Hall of Fame Ballot

The Baseball Hall of Fame was officially dedicated on June 12, 1939 in Cooperstown, New York, under the guise that this was the birthplace of baseball. As legend has it, Abner Doubleday supposedly was given divine sight and created the game while gazing out at the countryside. One might have said that he was much like the Roman Emperor Constantine who, too, was given divine sight and was able to save Rome by having his legion place crosses on their shields. Yes, of course, baseball was given to us from God Himself, or so the legend has it.

Of course, for those of us who are a little more astute, we know that baseball evolved, and we also know that Abner Doubleday, a Civil War hero, was not anywhere near Cooperstown when he supposedly was given this insight. In fact, we know that this was merely a mirage created by Al Spaulding and associates who were marketing the game in its early days.

Yet, the Hall of Fame, its geography laden with myth, is the baseball fan's Mecca. Its first class of inductees set the standard for baseball greats who become gods: Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and of course, Babe Ruth. Each of these men heralded their own mythic stories against the backdrop of the game of baseball. And for the members of the Baseball Writer's Association of America (BBWAA), they are the standard by which their admittance is judged.

This year's ballot was announced today, and the two favorites to be inducted are Tim Raines and David Justice. Of course, Braves fans recall vividly when David Justice hit the homerun in the 1995 World Series which won the Braves their only championship in Atlanta (so far). Braves fans will also often comment on Justice's own remarks prior to that game that the Braves fans showed no emotion. He sparked the fans to bring a lot of emotion (mostly directed at Justice until he yanked the homerun).

Justice was 1990's Rookie of the Year and was certainly a huge part of the early Braves' success in their run of 14 straight division titles. He and Ron Gant and Otis Nixon anchored a dominant outfield. In 1996 Justice was injured in game was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1997. He later went to the Yankees and the A's before retiring. He finished his career with a respectable .279 batting average, 305 homeruns, and 1017 RBI's. He also was awarded several accolades in his career, to include the aforementioned ROY, the 2000 ALCS MVP, and he was inducted in the Braves Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tim Raines was perhaps one of the most unnoticed superstars of the game. I attribute that largely to his playing most of his career with the Montreal Expos. Tim Raines made seven All-Star appears (four more than Justice) and is ranked fourth all time in steals. It's actually hard to condense all of the accomplishments that Raines made in his career in a paragraph; instead I'll simply refer you to his Wiki page.

When I personally gauge the players who are eligible for the HOF I compare them with other HOF'ers at their position. In this instance, I am confident that Tim Raines had a HOF career. He holds many of the Expos' records and is probably one of the most impressive base stealers in the history of the game. Had he played on better talented teams he certainly would have contributed greatly to driving those teams to the post-season. David Justice does hold the distinction of playing every season in the post season from 1991 until 2002, and he has been a great part of helping those teams achieve success, but he does not leave the indelible mark that Tim Raines left on the game. In my humble opinion, I would hope that the BBWAA will vote Tim Raines in and not David Justice.

Another area that I am concerned about regarding this year's ballot is that Jim Rice still has not been voted into the HOF. Jim Rice was one of the greatest leftfielders of all time and was certainly one of the most consistent hitters to ever play the game. Jim Rice played on the Boston Red Sox between 1974-1989 and compiled a career batting average of .298 in 8,225 at-bats. There are probably two things that have not favored Jim Rice's inclusive into the Hall of greats. The first was his acrimonious relationship with the media during his playing career. The second is that Jim Rice had a knack for hitting into double plays (due mostly to having some slow base runners in front of him like Bill Buckner, Wade Boggs and Dwight Evans). Still, Jim Rice was incredible hitter, akin to Tony Gwynn in opinion, and I shake my head every year when his name is not announced.

My hope this year is that Tim Raines and Jim Rice are elected.

I know that Braves fans wish argue vehemently that Dale Murphy be included as well. I disagree that he had a HOF career, but yes, at one point he was a dominant player. When you look closely at his numbers you will see a major drop-off in his production at an early age. Murph and Roger Maris hold the distinction of being the only two-time MVPs not elected into the HOF. I loved Dale Murphy when I was a kid and tried to learn to swing like him (I think I was successful too because I struck out a lot!), but the numbers don't lie. He definitely deserved to be immortalized in Atlanta, but not in Cooperstown.