Frank: Here's the 2010 ballot,with 26 candidates.
Artie: Ah, to help decide whogoes to Cooperstown. Even vicariously, it's ablast.
Frank: First, a recap of therules. A player with at least 10 full big-league seasons joins the ballot fiveyears after he's retired. He needs 5% of the vote to stay on the ballot and 75%for election. He has a maximum of 15 years on the ballot before moving to theveterans category. That voting is mostly by the current Hall of Famers, whorecently elected manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey. The BBWAA votewill be announced Jan. 6, 2010.
Artie: How many guys can we...um, you... vote for?
Frank: No more than 10. Lastyear there were 539 ballots cast, putting the 5% threshhold at 27 votes and the75% mark at 405. Rickey Hendersonwon on his first try with 511 votes and Jim Rice made it on his final ballotwith 412.
The Big 2
Artie: Now the most importantstatistic from last year. How close to election was my premier candidate, themaster moundsman of the ’70s and ’80s, the Dynamic Dutchman, Bert Blyleven?
Frank: He got 338 votes,including mine, or 63%, just behind Andre Dawson's 67%. Including this vote,Bert has three more chances with the BBWAA.
Artie: What's with thesescribes? Blyleven has 287 wins and an earned-run average of 3.31, pitching on alot of crummy teams and mostly in the American League, facing designatedhitters. He has 60 shutouts, ninth on the all-time list, and 3,701 strikeouts,fifth all-time. And he's 14th all-time in innings pitched with 4,969 1/3.
Frank: This year JustinVerlander led the majors with 240 innings. Blyleven surpassed that 12 times,including six straight years over 275.
Artie: Hell, the guy deserveshis own wing in the Hall!
Frank: Bert has my vote again,as does Dawson, who's comparable to Rice but with defensive skills. "TheHawk" had 438 homers and 1,591 RBI and won eight Gold Gloves. Countingthis year, Dawsonhas seven ballots left.
Artie: But Blyleven is down tothree shots, so his time is now!
Frank: It helps that thisballot and the ones for 2011 and ’12 don't have any first-ballot certaintieslike Henderson.Next year the top newcomers are Jeff Bagwell and the steroid-tainted RafaelPalmeiro, and in ’12 the big name is Bernie Williams. But in 2013 the rift hitsthe fan with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa being eligible, as wellas Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling and Mike Piazza.
Artie: The BBWAA doesn't wanta year with nobody elected, ain'a?
Frank: It's quite rare. Thelast time was 1996, and before that 1971.
The First-Timers
Frank: Fifteen players are newto the ballot, and 10 are unlikely to reach 5%—Kevin Appier, Ellis Burks, PatHentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Shane Reynolds, David Segui,Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile.
Artie: Good players but notHall-worthy. That leaves five first-timers who might be worth keeping so theycan build their vote like my guy Bert, who got only 18% in his first year.
Frank: We start with RobertoAlomar—a .300 lifetime batting average, 2,724 hits, 10 Gold Gloves at secondbase, 1,508 runs.
Artie: Gotta keep him. Notmany second sackers with his offensive stats.
Frank: Next is AndresGalarraga—399 homers and 1,425 RBI are good numbers, but not enough for me.
Artie: Agreed. If he gets inthe Hall, George "the Boomer" Scott should.
Frank: Next, Barry Larkin—.295average, 2,340 hits, an MVP in ’95, three Gold Gloves, first shortstop with a30-30 season in homers and steals.
Artie: Like Alomar, strongnumbers for his position. He's gotta stay.
Frank: Next, Edgar Martinez,who spent most of his time as Seattle'sDH. A career .312 hitter with 2,247 hits, a .418 on-base percentage and 309homers. But is that enough for someone who played almost 70% of his games—1,412out of 2,055—as a DH?
Artie: Not for me. PaulMolitor was a DH in his later seasons, but baseball-reference.com shows heplayed only about 44% of his games (1,174 out of 2,683) as a DH. And he had3,319 hits!
