Hall Call for Glavine, Maddux, ‘Big Hurt’

January 9, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” – Winston Churchill

And so it is with the Baseball Writers Association of America and voting for the Hall of Fame.

Sorry if this disappoints any Greg Maddux fans. Here’s Shannon Ihrke.

The BBWAA is responsible for casting ballots for induction to Cooperstown. There were 36 players on the ballot for 2014. Three of them met the 75 percent (571 votes) requirement to be enshrined: pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux and former Chicago White Sox first baseman/designated hitter Frank Thomas.

Maddux, who broke into the big leagues with the Chicago Cubs and achieved greater fame with the Atlanta Braves, received 97.2 of the votes. Meaning 16 people did not cast a ballot for him. Meaning Maddux received the eighth-highest percentage in Hall of Fame history. Only Tom Seaver (98.84 percent), Nolan Ryan (98.79), Cal Ripken Jr. (98.53), Ty Cobb (98.23), George Brett (98.19), Hank Aaron (97.83) and Tony Gwynn (97.61) fare better.

Not bad. Also not good enough for some ardent supporters of Maddux. A little name-calling here and there. Really?

Sorry to disappoint any Frank Thomas fans. Here’s more Shannon Ihrke.

Reality check. Look at that list at let me know where Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig and countless others are.

And for all those lamenting that Craig Biggio fell two ballots short of 75 percent, remember this: Joe DiMaggio did not gain enshrinement in his first year of eligibility.

Having the BBWAA the sole arbiter may be the worst form of balloting, except for all the others. Although there are others who would dispute that point of view.

Expand the electorate?

OK. To whom? Electronic media? Online only folks? Fans?

Well, let’s see. You mean electronic media whose employers do not have a relationship with ballclubs. So no one from Comcast SportsNet Chicago or WGN for starters. Major League Baseball takes a dim view on web-based writers unless they are affiliated with major media outlets. Fan balloting works so well that you never would have any sort of electoral abuse by stuffing the ballot box.

There are no flawless systems.

Base it solely on numbers? Then you’ll be including steroid-era types such as Mark McGwire. Or Rafael Palmeiro, who will drop off the ballot for good after receiving less than 5 percent of the votes despite a career with more than 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.

Of course, if someone can come up with a plan that will be 100 percent perfect, great. Until then, why not enjoy the reality that “your guy” made it to Cooperstown?

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Danni Allen will be on the Jan. 9 “Sports & Torts” show.

At last look, yesterday was Wednesday (provided that today is January 9, 2014, or a subsequent Thursday). Which means today is a Thursday. Which also means it is time for another edition of “Sports & Torts” at noon Central on Talkzone.com. Co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris, the highly regarded interview show (well, it is held in such high regard in the Spada and Harris households, as well as reportedly elsewhere) has taken the last two weeks off because of the Christmas and New Year’s weeks, so this will be the first show of 2014.

So there is no question this will be the best new “Sports & Torts” episode of 2014. The guests will include Danni Allen, “The Biggest Loser” winner from Season 14. She opened a yoga fitness studio in Decemeber in Evanston, Ill. She will discuss the studio, her “Biggest Loser” experience on television and more. Also on the show will be Bump Elliott, a former football star, coach and athletic director. He was the football coach at Michigan before Bo Schembechler and also was the longtime athletic director at Iowa.

For those unable to tune in for the live show, it will be available later Thursday (and presumably forever in cyberspace) via podcast on the Talkzone.com site.

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Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):