My View on the 2009 Nominees for the MLB Hall of Fame

There are 23 former players on the Hall of Fame ballot for voters to consider for election this year. Thirteen are holdovers, which is a record low, from last year, and there are ten newcomers in their first year of eligibility and consideration. Here is whom I would vote for selection and enshrinement in the Hall and some brief comments I have towards each candidate.

Harold Baines: 3rd year on ballot; YES -- his numbers and longevity are of merit for election.

Jay Bell: 1st year on ballot; NO -- very good fielder, but an average hitter at best for the most part.

Bert Blyleven: 12th year on ballot; YES -- solid consistent numbers over a lengthy career.

David Cone: 1st year on ballot; NO -- borderline with his numbers, may yet get in.

Andre Dawson: 8th year on ballot; YES -- absolutely with impressive consistent career numbers.

Ron Gant: 1st year on ballot; NO -- nothing noteworthy for consideration.

Mark Grace: 1st year on ballot: YES -- did just enough to merit selection over his career.

Rickey Henderson: 1st year on ballot; YES -- as outstanding a candidate as could be.

Tommy John: 15th (final) year on ballot: YES --deserves entry but probably not anytime soon.

Don Mattingly: 9th year on ballot: NO -- not as qualified as Grace by any measure.

Mark McGwire: 3rd year on ballot; NO* -- steroids connection will keep him out for years to come.

Jack Morris: 10th year on ballot; YES -- solid numbers and was a clutch performer through his career.

Dale Murphy: 11th year on ballot; YES -- good solid numbers plus intangibles merit selection.

Jesse Orosco: 1st year on ballot; NO -- good numbers and longevity may get him in down the road away.

Dave Parker: 13th year on ballot; NO -- average numbers comparatively and cocaine scandal will always keep him out.

Dan Plesac: 1st year on ballot; NO -- better than average numbers may not be enough for him to ever gain entry.

Tim Raines: 2nd year on ballot; NO** -- eventually will get in, but he will wait for a number of years for entry.

Jim Rice: 15th (final) year on ballot; YES --as qualified as many already in with his consistent solid career numbers.

Lee Smith: 7th year on ballot; YES -- one of the best relief pitchers ever in the history of the game.

Alan Trammell: 8th year on ballot; YES -- did just enough throughout his career as 2B to merit entry.

Greg Vaughn: 1st year on ballot; NO -- clearly did not do enough in any way.

Mo Vaughn: 1st year on ballot; NO -- steroids and too short a career doom him to never getting in.

Matt Williams: 1st year on ballot, YES -- solid steady career with very good numbers. He will get chosen in the coming years.

*I think McGwire should be in the HoF at some point, but I will wait for nine more years before voting for his induction.

**Like McGwire, Raines made some questionable at best personal choices while a player, deciding to use cocaine while in position of being a role model for millions of youth globally and then being convicted of this as a federal crime in a federal court. I will wait seven more years before voting for him for induction.

I predict Henderson, Rice, and Dawson will get selected this year. The results of the ballot election will be announced on either Tuesday 6 January or Wednesday 7 January at Noon EST. Other candidates that may get chosen include Blyleven and Grace. It is also very likely the Veterans Committee will make some selections for either or both pre-1943 and post-1943 players and others with an announcement to be made on Monday 8 December.

The '10 ballot includes Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, and Fred McGriff whom should get elected. In 2011, the ballot will include Jeff Bagwell and John Franco.

And of course it is also long past time to discuss Pete Rose. His accomplishments as a player make him superbly worthy for enshrinement in spite of his deep transgressions as a manager. At some point he should be made eligible for election, perhaps in 2015 or sooner, or after a new commissioner takes office. If Rose has his eligibility reinstated at some point in the future, the same step must be taken simultaneously or previously for "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who also should be in the Hall for his accomplishments as a player as history and research has largely exhonerated him of any participation in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal posthumously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Hall_of_Fame_balloting,_2009

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/vetcom.jsp

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/bbwaa.jsp

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/87941-mlb-hall-of-fame-2009-whos-in-whos-not

http://www.hofmag.com/content/view/1313/190/

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3737005

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Breaking-down-your-2009-Hall-of-Fame-ballot?urn=mlb,125820

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Winter Comes Strong to The Front Range

