After some more lively & spirited discussion about the Baseball HOF & how empty Cooperstown will feel this summer, I was thinking about the recent football HOF class which has 7 new members, including Cris Carter who's election was long overdue.  I like how they have 2 rounds of cuts to get to the final group of candidates of 15 players then the selection committee comprised of a writer from each NFL city plus some at large members, that sit around and discuss the qualifications of each candidate.

Even though 7 new players were elected to the pro football HOF, there are at least 4-5 more that should've been in my opinion (Bettis, Tim Brown, Michael Strahan, Charles Haley, Andre Reed)

Looking at the baseball ballott for 2013 there could've easily been 7 new inductees but the writers chose nobody which just defies logic & will hopefully lead to drastic changes for the voting process.  It was disturbing to say the least to read ESPN writer TJ Quinn state he doesn't even bother turning his ballott in because he hasn't followed baseball in 10 years!  10 years!!! Hello Jeff Idleson are you listening?

Idleson's comments that he was happy with the results of the 2013 baseball HOF election and wants to continue the voting process will lead to his demise.  A write voted for Aaron Sele for Christ sake!  How can you say the BBWAA members take this process seriously???

Depends how you look at it. I agree that some, like Biggio, missed induction due to voters with agendas and the whole PED issue.

But at the same time, the baseball HOF is exclusive. I like that usually only 1-2 guys get in every year. Makes it more of an achievement. The best of the best (theoretically).

The BBWAA clearly needs to weed out the guys who aren't actively covering baseball, no doubt.  Guys have been tossing single votes at guys they covered or whatever who they knew had no chance for years, it's hardly a big deal, unless they had 10 other guys they were going to vote for.

But let's face some facts here - the reason you (and many others) are fired up about the process this year is because you disagree with the writers on what to do with confirmed and suspected PED guys.  Other than that, you have Biggio, who probably lost out on the segment of voters who believe "1st ballot" is special, and will get in handly next year.  Creating a smaller group of media folks and putting them in a room together isn't going to solve that problem, unless you handpick guys who don't care about PEDs.  Quite frankly, I'm not sure there's any group in baseball right now that you could hand the voting to who would come to a consensus on letting all these guys in.   And if you've paid attention to coverage of the Pro Football HoF voting in the past, you'd know that that room is every bit as rife with politics and agenda as the writers' vote.

Oh I'm not saying some of the football writers aren't ego maniacs but I trust the opinion of guys like John Clayton, Len Pasquarelli, & Mike Sando to make these decisions.

Listening to the logic of BBWAA writers the past couple years makes me want to slit my wrists with a butter knife!

I'd like to hear any writer that does NOT vote for Greg Maddux next year to come up with a careful reasoned argument & clearly in his case, the no player deserves 1st ballott status does not hold water.  Maddux cannot be lumped in with PED's either.  So what's the deal with him not getting 100% of the vote???

Quibbling about a percent here and there seems really silly in a process that only requires 75%.  There are some writers who (stupidly) refuse to vote for ANYONE on their first ballot.  It's dumb, but completely inconsequential.  Obviously you can take issue with individual writers and votes, but on the whole, the process was working just fine until PEDs came along, and I like I said, unless you hand pick a group to get you the outcome you want on that, I don't think any change to the voting is going to resolve that to your satisfaction.

The Hall of Fame is a museum, not heaven. The fact that people are submitting blank ballots to try and be St. Peter is an annoyance.

NFL system is quite exclusive when you consider there's more players than other sports, and that players compete against coaches and owners for spots.

MADDUX DOESN'T GET MINE IN HIS YEAR TO PROTEST HIS SELFISH ACT OF HAVING A PERSONAL CATCHER WHO COULDN'T HIT

Posted by Got_Worms on 2/16/2013 2:54:00 PM (view original):
I'd like to hear any writer that does NOT vote for Greg Maddux next year to come up with a careful reasoned argument & clearly in his case, the no player deserves 1st ballott status does not hold water.  Maddux cannot be lumped in with PED's either.  So what's the deal with him not getting 100% of the vote???

No one has ever gotten 100% of the vote, and there are clearly guys who should have. Maddux likely won't be the exception.

And you're absolutely right - how no one has ever gotten 100% is beyond me. But it's been happening since long before Maddux and PEDs.