The upcoming modern baseball ballot covers 1970-1987, one of the least represented era's in Cooperstown. Pete Rose is the obvious omission and won't be on the ballot but we all know he belongs and all know why he'll never get in, so I don't want this discussion to include Rose.

Here are some of the key players that could potentially be up for election in December:

C - Ted Simmons, Thurman Munson, Lance Parrish
1B - Steve Garvey, Don Mattingly, Keith Hernandez, Cecil Cooper, Al Oliver, Bill Buckner (may get sentimental support after his passing).
2B - Bobby Grich, Lou Whitaker, Willie Randolph
3B - Graig Nettles, Bill Madlock (won 4 batting titles but they were more quantity over quality).
SS - Dave Concepcion (don't discount the influence of Joe Morgan!)
OF - Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans, George Foster, Bobby Bonds
SP - Ron Guidry, Vida Blue, Tommy John
RP - Dan Quisenberry

Ted Simmons missed election by 1 vote from the committee that elected Morris and Trammell so I would expect him to get elected this time around. Thurman Munson should've been elected years ago! Next to Carlton Fisk, Parrish was the best catcher in the 1980's but I don't think he is HOF material.

Garvey should've been elected by the writer's and has some very impressive achievements including 1974 NL MVP, 2x AS Game MVP (8 consecutive appearances), and NLCS MVP for two different teams. Had the longest consecutive games played streak before Ripken. Nearly missed 7 consecutive seasons of 200+ hits if he had 8 more hits in 1977. He was on the ballot 15 years and peaked at 42.6% in 1995.

Mattingly also should've been elected already, even though he had a short peak, he was so good and generally considered on of the best players of the 1980's. I would rather see players elected that were dominant for a short period of time versus mediocre longevity like Baines. Enough said! Mattingly won 9 Gold Gloves, second all-time to Keith Hernandez.

Keith Hernandez didn't receive strong support from writers but managed to appear on 9 ballots topping out at 10.8% in 1998. Best defensive 1B ever and legendary Seinfeld appearance should be enough to get him in! His lack of power likely held him back but still managed decent RBI totals for never hitting more than 18 HR's.

After Trammell was elected last year, there seemed to be immediate support for his longtime teammate Lou Whitaker. