Voting on Hall of Fame means evolving, but you won’t please everyone

Well, it’s that time again. Today, we all find out how freaking stupid we Hall of Fame voters are — and get a read on your own inestimable brilliance.

Baseball’s annual ritual of self-righteousness will produce the Hall of Fame Class of 2024 and in the process once again ask the question: imagine how much more exorcised we’d all get if it wasn’t — ahem — a dying sport.

I’m going to be upfront with you right now: my guess is I didn’t vote for your guy this year. Indeed, I’d put the percentage as being 70 to 80 per cent likely. Beyond that, here are some ground rules for our annual discussion of why I am such a moronic, agenda-driven, khaki-hating luddite:

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• I respect your choices and your right to disagree with everyone else’s. Even mine. But truthfully? I won’t lose any sleep. It’s the beauty of not reading comments and deleting the ‘X’ app from your phone.

• You might think players or elected Hall of Famers and executives — the people who played the game, dammit! — could do a better job than the BBWAA. Just as long as you know it’s those people who vote for Gold Glove winners, and the same ones (give or take a few BBWAA committee members) who put longtime commissioner Bud Selig into the Hall as a ‘builder’ at the first opportunity while blackballing MLBPA executive director Marvin Miller for decades (even the former players who owe their pensions to Miller).

Those same folks have kept Cito Gaston out, too. Look: by and large the committee process is a useful safeguard and a welcomed means of celebrating the game’s history. I mean, Gaston should have been in years ago, but I’m not bitter that Jim Leyland was elected this year, because his presence makes the hall better. But while the overall results of committee votes are made public, the individual votes are kept private. In that way it’s about as transparent as the Hockey Hall of Fame. That needs to change. At least give committee members the option to release their individual votes like the BBWAA does.

• If you’re still here, you know the rules: voters can select up to 10 players per ballot or as few as they want. So, let’s think about the number ’10’ for a moment. If there was ever a Hall of Fame class of 10 in any year, the game’s deep thinkers would be apoplectic that the Hall was being de-valued. Yet, theoretically, if you vote for someone on your Hall of Fame ballot, you’re saying he’s a Hall of Famer, no? I mean, that’s kind of the idea. That aside, 10 gets us into the whole strength of ballot thing, which explains the adding and dropping of players every year even when they haven’t tossed a pitch or hit a ball in years. That’s why those of us who are “small ballot” voters limit ourselves. Plus, I can tell you: having attended Hall inductions, people would be dying in the heat if they had to sit in an open field for 10 speeches. By their nature halls of fame are meant to be exclusionary. If you’re afraid to hurt people’s feelings or need an hour and a half to decide between four people for your 10th vote? I mean… it’s your life.

I get voters who are earnest in their reading of baseball’s history with PED use, just as I get voters who are willing to overlook shockingly bad post-season performances when they fill out their ballot because by and large the process has never been better and is infinitely preferable to any other Hall process. That might not satisfy you if one of your guys doesn’t get in but seriously: if a quarter of the 400 or so folks voting can’t get behind a candidacy, it’s not a conspiracy. It’s what happens when you put stuff to a vote.

And I can tell you: the voting pool has become more inclusive and engaged and smart and willing to use all manner of analytical tools. It has evolved and is evolving and — I don’t know — reading stuff like Jayson Stark’s explanation of his ballot makes me think I need to evolve a bit. Stark’s suggestion that “big, unmistakable peaks of greatness” should be a dominant factor? Yeah, I can see it.

At the Letters

Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.

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Like the vast majority of BBWAA members, I have given the organization permission to release the details of my vote in due course. For now I’ll say this: Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer deserve first-ballot election. Beyond his numbers, Mauer’s whole “first overall pick who spends his entire career with his hometown team” is a narrative I can get behind — and Alex Rodriguez in his prime was one of the best players I’ve seen. That he and Rogers Clemens and Barry Bonds aren’t in the Hall is an absolute…

No. That misses the point.

There hasn’t been a year where I’ve been disappointed — let alone bitter, for Pete’s sake — with a Hall of Fame class, whether or not I’ve voted for them. I’ve been lucky enough to talk to, share cabs and flights with, get silly drunk with or spend time alongside Hall of Famers and it is always humbling. Especially the ones who didn’t get my vote. And isn’t that how it should be?

Jeff Blair hosts Blair & Barker, a weekly podcast on Sportsnet.ca. The show returns to an 11 a.m. ET time slot on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Feb. 20.

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