for whom there is no argument whatsoever against their being a member of the Hall of Fame.

More - http://www.thegoodphight.com/2014/1/...me-unanimously

[Moonlight J]

as a friend of mine tweeted out earlier, the US Govt routinely gave soldiers amphetamines and steroids during WWII. We should put an asterisk on that victory

[revo]

Jason's article brings up an intriguing point: when exactly did the 'steroids' era begin in baseball?

I saw a TV piece a while ago that indicated that the widespread use of steroids in sports began w the Olympics in 1956 (or was it 1960?). This is when the Russians began to become dominant in the 'strength' sports such as weightlifting, and steroid use supposedly is the reason why. It mentioned that linemen in the NFL began to get much bigger around the late 1960's. If steroid use became prevalent in football then, what about baseball? Could it have started that early? If so, why werent hitters hitting 60 and 70+ HRs back then? There's so much the average fan doesnt know about PED usage.

Steroids were initially thought to make athletes stronger and bulkier, but the thinking then in baseball was that players needed to be more limber and durable.

Tom House said he was using steroids as far back as the early 1970s, and claimed six or seven pitchers on every team were using "amphetamines, HGH or steroids" in order to add MPH to their fastball, but he stopped when he gained 30 lbs and didn't add anything to his fastball as he had hoped. I get the feeling that if there was steroid use in MLB in that era, it was far from an exact science and much more experimentational.

I think you can pinpoint the more widespread use of steroids among hitters to the 1994 season. Sure, there may have been a Canseco here and a Dykstra there, but I think '94 was the tipping point.