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Huge year for the HOF after not letting a single person in this past July. The '14 ballot includes these first time nominees:

Greg Maddux
Tom Glavine
Frank Thomas
Jeff Kent
Mike Mussina
Luis Gonzalez
Kenny Rogers

Other first timers eligible include: Moises Alou, Tony Armas Jr., Armando Benitez, Gary Bennett, Joe Borowski, Sean Casey, Jose Cruz Jr., Mike DiFelice, Ray Durham, Damion Easley, Scott Elarton, Shawn Estes, Sal Fasano, Keith Foulke, Eric Gagne, Scott Hatteberg, Geoff Jenkins, Jason Johnson, Jacque Jones, Todd Jones, Ray King, Jon Lieber, Esteban Loaiza, Paul Lo Duca, Kent Mercker, Matt Morris, Trot Nixon, Hideo Nomo, Abraham Nunez, Odalis Perez, Tomas Perez, Mark Redman, Alberto Reyes, Ricardo Rincon, Dave Roberts, Rudy Seanez, Richie Sexson, J. T. Snow, Shannon Stewart, Tanyon Sturtze, Mark Sweeney, Mike Timlin, Salomon Torres, Steve Trachsel, Javier Valentin, Jose Vidro, Daryle Ward, and Dmitri Young.

Holdovers still on the ballot:

Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Curt Schilling
Roger Clemens
Edgar Martinez
Don Mattingly
Fred McGriff
Jack Morris
Rafael Palmeiro
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Lee Smith
Sammy Sosa
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker

Realistically, only 10 guys can be elected on a single ballot, but since this class has the potential to be so deep, I guess we could make our own class a bit bigger.

Who do you think deserves to be inducted next summer?

My ballot:

Greg Maddux
Tom Glavine
Mike Mussina
Frank Thomas
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Jeff Kent
Tim Raines
Craig Biggio
Edgar Martinez
Mike Piazza

That's 11 and I'm leaving a couple names off that I think are just as deserving.

Oh, and I guess everyone can make a "what will actually happen" ballot, since we all know the steroid guys won't get elected.

Under those circumstances: Glavine, Maddux, Thomas, Moose.

Moose might be a reach, but I think he's deserving from as much of a non-homer pick as I can possibly make.

My ballot would look like this;

Greg Maddux
Frank Thomas
Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Tim Raines
Edgar Martinez
Mike Piazza
Jeff Kent
Tom Glavine

I'm on the fence with Curt Schilling. I like to see about 8 pretty dominate years and I have Schilling for around 6. But you also have to factor in that pretty 2.23 era from the postseason. IMO he's more deserving than Mussina and Morris. While Mussina has a ton of wins; to me he's never been a dominate pitcher. He's basically a 1A in my book. I view Morris a bit less because he's regular season numbers are not the greatest and while he's viewed as this great post season pitcher he still nearly has a 4 era.

gonna be pissed when Maddux doesn't get 100% of the vote

Quake Griffin wrote:gonna be pissed when Maddux doesn't get 100% of the vote

I'm not saying that he shouldn't, but I think he might suffer from maybe sticking around a bit too long.

He was arguably the best pitcher of the 1990s, definitely Top 3, which should make him a unanimous vote, but there will probably be some bitter voters out there.

sunshinekids99 wrote:My ballot would look like this;

Greg Maddux
Frank Thomas
Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Tim Raines
Edgar Martinez
Mike Piazza
Jeff Kent
Tom Glavine

I'm on the fence with Curt Schilling. I like to see about 8 pretty dominate years and I have Schilling for around 6. But you also have to factor in that pretty 2.23 era from the postseason. IMO he's more deserving than Mussina and Morris. While Mussina has a ton of wins; to me he's never been a dominate pitcher. He's basically a 1A in my book. I view Morris a bit less because he's regular season numbers are not the greatest and while he's viewed as this great post season pitcher he still nearly has a 4 era.

For some reason I've cooled on Bags. I'm really not sure why. I don't think Kent and Biggio could ever be in the same class, but I would vote both of them in regardless.

I think I just hate Curt Schilling so much that I never want him to be elected, I'll be honest about that.

Moose is tough because he doesn't have crazy numbers, but he never had major injuries. He wasn't a slouch in the postseason, either, but he always seemed to come up short in big games for the Yanks (see: 01 and 03 World Series).

I don't see the justification for including Edgar Martinez, but not Larry Walker

Player X is the only batter in history to average 40 doubles, 40 HR and 130 RBI over 162 games for his career


Does Player X belong in the Hall of Fame?

One reason for why I would put Edgar Martinez in the Hall is that he was the best at his position for basically an entire decade. Granted, that position was DH, he hit for tremendous average throughout nearly his entire career.

Walker had the benefit of playing at Coors for a majority of his career. He was a fantastic player, but I think the voters penalize him for that.

Oh, and Edgar deserves to get into the Hall just because of his swing.

Schwabby wrote:One reason for why I would put Edgar Martinez in the Hall is that he was the best at his position for basically an entire decade. Granted, that position was DH, he hit for tremendous average throughout nearly his entire career.

Walker had the benefit of playing at Coors for a majority of his career. He was a fantastic player, but I think the voters penalize him for that.

Walker has 7 Gold Gloves to go with his MVP award and 3 batting titles

Putting Edgar into the Hall of Fame because "he was the best DH for a decade" is actually rewarding him for not being able to field a position


I'm not saying Edgar isn't worthy, I just don't see how you can vote for Edgar, but not Walker

I really have two issues with Larry Walker. The first is that he only played over 150 games once in his career. The second being the Coors field effect on his career. While I know that most players tend to play better at home than they do on the road; Walker splits are quite a difference between home and road.

sunshinekids99 wrote:I really have two issues with Larry Walker. The first is that he only played over 150 games once in his career. The second being the Coors field effect on his career. While I know that most players tend to play better at home than they do on the road; Walker splits are quite a difference between home and road.

How much credit should he be given for being one of the best defensive players during his era?

If you were a teacher grading a player's career, how much would defense count towards the final mark?

10%? 20%? 50%?

Walker deserves an A, if not an A+ for his assignment on defense

Edgar gets an F with a grade of 0


Lots of injuries occur while making a defensive play, so the fact that Walker played less games than Edgar is not surprising

Also, Walker spent his entire career in the NL, so he never had the luxury of resting in the DH role when needed

I'm not going to take points away from Edgar because he was a DH. Edgar was a dominate hitter and IMO hof worthy. From 95 to 01 Edgar was the one of the best hitters in baseball. As for Larry Walker he was a very good player, but there is nothing about him that makes me think he was a HOF player. Those home/road splits are ugly.

Edgar gets an F because he wasn't a position player? When it comes time for David Ortiz to be on the ballot, will he lose your vote because he only played defense for a dozen games a season?

Both men are/were the top class hitters of their eras. Both are essentially employed by their franchises to do one thing: hit (at home and on the road).

Taking away the opportunity to induct a DH because of his contractually obligated role on a team is foolish.

Big Papi is a cheater and thats why he should meet as much resistance as anybody getting in.


2 way players who were really good on offense and defense should get in before a DH who was greater at hitting than the 2 way player was at anything.

Quake Griffin wrote:Big Papi is a cheater and thats why he should meet as much resistance as anybody getting in.


2 way players who were really good on offense and defense should get in before a DH who was greater at hitting than the 2 way player was at anything.

Big Papi evidently failed a test that his name should have never came out for and of course they never told him what the substance was that he failed. He's of course never failed another test. While I'm not naïve enough to say I'm 100% sure he's clean; I'd like to know more on what happened.

I strongly disagree on the second point. I'll vote for the guy with HOF numbers over the guy with very good numbers who was also good in the field. It's the HOF not the hall of very good and that is what Walker was....very good.

he has HOF numbers where? oh on one side of the ball.

you're talking to the wrong guy. I hate the DH but i live with it because it's reality. But no way a guy like Ortiz or Edgar get my respect or vote more than someone who gets it in the field everyday.

btw, I think a person who is very good in the field and very good on defense is a great player...not a very good player...just referring to my last post.

I'm not going give a guy an edge just because he plays defense.

Back to Walker for a moment. My main issue comes back to a 1.160OPS @ Coors and a .865 on the road. That OPS this year would put Walker right next to Matt Carpenter and Brandon Moss, not really a HOF class.

And to Martinez. Martinez was actually a good defensive third baseman before he got hurt. He was a plus 17.7 runs saved for his career. It was a way for Seattle to preserve him and to make sure he stayed away from hamstring injuries.

In the end neither guy is going to be getting in this year. As I'm assuming we will only see Maddux, Thomas and Glavine....with an outside shot from Biggio.