Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

This was under the radar for me, just read about it today - what most of us would consider kind of a big deal, but seems like it's a backhanded way to circumvent the voting process of the entire BBWAA, if you ask me ...

On Monday, the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee named eight candidates on the ballot for the 2023 Hall of Fame class: Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling. The results will be announced on Dec. 4 at the winter meetings.

The eight finalists were selected by the BBWAA-appointed Historical Overview Committee from all eligible candidates among players whose most significant career impact occurred since 1980.

The threshold for enshrinement is 75 percent of the vote cast by the 16-member committee. There is no limit as to how many players each committee member can vote for. The eight candidates all appeared previously on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot, but failed to gain the necessary 75 percent of the vote for induction.

Initial thought - I'm puzzled why Mark McGwire and/or Sammy Sosa didn't make the cut ahead of Rafael Palmiero.

It is surprising that McGwire and Sosa weren't included with this group. I guess they'll be considered next year?

Whatever. At some point (I don't know when) Bonds and Clemens will get in, and then "several others" will have the door opened for them.

These committees exist for every era. It used to be one committee that would consider all unelected players, the Veterans Committee. Tons of players have gotten in through the VC, including most of the least-deserving players in the HOF. But yeah I agree that it's odd to exclude McGwire and Sosa. Palmeiro was certainly their peer though, I'd replace Mattingly and Murphy to fit them on.

The HOF in Cooperstown is a nice place to visit on a warm summer evening.
But I think the MaxPower HOF posted here a few months ago "segregation adjusted WAR leaderboard" is a much more realistic list of the best of all time.

Something is wrong when you need a committee to see if Bonds and Clemens deserve a place among a bunch of other good baseball players.

The Hall of Fame started off with a bang with Ruth, Cobb, Johnson, Mathewson and Wagner.

But then immediately afterwards it enshrined some non-players ... Charles Comiskey, Alexander Cartwright, Henry Chadwick, Morgan Bulkeley, Ban Johnson, Connie Mack, John McGraw, George Wright ... and Candy Cummings.

The Veterans Committee has righted some slights and injustices, but idea of a "small hall" for only the very best of the best was lost forever because of Frankie Frisch. Now, candidates are evaluated based on the most marginal inductees, if Jesse Haines is a hall of famer, why isn't Jack Morris?

It doesn't matter to me anymore. I feel the same way about the All-Star game, the Oscars, Miss America. But I do feel guys like Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and Sosa need to be "a part of the Hall of Fame", in whatever way Cooperstown wants to tell the story of professional baseball, because there is no doubt these guys were a very important, integral part of the entire history of baseball, good or bad, but a history that needs to be told honestly.

Mark McGwire was one of my favourites to watch. He had the respect of the pitchers, Mark was such a significant Home Run threat. I see no reason he wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame.

lot of writers refuse to vote for steriod users, period. when they put Mazeroski a HOFer is a joke. think about it. Maris and Murphy were back to back MVP winners. Maz had one world Series winning hit. .260 ba, .299 obp, .367 slugging. joke.

Fred McGriff was vote into the HOF. He was named on all 16 ballots. None of the others were named on at least 12 ballots.
Congratulations to the Crime Dog!

Wow the 3 juicers each got fewer than 4 votes. If anything the committees look to be even less friendly to Bonds and Clemens than the writers were.

My selection criteria is simple for juicers: If I think they would have gotten in (or even if it's borderline) without the inflated stats due to steroids I think they should get in. So Bonds should definitely get in and I think probably Clemens. No way Sosa, Palmeiro, or McGuire should get in.