Every year, it’s become a common-theme that voters of the MLB Hall of Fame let deserving players fall by the way-side, leaving fans questioning the process.
By Patrick Brewer
Another year, another Hall of Fame snub. Or should I say snubs.
It seems with every year, another player is added to the list of those who fell short.
For every slam dunk Hall of Fame selection, there are at least two deserving players who do not make it in. This year is once again no different.
As expected, Ken Griffey (99.3% of the vote) was a near unanimous selection and Mike Piazza (83% of the vote) barely snuck in.
However, several players fell short of selection, despite being well deserving themselves.
Players such as Jeff Bagwell (71.6%), Tim Raines (69.8%), and Trevor Hoffman (67.3%) came up just short despite being worthy of selection.
Other deserving players like Curt Schilling (52.3%), Roger Clemens (45.2%), Barry Bonds (44.3%), Edgar Martinez (43.4%), Mike Mussina (43.0%), all came up rather short for a variety of reasons, whether it was the use of PEDs, the suspected use of PEDs, or questions on whether the player was deserving enough based on position or accumulated stats.
Even worse, players like Alan Trammell and Mark McGwire fell off the ballot completely after not getting elected in their window of opportunity.
Another travesty surrounds Jim Edmonds, who fell off the ballot after only getting 2.5% of the vote in his first year of eligibility. Unfortunately, this was short of the required 5% needed to stay on the ballot for another year.
Based on the above results, there is obviously no shortage of players who could be considered “snubs.”
That’s not even including players like Lee Smith, Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner and Larry Walker, all of whom garnered less than 35% of the vote, most falling under even 20%. It is clear that in this year more than perhaps any other there was quite a substantial number of deserving players who could have been elected. And yet only two players ended up being elected.
It is clear that there is a problem in the current Hall of Fame voting system.
Whether you view a player as a Hall of Famer or not, it’s rather ridiculous that someone with the portfolio of Jim Edmonds is one and done. Honestly, it is beyond a disappointment. Perhaps, even far worse are players such as Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina getting less than half of the overall vote.
It appears that players in the steroid era, who were either suspected of, or proven to have used steroids at some point, are being held out of the Hall. Fairly or unfairly. Likely, this stigma has kept Bagwell out of the Hall this year, and may have kept Piazza out in recent years.
Most certainly, this “guilty by association” has kept the likes of Sosa, Bonds, Clemens, and McGwire out of the Hall as well. These players will not be elected, until the steroid issue is more clearly decided. Until then, these players will continue to play second fiddle to those with less uncertainty surrounding their success.
Despite each Hall of Fame voter having a total of ten potential picks, only two players earned more than the three quarters threshold to be elected into the Hall.
Whether the average person views this as a problem or not, there are clearly players not getting into the Hall that should be. Trevor Hoffman, arguably one of the top closers in baseball history fell just short of being elected. The same can be said for Jeff Bagwell, who was arguably one of the best at his position at well.
Despite their vast success over their careers, these players were still seen as not being good enough in the eyes of the voters. Obviously everyone cannot get in, but the Hall of Fame snub is becoming all too common. Deserving players are going by the way side because not enough voters can agree on what makes a player “worthy” of being a part of such elite company.
And, that right there is the root of the problem.
