Blyleven not elected to Hall, barely improves vote total
by Jon Marthaler on Jan 12, 2009 2:15 PM EST
in News
12 comments
Rickey Henderson sailed in, Jim Rice eked in, but Bert Blyleven will have to wait at least one more year. The Hall of Fame-worthy righthander got 338 votes, or 62.7% of the possible votes, to fall short for the 12th straight year.
Blyleven's vote totals have gone up each year, as more and more influential figures have come to the conclusion that he was one of the all-time greats whose win numbers were deflated by playing for some terrible teams. But this year, his totals failed to increase even one percent - in 2008, he received 61.9% of the vote.
Andre Dawson was the only other player to clear 50% of the vote, receiving 67%.
The focus this season was heavily on Henderson, who was in his first year on the ballot, and Rice, who fell 16 votes short last year and was on the ballot for the last time. With Rice out of the way, and with no slam-dunk cases on the ballot for the first time (the best may be Barry Larkin), perhaps Blyleven's case will receive more attention next season.
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Bert
With Henderson getting so much of the vote and Rice being in his final year of eligibility, this just wasn’t a good year for him. I’d bet Bert will get in eventually. He certainly deserves it.
by ianmader on Jan 12, 2009 5:38 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
What is a good year for him?
From the Baseball Hall of Fame, in addition to the currently eligible players, these boys come due:
2010: Roberto Alomar, Ellis Burks, Andres Galarraga, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Robin Ventura.
2011: Jeff Bagwell, Kevin Brown, John Franco, Juan Gonzalez, Marquis Grissom, Al Leiter, Tino Martinez, Rafael Palmeiro, Larry Walker, Dan Wilson.
2012: David Bell, Vinny Castilla, Dustin Hermanson, Jose Hernandez, Terry Mulholland, Brad Radke, Bernie Williams.
2013: Sandy Alomar Jr., Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Julio Franco, Kenny Lofton, Jose Mesa, Mike Piazza, David Wells, Bob Wickman.
2012 is pretty bleak for newcomers, but at the current rate of 0-2 inductees per year, it’s going to be a tough one for Berty.
by Johnny Safron on Jan 14, 2009 9:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I don’t really get the voter’s obsession with wins. If you look at Glavine’s stats (who most folks agree is a sure fire HOFer), Bert’s are better in almost every category but wins.
Also, it seems like the standard for getting into the HOF is much higher for pitchers than it is for batters. Jim Rice? C’mon.
by Dale on Jan 12, 2009 5:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Glavine isn't really a fair cmparison without adjusting for era.
"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane
by AdamOnFirst on Jan 12, 2009 6:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
It's true that the standards
are getting more stringent for starting pitching and less for 1B/corner OF types, for reasons that are less than clear.
Rice really doesn’t measure up, ultimately, and certainly wasn’t as good a player as Tim Raines, who only got 20% or so.
Here’s what really makes me nuts about the BBWAA—28 voters didn’t vote for Henderson. How is that justified?
by Eric in Madison on Jan 12, 2009 6:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Henderson on the ballot was too dominating. Perhaps next year will be the year, or he'll get a boost in his last year on the ballot like Rice.
"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane
by AdamOnFirst on Jan 12, 2009 6:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
He'll get in. I think.
Unfortunately, it’ll probably be on his last year of eligibility, just like Rice. The BBWAA is full of crusty old power-happy curmudgeons that have ridiculous reasons for keeping Bert out. But they’ll probably finally come around on his last year of eligibility, but still feel like they made him wait because he didn’t deserve it as much as some of their other heroes. Such a B.S. system.
by ericj69 on Jan 13, 2009 10:38 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
The old guys are likely voting for him.
It’s the new kids on the block who probably are not.
by Johnny Safron on Jan 14, 2009 9:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I don't know about that...
Some of Blyleven’s biggest supporters have been the sabermetric community, which is largely young guys. Traditionalists (who generally skew a bit older) are the ones who are so strongly influenced by Blyleven’s win totals.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
by BeefMaster on Jan 15, 2009 9:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Unlikely
Why didn’t this brilliant group of SABR-ites and Facebookers induct him?
http://seamheads.com/blog/2009/01/12/2009-hall-of-fame-vote-us-vs-them/
by Johnny Safron on Jan 15, 2009 7:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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