2006 Hall of Fame Votes

[trsent]

Ok, so I read today that Bruce Sutter finally made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Of the eligible people on the ballot, the bottom votes were very interesting:

Name Ballots received Percentage
---- ---------------- ----------

Bruce Sutter 400 76.9
Jim Rice 337 64.8
Rich Gossage 336 64.6
Andre Dawson 317 61.0
Bert Blyleven 277 53.3
Lee Smith 234 45.0
Jack Morris 214 41.2
Tommy John 154 29.6
Steve Garvey 135 26.0
Alan Trammell 92 17.7
Dave Parker 75 14.4
Dave Concepcion 65 12.5
Don Mattingly 64 12.3
Orel Hershiser 58 11.2
Dale Murphy 56 10.8
Albert Belle 40 7.7
Will Clark 23 4.4
Dwight Gooden 17 3.3
Willie McGee 12 2.3
Ozzie Guillen 5 1.0
Hal Morris 5 1.0
Gary Gaetti 4 0.8
John Wetteland 4 0.8
Rick Aguilera 3 0.6
Gregg Jefferies 2 0.4
Doug Jones 2 0.4
Walt Weiss 1 0.2
Gary DiSarcina 0 0.0
Alex Fernandez 0 0.0

Geez, that is crooked. Oh well. Tell me, who were the two who voted for Gregg Jefferies and who was on the one who voted for Walt Weiss? Really, I just don't get it.

[ChrisCavalier]

Tell me, who were the two who voted for Gregg Jefferies and who was on the one who voted for Walt Weiss? Really, I just don't get it.

I think the two who voted for Jefferies are members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who loaded up on Jefferies' rookie cards when he first came into the league and still have them.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
Chris

[RobSteinmetz]

As a Cubs and Cardinals fan, I'm thrilled that Bruce Sutter was elected this year. Based on his increase in votes this year, it appears to me that Goose Gossage with be enshrined in the not too distant future as well. What strikes me as interesting is that Lee Smith, baseball's all-time save leader, only showed up on 45% of the ballots (I think this was down from last year). Here's a quick stat comparison between Smith and two HOF closers...

Bruce Sutter (12 seasons): 300 saves, 2.83 career ERA, 1 Cy Young, 6 All-Star Games, Led League in Saves 5 times, Pitched in 1 postseason.

Rollie Fingers (17 seasons): 341 saves, 2.90 career ERA, 1 Cy Young, 7 All-Star Games, Led League in Saves 3 times, Pitched in 6 postseasons.

Lee Smith (18 seasons): 478 saves, 3.03 career ERA, No Cy Young, 7 All-Star games, Led League in Saves 4 times, Pitched in 2 postseasons.

P.S. - How come Alex Fernandez didn't get any votes?

[trsent]

What strikes me as interesting is that Lee Smith, baseball's all-time save leader, only showed up on 45% of the ballots (I think this was down from last year). Here's a quick stat comparison between Smith and two HOF closers...

P.S. - How come Alex Fernandez didn't get any votes?

Should I pull the race card with this debate? Nah, too early, but history shows in baseball, if your skin is one color over another player's skin color, often you are looked at as better. Sad, but maybe still true. Lee Smith was one of the greats, no doubt about it.

As for Alex Fernandez, a 107-87 career record without ever recording a save in a ten year career isn't going to cut it. Then again, he does have THREE career home runs!

[R. C. Walker]

Should I pull the race card with this debate? Nah, too early, but history shows in baseball, if your skin is one color over another player's skin color, often you are looked at as better. Sad, but maybe still true. Lee Smith was one of the greats, no doubt about it.

Whoa! Before you start throwin’ cards around, consider Jeff Reardon:

16 Years, 367 Saves (All- Time Leader at one point), 3.16 ERA. And if I remember correctly, a couple of awful outings in the ‘92 Post Season w/ the Braves. He's completely off the HoF ballot.