Frank: One more first-timer,Fred McGriff—a .284 BA with 2,490 hits, 1,550 RBI and 493 homers.
Artie: And there's never been talkthat his slugging was chemically aided.
Frank: I'm voting for threefirst-timers, Alomar, Larkin and McGriff. They deserve a longer look.
The Other Holdovers
Artie: Besides Bert andDawson, there are nine holdovers from last year.
Frank: Five have never had myvote—Harold Baines, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines and, sadly, DonMattingly. He's a .307 career hitter and as a Yankee fan I love him, but a badback shortened his career and left him with "only" 2,153 hits.
Artie: A terrific player but notin the super-elite.
Frank: Murphy was a two-timeMVP with the Braves, Parker a two-time batting champ with the Pirates, Rainesis fifth all-time in stolen bases and scored almost 1,600 runs. But they justdon't get there for me.
Artie: Baines (.289, 384homers) is like Martinez,mostly known as a DH.
Frank: That leaves threeholdovers, including Mark McGwire. As long as he's on the ballot he gets myvote.
Artie: Even though he'sassumed to have used steroids?
Frank: Yup. Major LeagueBaseball, for several reasons, tolerated the cheating for a long time and washappy to benefit from all that slugging by McGwire, Bonds, Sosa and others.It's part of the game's history and can't be ignored. Besides, lots of guysused ’roids but didn't hit 583 homers, as McGwire did.
Artie: As we've said before,any admitted or presumed ’roid guy who makes the Hall could have that flawnoted on his plaque. Or they could keep the tainted players in a separate area.
Frank: It will be veryinteresting how McGwire handles himself now that he's the St. Louis hitting coach. He got only 22% ofthe vote last time; some "mea culpas" might change future ballots.
Artie: He's looking better nowthat we have an admitted steroid user, and liar about it, Alex Rodriguez, being"rehabilitated" as a World Series winner.
Frank: Next on the ballot isJack Morris, who was 254-186 with a 3.90 ERA and three 20-win years, entirelyin the AL.
Artie: Just like my guy Bert,he qualifies.
Frank: Next is Lee Smith,whose 478 saves put him third behind Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. I backhim every year.
Artie: And finally, there'sAlan Trammell.
Frank: I haven't voted for himbefore, but Larkin's presence adds shortstop "context." Trammell hit.285 to Larkin's .295, with seven .300 seasons to Larkin's nine, 2,365 hits toLarkin's 2,340, 1,003 RBI to Larkin's 960.
Artie: If one stays on theballot, the other should.
Frank: Total things up and I'mvoting for nine guys—Blyleven, Dawson,McGwire, Morris, Smith, Trammell, Alomar, Larkin and McGriff.
Artie: Readers, let yourdebating begin. Except on one point: Bert Blyleven must be elected!
Bring on Whoever!
Frank: I'm just back from New York, where theGiants wove half the red carpet the Packers trod in clinching a playoff spot.
Artie: Not that the Pack neededhelp, but between their stomping Seattle 48-10 and the G-Men's 41-9 chokeagainst Carolina,there sure wasn't much drama.
Frank: It's not true that theGiants "didn't show up." They were there for about seven minutes.They took the kickoff, marched down the field, scored a touchdown, had itnullified by a holding penalty...
Artie: See? Like Mike McCarthysays, penalties don't mean anything.
Frank: Then the Giants fumbledit away, and then theydisappeared.
Artie: The best news is thatmy nightmare first-round game, in frigid Philadelphia,can't happen by the seedings. If Mason Crosby shanks the game, it won't beweather-related.
Frank: Any preference aboutthe first-round foe?
Artie: All ’dem bums is thesame. The Pack can handle anyone!
Frank: Quite a change from"Fire them all!"
Artie: That was then, andcould be again, but this is now.�
