Baseball Hall of Fame Voters’ Hits and Misses

January 7, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Midweek musings: Congratulations to Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz for being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in results announced Tuesday. As for those who failed to reach 75 percent approval from the electorate, better luck next year. Well, unless you happened to drop off the ballot for 2016.

Back by popular demand: Playboy Playmate Brittny Ward. Video below

* If you’re a White Sox fan and want to be upset about the Hall of Fame results, left fielder Tim Raines did play for the Sox (1991-95) in a career than spanned 1979-2002. His greatest shortcoming? Probably playing for the Montreal Expos for the first 12 seasons of his big-league career.

* If you’re a Cubs fan and want to be upset about the Hall of Fame results, reliever Lee Smith did play for the Cubs (1980-87) in a career that spanned 1980-1997. He totaled 478 career saves. His greatest shortcoming? Well, among Cubs fans it probably was Smith playing 3-plus seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (during which he led the National League in saves in 1991 and 1992).

* For those who care about the “steroids era” candidates, former Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa received 6.6 percent. And, yes, 5 percent is the cutoff for remaining on the ballot. Barry Bonds received 36.8 percent and Roger Clemens 37.5. If it’s any consolation to Cubs fans (and the guess here is that it won’t be), Mark McGwire received 10 percent with one year left on the ballot for him.

* Edgar Martinez (27), Alan Trammell (25.1) and Mike Mussina (24.6) are three others whom your humble correspondent would think are Hall-worthy. But not being a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (those are the folks who do the voting) means it doesn’t matter what I think. Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell loom as possibilities for 2016 when Ken Griffey Jr. will first appear on the ballot. Some folks in voterland and elsewhere suspect Piazza and Bagwell may have been among those partaking of steroids, although outrage against those two seems more muted than it is against Bonds and Clemens.

* For those who complain about the voting process, many criticisms are legitimate. And some who are in the Hall probably are there more because of serious lobbying than because of on-field accomplishments. So if you want to say life is unfair, go ahead. You won’t be the first do so and won’t be the last. And wake me up when there is an equitable solution in place to solve the problem. Until then, some of us merely will count down the days till pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

* Speaking of Hall of Famers, Bob Kuechenberg should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but isn’t. The former Notre Dame standout who enjoyed a successful career as an offensive lineman with the Miami Dolphins will be the guest on the Jan. 8 (that’s this Thursday) edition of “Sports & Torts” with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris. The one-hour program that airs at noon Central time on Talkzone.com also will be available on podcast later Thursday.

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