Hall Of Fame Rant

This is not a rant that is worthy of the hall of fame; it’s a rant about the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. This old Coot gets riled up at least a couple of times each year about the election process or the idiotic voting that has taken place. In a few weeks I’ll have much more to say about the ballots cast annually by eligible baseball writers, some of whom apparently haven’t seen a baseball game in years.

Today I want to comment about Sunday’s announcement of the actions of the HOF Classic Baseball Era Committee. This 16 member group meets every three years to consider candidates for inclusion in Cooperstown. It is comprised of 6 HOF members, 5 major league executives, and 5 media members/historians. This year they had a list of 8 players to vote on, with a requirement of 75% votes for election. I don’t really know how the meeting is conducted, but assume alcohol consumption is involved, because they just can’t get it right! You could make the argument that all 8 were hall-worthy, but the committee only saw fit to elect two. I have no objection to the votes for Dave Parker and Dick Allen, but was extremely disappointed that Tommy John only received 7 votes, and none of the others got more than 4. ( Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris, Luis Tiant )

Look at their stats and you will see that Boyer’s are very similar to Parker’s and Allen’s, and his defense was much better. He was a leader of the great Cardinal teams of the 60’s, and absolutely deserves election.

The continued exclusion of Tommy John is baffling. The man pitched for 26 years. He won 288 games, struck out 2245 batters, had 162 complete games, and had a lifetime 3.34 ERA. And he has a surgery named after him! Even casual baseball fans have heard of Tommy John surgery, which is ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. He was the first to have this procedure and return to the major leagues, where he pitched well for another decade.

Luis Tiant played for 19 years, winning 229 games. With his unique and colorful delivery he struck out 2416 with an ERA of 3.30 and 187 complete games. He is still revered today for his mentoring of young Hispanic players, which continued after his retirement. Tiant is regarded as the all time best Cuban pitcher. It is a travesty that he was not elected by the writers during his eligibility, and now he was snubbed again by this committee.

If you think I’m wound up now, wait until you see what I have to say in January when the latest votes from the cuckoo’s nest are released!

That’s one man’s opinion- what’s yours?