My week was one with a lot of activity, but overall it declined from start to end. The week saw me start with the closing days of my vacation, as I wrapped up the holiday visiting with my inlaws and making the return trip back to Colorado and Wyoming. After a one night delay due to a localized blizzard, I made it back home around dusk on Monday. Tuesday through Thursday were days at work, and winter was back in harshly starting Wednesday. Snow fell Wednesday through early Friday with about 7-8" of total accumulation and bitterly cold temperatures on both Thursday and Friday mornings with low temps sinking below zero. I had to run a couple of errands after work on Tuesday and Wednesday - post office, bank, and grocery store - but was able to come home directly after work Thursday and not have to go back out into the cold wintry night. Friday was a day off from work as the production demands continue to diminish. The possibility of a layoff still looms. I just do not know if and when it will happen, but it would not be surprising to me to get the word at any point in the coming weeks. I hope it does not happen until January, and if it does happen, it only lasts for a few weeks to a month at the most. But there just is simply no telling about anything.

With the bad weather and short week, I did little else. Wednesday evening saw me go to bed around 7pm and get a great nights sleep until 5:30 am Thursday. Thursday evening I watched the good TV shows I regularly watch on that night plus some of the Raiders / Chargers game and the Avalanche / Predators contest. Friday afternoon I went and had pizza buffet at Godfathers around noon for the first time since last March. I ate a lot and therefore did not have to eat anything else the rest of the day. I spent the rest of Friday at home doing little but resting, watching the MAC Championship game between Ball St and Buffalo, and the Avalanche / Stars contest.

Saturday I slept in a little later waking up around 9am. I had oatmeal for breakfast again and has some hot chocolate. I stayed home all day and never ventured out (although I looked out the window a couple of times and saw seemingly no snow is melting -- GRRR !) which is something I like to do at least once every two weeks. Solitude is glorious. This is the last Saturday of college football for this year so the day was spent enjoying all or parts of several games: Army / Navy; Pittsburgh / Connecticut; East Carolina / Tulsa (CUSA championship); Boston College / Virginia Tech (ACC championship); Washington / California; Weber St / Montana (FCS playoff quarterfinal); Alabama / Florida (SEC championship); Southern California / U C L A; South Florida / West Virginia; Arizona St / Arizona; Oklahoma / Missouri (Big 12 championship); and Cincinnati / Hawaii. Some of the games were competitive and entertaining, while others were bland or routs. Typical of most Saturdays. Besides watching these games I also balanced my checkbook, surfed the 'net, worked on my blogs, and put some CDs on the player to listen as I turned the tv volume down for a time.

Around 7pm I got motivated to prepare myself a meal, so I cooked some ground beef in the microwave while boiling some macaroni noodles on the stove top. After the meat was done, I heated up a jar full of Ragu pasta sauce in a bowl, and then combined all that plus some mushrooms, onions, garlic, and italian seasoning for what turned out to be a mighty tasty tomato macaroni casserole. The quantity is enough that it will give me three to four meals for the coming nights. As the evening continued I could hear through the vents the wind was picking up, but it was nowhere near what I thought it would be.

Sunday was a nice day of relaxation. I spent the late morning and afternoon watching NFL at home, and saw three great games. Around 5:30 I went out to do a grocery run and was happy to see a vast majority of the snow melted during the day as the temperature reached 59 degrees rather surprisingly. Another case of the warm before the storm as snow is expected to begin again on Monday afternoon and be a bother for a day to two. I went to Albertsons briefly and got some milk, bread, bananas, applesauce, a cherry pie, and the Sunday papers. I was only out about 35 minutes. When I returned home I watched 60 Minutes, parts of the Sunday night NFL, Desperate Housewives, parts of the Canucks / Avalanche game, Brothers and Sisters and the late local news on channel 9 KUSA. For supper I had some more of my tomato mac casserole which tasted even better a day older. I got the papers read quickly and got the coupons clipped and the ads set aside to study. With an early am wakeup looming, I retired to bed around midnight.

The week ahead will feature work as usual, but I suspect I probably will not be working on Friday again. The things I need to do this week is largely trivial: pay some monthly bills, shake some rugs, clean the bathroom, and vaccuum the carpet. If I do not end up workiing Friday and the weather is good, I may go down to Denver for the day and maybe even stay overnight if I get so inclined. I will just have to see how it is later this week. Otherwise its work and back home for the most part in the coming four days...

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