IMHO Lee Smith or Jeff Reardon were good, the Blyleven's and John's of relievers, but not “All-Time Greats” no matter what color skin they have.

[Swoboda4]

First of all, does anybody have any Sutter game used items?(Photos please)- If the HOF voters didn't waste 78 votes from the bottom portion(Will Clark: 4.4% down to Walt Weiss: 0.2%)it would have more than likely helped at least one other person get elected. What is the motive for these waste votes on such an important event?

[RobSteinmetz]

Whoa! Before you start throwin’ cards around, consider Jeff Reardon:

16 Years, 367 Saves (All- Time Leader at one point), 3.16 ERA. And if I remember correctly, a couple of awful outings in the ‘92 Post Season w/ the Braves. He's completely off the HoF ballot.

IMHO Lee Smith or Jeff Reardon were good, the Blyleven's and John's of relievers, but not “All-Time Greats” no matter what color skin they have.

I'm not sure I'd put Lee Smith in the same category as Jeff Reardon, if for no other reason than volume of saves (Smith pitched only 2 years longer than Reardon but had 111 more saves). I'd also have a hard time comparing Smith to Blyleven and John, neither of which hold (or held) any signifiant pitching records. Just for grins, here's how Reardon's stats compare to Sutter (who was elected this year), and John Wetteland (who received 4 votes this year):

Bruce Sutter: 12 years, 300 saves, 2.83 ERA, 5 times led league in saves, 6 All-Star appearances, 1 Cy Young.

Jeff Reardon: 16 years, 367 saves, 3.16 ERA, 1 time led league in saves, 4 All-Star appearances.

John Wetteland: 12 years, 330 saves, 2.93 ERA, 1 time led league in saves, 3 All-Star appearances, 1 World Series MVP Award.

Just so we stay on topic, I'm thrilled to have a 1980 home Bruce Sutter Cubs jersey in my personal collection...although I'm also actively searching for a Cardinals-era Sutter jersey!

[trsent]

I think the two who voted for Jefferies are members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who loaded up on Jefferies' rookie cards when he first came into the league and still have them.

Let's see, according to items for sale on beckett.com, you can buy Gregg Jefferies rookies from 1989 DonRuss for between ten cents and twenty-five cents each.

For comparison sake, Ken Griffey, Jr. has a card in the same set. His Rated Rookie can be bought for about three dollars each. I know Griffey's numbers has been down due to injury, but he has 500 home runs and how many gold gloves?

Two votes is an embarrassment, sorry Gregg or people who invested in his trading cards.

[DonFan23]

As someone who has a bit of insight into how the vote works, here are a couple of points:

1) Although one of the sportswriters may very well be a closet Walt Weiss fanatic, more than likely it's someone who is just testing the system to make sure his votes are counted or who has some other yet-to-be-determined agenda.

2) A voter is free to select anywhere from 10 to zero votes on his ballot, so a vote for a Weiss wouldn't necessarily hurt someone else's chances. Let's face it, when was the last year that you can recall where you would have seriously considered nominating 10 of the candidates if you had a vote?

3) Each returned ballot is counted equally. Therefore, if someone elects to return a zero-vote ballot, it negatively impacts the chances of everyone on the ballot to a greater extent than if that ballot was simply not returned. And zero-vote and unreturned ballots have probably factored into every year's vote.

Just a little food for thought.

R.J. Hinners

Always looking for Don Mattingly and other Yankees items.

[trsent]

3) Each returned ballot is counted equally. Therefore, if someone elects to return a zero-vote ballot, it negatively impacts the chances of everyone on the ballot to a greater extent than if that ballot was simply not returned. And zero-vote and unreturned ballots have probably factored into every year's vote.

RJ, do you have any idea how many ballots are not turned in each year? I assume if a writer doesn't mail in a blank ballot, then it doesn't count against players.

I just wonder if there is a history of this.