[Edit: I decided to leave the polls open till Monday at midnight since some people are around Monday to check out new teams.]
The new Hall of Fame ballot has come out and, not surprisingly, it mostly features guys who played significant parts of their career in the 1980s. As 80s managers, we get to see these guys from an unusual perspective--the perspective of how they looked and played during their own time. Of course, some guys who were briefly dominant (e.g. Pedro Guerrero) burned out too quickly to stay on the Hall ballot. Others, like Dwight Evans, never (IMHO) got their due from the Baseball Writers Assoc. voters and fell too quickly from the ballot. Others, like Brett, Yount, Boggs, and Schmidt instantly and Sandberg after too long a wait, are already in the Hall. Others, like Hersheiser, Gooden and Gaetti, have just found their way onto the ballot this year.
Still, an interesting group of players is presently eligible for the Hall (most of whom are in the 80s game), and I thought you might all like the chance to cast a your own vote, with the added perspective of the insight from the 80s game.
From the list below, I weeded out newly added players who didn't seem to have a snowball's chance in hell of election--adios, Gary DiSarcina!--and came up with this list of twenty-two candidates. According to HOF rules, each writer gets to list ten guys (or fewer) who should be in the Hall. Any 80's manager is eligible to cast a ballot. Only one ballot per manager, please. It takes a 75% vote to put a player in the Hall. We can see if anyone gets that here. Your vote should be based not just on their 80s performance, but on their overall career performance, including the 80s. A great online source for stats is: <http://www.baseball-reference.com/>
So, cast your ballot for ten or fewer among the following players:
Albert Belle, Bert Blyleven, Will Clark, Dave Concepcion, Andre Dawson, Gary Gaetti, Steve Garvey, Dwight Gooden, Rich Gossage, Orel Hershiser, Tommy John, Doug Jones, Don Mattingly, Willie McGee, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter, Alan Trammell, John Wetteland
I'll try to keep a running count, assuming there's interest. I'll cast my ballot a bit later in the game so as not to influence others.