The Worst Hall of Fame Arguments of 2008

Links (15)

Rounding The Bases: Three More Months Till….
Published 1/2/2008 by David Chalk at Bugs & Cranks
... ] This is why I am perfectly qualified to become a Hall Of Fame voter. [ Vegas Watch ] A thorough examination of Josh Beckett’s wardrobe choices at the Alamo Bowl. [ ...

My (Make-Believe) Hall of Fame Ballot
Published 1/2/2008 by One More Dying Quail at One More Dying Quail
... - What was that about the 2004 New Hampshire Baseball Dinner? Um, never mind. My vote for Rice is based on several things: one, I'm a Red Sox fan, and have a hard time separating that out in a situation like this. Were I a paid writer with journalistic ethics and responsibilities, that would be a problem, but I'm not, so I think any bias my fandom creates can be allowed. It's not like I'm pushing for John Valentin here - the extent to which Rice was "feared" may be up for debate, but Gammons notes that during his peak years, from 1975 to 1986, he was a top-five player in ...

SAINT ANDREW'S NET: SEXY SOCIETIES!
Published 1/2/2008 at With Leather - The official sports gossip blog for attractive people
... Vegas Watch lists the worst Hall of Fame arguments of 2008. Proving again that baseball writers are the smartest people on the planet. Pretty soon they'll write the greatest novel ever written - "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times?!?" ...

The Roundup: Michael Irvin’s Radio Show, Oklahoma Player Steals a Jacket, and Antoine Walker May Sue a Blogger
Published 1/2/2008 by TheBigLead at The Big Lead
... Coat Factory just days before a bowl game? (Rivals) Expect plenty of this - newspapers hammering season five of The Wire, probably because it focuses on the media. (Baltimore Sun) Wow, guess we didn’t listen all that closely to the Bryant Gumbel’s horrendous job on the Pats-Giants game. (NY Times) Is Antoine Walker threatening to sue the blogger who wrote this? (Teflon TV, E-Biz) Lots of dumb arguments about the upcoming baseball Hall of Fame vote. (Vegas Watch) Couple of comical sports videos ...

Create The Caption #140
Published 1/2/2008 by Awful Announcing- at Awful Announcing
... the beautiful sunset at the Rose Bowl that Brent and Kirk were talking about last night? Daily Links: Everyone's Aware How Bad Gumbel Is Now (NY Times) Blogs Are Growing Up So Fast (Sports Agent Blog) LT 4 MVP! (Rumors and Rants) Romeo 4 COY! (NOIS) The NFL Network Is Acting Like Saints All Of A Sudden (Meaningful Collateral) The Cotton Bowl Has Gone Missing! (Sox and Dawgs) Weak Baseball HOF Arguments Made By Writers (Vegas Watch) Winter Classic ...

More Hall of Fame Madness
Published 1/2/2008 by Geoff Young at Knuckle Curve - Baseball News
... Vegas Watch has compiled a list of reasons voters have offered in support of their selections for the Class of 2008. Some of them are pretty funny if you’re willing to separate yourself from the fact that these folks are entrusted with something that a lot of people hold sacred. ...

Inside The Mind Of Baseball HOF Voters [Baseball Hall Of Fame]
Published 1/2/2008 by Leitch at Deadspin
... Vegas Watch has an excellent rundown of ridiculous Hall of Fame arguments. Oddly, two of the top three -- Paige's is No. 1, of course -- involve Tim Raines. Here's Tracy Ringolsby's thought "process:" ...

Hey? You want to know a secret?
Published 1/3/2008 by Andrew at The Grand National Championships
... a vote for Lee Smith is a vote for justice. Why? Because unlike Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith was actually good after 30. Unlike Rollie Fingers, he did not have to rely on a gimmick to make his way through the big leagues. And unlike Goose Gossage, Lee Smith knew when to say when and did not spend seven years at the end of his career as a random middle reliever. This is the one non-fried Man I wish to see making his way too Cooperstown in this summer. Then again? Sportswriters are idiots. Shawon Dunston probably has more of a shot at the Hall than Lee Arthur ...

First Post of '08
Published 1/3/2008 by mr. met at the metropolitans
... some more food for though, the Mets have three starters slated to hit the open market next off-season with only John Maine having any sort of big league experience set to be around. I cannot state plainly enough how imperative it is to get Mike Pelfrey or Philip Humber some meaningful innings this year to see if they can take that next step because two of Humber, Pelfrey, and Mulvey might be a bigger part of the '09 rotation than the Mets would like. By way of Rob Never, Vegas Watch takes a scary look into the Hall of Fame voters reasoning skills. ...

Passing the Buck
Published 1/3/2008 by Ken Tremendous at FIRE JOE MORGAN
Just wanted to direct everyone's attention to Vegas Watch, which has a nicely compiled list of the worst HOF logic of the past year. One wonders whether these BBWAA people are ever actually confronted with their own words, and if so, what they do. ...

Prospectus Matchups: Dead Horses and Fifth Starters by Jim Baker
Published 1/4/2008 at Baseball Prospectus
... , we find that managers of the day understood that such fears–-if they did, in fact, exist--should be limited primarily to Boston. As Vegas Watch points out , he was not among the leaders in intentional walks received during the course of his career. In fact, he had about half of those received by ...

Friday Links (4 Jan 08)
Published 1/4/2008 by Geoff Young at Ducksnorts
... (ESPN). This is one of a series of debates between voters on the worthiness of various Hall of Fame candidates. The thought process is sometimes… interesting. (Vegas Watch gets into this a little more.) ...

Hall of Fame Voting is Extremely Stupid
Published 1/9/2008 by Steve Hulkower at Bugs & Cranks
... Vegas Watch has put together 8 great examples of this year’s terrible voting logic including Woody Paige voting for Goose Gossage because he was nice to him once. ...

How to evaluate hitters
Published 1/10/2008 by Dave Studeman at THT Live
... for our baseball fix. One of the things I appreciate about the Hall voting process is that many writers write about their votes. It's useful column fodder for them and it allows us to see how they are voting and why. Sometimes the writers open themselves up for ridicule , but at least we get to understand their thinking. One thing I'm always surprised by is how differently all of us, including BBWAA members, talk about hitting. So much has been analyzed and written about good and bad hitting, you'd think we'd have reached a fairly common understanding by now. But we ...

Grizzly or Teddy?
Published 3/7/2008 by halejon at The Mockingbird
... During the State of the Franchise whinefest, I wanted to talk to Blair but had been told he was cruel and gruff to non-reporters. I sheepishly introduced myself and lied about the fact that I was from Winnipeg, his home state, and he talked pleasantly for 15 minutes. I’ve admired him from afar since. I would vote him into the hall of fame even if he wasn’t deserving. ...