Rabbit21

January 7th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^

I figure those three voters should be found and have their voting privileges removed.

As a Dodgers fan, Piazza can bite me, the first guy he throws out at second base will be his first(Yes his offense more than made up for it, but I am feeling salty).

sportzfan81

January 7th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^

Have to assume 3 people had one of two lines of thinking: nobody gets 100% of the vote OR Griffey is getting in anyway so let me use my 10th vote towards somebody else who may need the extra votes to either get closer to election or stay on the ballot?




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Ali G Bomaye

January 7th, 2016 at 2:16 PM ^

Either way the logic works, it's dumb.  People are supposed to vote for a player if they think he's deserving, and there is no question that Griffey (and many others who have failed to get 100%) are deserving of the HOF.

Baseball writers have a bigger stick up their ass than pretty much any other group of people.

MI Expat NY

January 7th, 2016 at 3:06 PM ^

It's especially ridiculous considering that the first few elections were selecting guys from a list of dozens of eventual hall of famers who played in the few decades before the Hall of Fame came into existence.  The reason guys like Cobb and Ruth weren't unanimous  in the first election was because there were also guys like Cy freaking Young on the ballot who didn't come particularly close to election.   If anyone has ever not cast a vote for a no-doubt hall of famer under the reasoning that "if Babe Ruth wasn't a unanimous selection, then nobody should be" he should have his voting rights stricken due to sheer stupidity.  

Stringer Bell

January 7th, 2016 at 2:18 PM ^

Exactly.  You compare Trammell's career numbers to Jeter's and they're awfully similar, with Trammell maybe coming out on top even.  Difference between one guy being a likely first ballot HOFer and one guy not making it at all is one was the captain for the Yankees and the other wasn't.  I think Jeter is a HOFer for sure, but so is Tram.

CRISPed in the DIAG

January 7th, 2016 at 3:03 PM ^

Jeter was a better offensive player (albeit in an offensive era), played in NY and won more titles.  He was a bit of a statue defensively and managed to cover it by making easy plays appear difficult (e.g., jump throws and hustling for balls in foul territory that easily make it into the stands. 

Trammell was a solid player in the pre-steroid era.  An MVP award (got screwed in '87) would have helped.

ST3

January 7th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^

oWAR, dWAR, and total

Jeter: 95.5, -9.7, 85.8

Trammell: 62.4, 22.0, 84.4

Jeter had better offensive stats while Trammell was undoubtedly a superior defender. Interestingly, the total WAR total is just about the same.

Another source puts Trammell's WAR at 70.4, good for 62nd place ALL-TIME among position players. Jeter's WAR is 71.8, good for 58th place. It's basically a tie using two different measures of WAR. And there's just a handful of SS's better (Honus, Ripken, Ozzie...) Trammell definitely belongs in the Hall. 

(Sweet Lou Whitaker has a better WAR, 74.9, than Jeter or Trammell.)

ST3

January 7th, 2016 at 3:02 PM ^

I think Trammell belongs in the HoF, but besides the NY/Detroit thing, a big difference between the two of them is playoff history. Trammell played most of his career during a time when there were only 2 divisions in the AL and you had to win your division to make the playoffs. In his career, he made the post-season twice and played 13 post-season games total. Jeter played in 158 post-season games. Both players played their entire careers for one team, so they weren't exposed as much to writers who covered the other league.  Interleague play started in 1999 after Trammell had retired, so his exposure to NL writers was limited to 1 world series appearance and 6 all-star games. Jeter played most of his career during the era of interleague play, plus he played for New York and dated supermodels.

Brimley

January 7th, 2016 at 3:09 PM ^

Tram also happened to be MVP of the one series NL writers saw him in.

Advanced stats also REALLY favor his being in the Hall.  His WAR is very similar to Barry Larkin's, maybe a little better than Jeter's.  His OPS for a shortstop was quite good too.

SAMgO

January 7th, 2016 at 2:18 PM ^

Sad that Junior wasn't able to get the 100%. If Jeter gets it unanimously after Griffey didn't that's a crime.

Ken Griffey Junior will forever be my favorite baseball player of all time. Can't forget that sweet swing.

A Fan In Fargo

January 7th, 2016 at 2:35 PM ^

I mean from my expertise standpoint, it was the only way I could crank out homers playing wiffle ball home-run derby with my buddies. Over and over the runt would win the contests and piss the older kids off. It's funny no one has mimmicked it. Or have they? I dont know.

The Mad Hatter

January 7th, 2016 at 2:22 PM ^

No?  Then the whole thing is a crock of shit.

Put an asterisk next to his name and include a display about the gambling and lying (maybe do the same thing for the 'roids era players?).  But he should be in there as one of the greatest players ever.

/also bitter about Trammell

96goblue00

January 7th, 2016 at 2:29 PM ^

One of the best first basemen to play the game and he has to wait this long to get in? Stats wise he is a no brainer, and that is not even taking into account the fact that he played a big chunk of his carer in the Astrodome and missed a lot of playing time because of injuries/health decline. Raines should have been in a long time ago.

The silver lining is that he barely missed out so he should get in next year.

Speaking of next year, it will be interesting to see if Pudge makes it. No positive test but Canseco pretty much called him out.

A Fan In Fargo

January 7th, 2016 at 2:30 PM ^

been if he stayed healthy. Damn his cards were worth the most money back in grade school too. Loved that guy. Should've collected more.

 

LSAClassOf2000

January 7th, 2016 at 3:25 PM ^

One of the all-time classics - at least in my opinion - is the rare but still sought after Billy Ripken "Fuck Face" card. For those who don't know, there is a 1989 Fleer card on which Billy Ripken is holding a bat, the knob of which contains the phrase "Fuck Face". Fleer corrected the issue quickly, but a fair number of those cards were printed before they discovered the...well....aberration. 

softshoes

January 7th, 2016 at 3:08 PM ^

Health. That whole era most of the owners should be shot for playing baseball on concrete. Between the outfield walls he refused to stop for and the cement floors Griffey paid the price. Bonds would have been breaking the Kids records.

Toasted Yosties

January 7th, 2016 at 3:11 PM ^

I don't think it was possible to strike the computer out, and there were no real player names (replaced by names of famous celebrities, artists, and politcians), but otherwise it was an amazing game.

On a side note, I'm so used to him be called a future hall-of-famer, than an actual one. And Kobe is retiring while some of the teams he's played this year have players that were merely months old when he played his first game. Man, I'm feeling old.