11.27.2006
Hall of Fame Ballot
Well, Major League Baseball has issued its annual Hall of Fame ballot today. While not a registered member of the Baseball Writers of America, I do like to partake in the parlor game of drafting my own ballot. I still have some of the rotisserie league geek in me. (when I spent my year abroad in provincial Russia, i developed a baseball game based on a Russian deck of cards (which for some reason only went from 6 up) simulating a baseball game (6 for a strikeout, 7 for a single, etc)
Here's my ballot, in order of preference:
1) Don Mattingly. Best first baseman I have ever seen, period. I want to name a child after him, and when all is said and done, I will (having a RedSox fan as a wife notwithstanding).
2) Tony Gwynn. This guy is fatter than me, at his peak! And he could slap that ball around the field like Bobby Cox slaps his wife. Michael Richards would call him the black Wade Boggs. Interestingly enough, Wade Boggs definitely ate more fried chicken than Gwynn. And he is a complete nutjob. Boggs, that is. Gwynn, for all appearances is the nicest guy in the world. But we also thought that about Kirby and Garvey. I hope to high heavens Tony Gwynn doesn't have a dark side where he beats harbor seals with a polo mallet or espouses that man walked with dinosaurs.
3) Cal Ripken. I admit that I booed him when he broke Gehrig's record, and I wished an eponymous disease on the man. BUt he's pure class. Maybe from now on we can call premature greying and balding Cal Ripken's Disease.
4) Marc McGwyre. I don't care about steroids, they weren't against the rules. He was a man-made behemoth with a sweet-ass swing. I realize that I am old when people who were rookies when I was in high school are now on the HOF ballot. There go my chances on starting in center field for the Yanks.
5) Goose Gossage. Gooooooooooose!
6) Tommy John. He goes in for two reasons: the surgery and his record.
7) Bert Blyleven. If this guy played for more high profile teams, he would have been in ages ago.
8) Harold Baines. This man was always around, like Kenny Lofton or Bobby Bonilla. But really good.
9) Jim Rice. If'n he wasnt's such a sourpuss the writers would have elected him years ago. This guy was damn good, and that's coming from a Yankees fan. Goes to show that the writers are sometimes douches. Don't get me started on that guy who didn't vote Matsui for ROY.
10) Dale Murphy. If you had TBS in the eighties - and who didn't, what with their wrassling and Andy Griffith reruns - you would remember how he was the highlight of some really godawful Braves teams.
Would have gotten my vote in other years: Dave Parker, Andre Dawson, Steve Garvey. You probably could have interchanged these three with Rice, Baines and Parker. All were part of my early years of watching baseball, and they really stood out among the Butch Wynegars and Wally Bachmans of the world.
These just missed my ballot, but just fell short for one obvious reason or another: Joey Belle, Jose Canseco, Dave Concepcion, Orel Hershiser, Jim Morris and Lee Smith.
Just missed my ballot, but worth considering during really slow years:
Well, Major League Baseball has issued its annual Hall of Fame ballot today. While not a registered member of the Baseball Writers of America, I do like to partake in the parlor game of drafting my own ballot. I still have some of the rotisserie league geek in me. (when I spent my year abroad in provincial Russia, i developed a baseball game based on a Russian deck of cards (which for some reason only went from 6 up) simulating a baseball game (6 for a strikeout, 7 for a single, etc)
Here's my ballot, in order of preference:
1) Don Mattingly. Best first baseman I have ever seen, period. I want to name a child after him, and when all is said and done, I will (having a RedSox fan as a wife notwithstanding).
2) Tony Gwynn. This guy is fatter than me, at his peak! And he could slap that ball around the field like Bobby Cox slaps his wife. Michael Richards would call him the black Wade Boggs. Interestingly enough, Wade Boggs definitely ate more fried chicken than Gwynn. And he is a complete nutjob. Boggs, that is. Gwynn, for all appearances is the nicest guy in the world. But we also thought that about Kirby and Garvey. I hope to high heavens Tony Gwynn doesn't have a dark side where he beats harbor seals with a polo mallet or espouses that man walked with dinosaurs.
3) Cal Ripken. I admit that I booed him when he broke Gehrig's record, and I wished an eponymous disease on the man. BUt he's pure class. Maybe from now on we can call premature greying and balding Cal Ripken's Disease.
4) Marc McGwyre. I don't care about steroids, they weren't against the rules. He was a man-made behemoth with a sweet-ass swing. I realize that I am old when people who were rookies when I was in high school are now on the HOF ballot. There go my chances on starting in center field for the Yanks.
5) Goose Gossage. Gooooooooooose!
6) Tommy John. He goes in for two reasons: the surgery and his record.
7) Bert Blyleven. If this guy played for more high profile teams, he would have been in ages ago.
8) Harold Baines. This man was always around, like Kenny Lofton or Bobby Bonilla. But really good.
9) Jim Rice. If'n he wasnt's such a sourpuss the writers would have elected him years ago. This guy was damn good, and that's coming from a Yankees fan. Goes to show that the writers are sometimes douches. Don't get me started on that guy who didn't vote Matsui for ROY.
10) Dale Murphy. If you had TBS in the eighties - and who didn't, what with their wrassling and Andy Griffith reruns - you would remember how he was the highlight of some really godawful Braves teams.
Would have gotten my vote in other years: Dave Parker, Andre Dawson, Steve Garvey. You probably could have interchanged these three with Rice, Baines and Parker. All were part of my early years of watching baseball, and they really stood out among the Butch Wynegars and Wally Bachmans of the world.
These just missed my ballot, but just fell short for one obvious reason or another: Joey Belle, Jose Canseco, Dave Concepcion, Orel Hershiser, Jim Morris and Lee Smith.
Just missed my ballot, but worth considering during really slow years:
Comments:
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