Hall of Fame Ballot

The steroid players are obvious "no" in my book because I think common-sense should allow most fans to easily tell who were just creations and who were actually great players.
Its really hard to ignore the role Caminiti had in Houston with the other star players with regard to steroids and HGH, but I would still grudgingly vote for Biggio.

No way would I vote for Bagwell or Luis Gonzalez; two of the most ridiculous, under-the-radar examples (along with Brett Boone, Dykstra and Brady Anderson) of average to above-average players who juiced to the max and became borderline All-time greats.

I would vote for Glavine, Maddox, Tim Raines (was a great player before juice also) Schilling (top 5 best big game pitcher ever, yet turned blind eye to ridiculously juiced teams in Philly (93) and both Bosox WS champ years...but hes in on my ballot).
I cant vote for Piazza;not because of the juicing rumors, but because he was such an atrocious fielder. He was poor at catcher because he came to the position late (1b in high school), and actually hurt his team starting at catcher due to defensive liabilities. I would vote in Edgar Martinez before Piazza. But I would pass on both.
Frank Thomas,Alan Trammell,Lou Whitaker,Bobby Grich are all yes in my book. I would also be very close with Mattingly, as I believe if Puckett is in, so should Mattingly. Donny's back issues should hold the same cred as Pucket's eye issues, as both of their best years are very compatible. In a less crowded year he should get in.

Bonds and Clemens will get in, but both are such despicable people I can't imagine that it would make sense until this decade blows over. Bonds is a symbol of not only his own arrogance, but of how MLB (especially Selig) were so utterly incompetent and greedy that they allowed juiced players to exist without any testing for so long. My vote would eventually go for both of them because I truly believe if they never played after 1999 they would be Hall of Famers. Maybe someone can tempt them with election if they come clean about the details.

The Hall is so watered down to "really good players" that maybe there should be a wing of "greatest of the great" to separate the Mays and Mantles from the Andre Dawsons.

The Hall ballot should take out that nonsense of "...integrity, sportsmanship, character" when the Hall is full of everything from racists to adulterers to felons. Its far too subjective a thing to consider.

This class is so strong that I feel you can pull plenty of names even with avoiding the ones you are most certain were PED users.

Greg Maddux
Mike Piazza
Curt Schilling
Lee Smith
Tim Raines
Alan Trammell
Craig Biggio
Frank Thomas
Tom Glavine
Jeff Bagwell

I might eventually vote in the PED users who never tested positive but I would wait for a ballot that was short on otherwise hall worthy players.

Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Tom Glavine
Greg Maddux
Mike Piazza
Frank Thomas

Edgar Martinez
Fred McGriff
Jack Morris
Mike Mussina
Tim Raines
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker


The first 6 I would vote in. The next group I would have to check. I would almost surely list 10 but I would need more research to figure out which ones to not vote for. McGriff doesn't get his due because he was winding down as steriod use came into mainstream use so his numbers don't look as good as if you compared them to guys in the '80s; Edgar was 'just' a DH for most of his career; Morris and Mussina were both very good but were they HOF good?; Raines is probably hurt by playing the last 7 or 8 years of his career, people forget how good he was at the beginning and middle of his career; Trammell was very good for very long but HOF?; Walker was good in Montreal but exploded in Colorado, was it just altitude?

Trammell was very good for very long but HOF?

He was among the best if not the best at his position for a decade or more. His BA compares with anyone of his era. His power numbers as a shortstop probably second only to Ripken. Probably only the wizard himself was better defensively.
About the only thing more he could do is steal bases but given everything else I think I can overlook that.

Jeff Bagwell
Tom Glavine
Greg Maddux
Jack Morris
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Curt Schilling
Lee Smith
Frank Thomas
Larry Walker

BAgwell is a complete joke. He is top 10 "Ridiculously obvious PED user".

the only one on the list in would consider would be Maddux. Everyone else is good but not HOF material. IMO

Maddux should be a near-unanimous pick. The only others worth considering are Glavine and Trammell.

the only one on the list in would consider would be Maddux. Everyone else is good but not HOF material. IMO

Frank Thomas is not HOF material? Ever see a baseball game?

Thomas is rated as the # 48 hitter of all-time by Fan Elo Rater - see this site for complete stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... fr04.shtml

Thomas won back-to-back MVPs in 1993-94 and was cheated out of a third MVP in 2000 when he was barely out-voted by the admittedly "juiced -up" Jason Giambi. Thomas was the best hitter in the game for a decent number of years - I would concede that his defense was lousy, but I'd rather have his production than any banjo-hitting gold glover.

His repeated calls for banned substance testing in the era of his playing days would be an additional cap in his feather in my book.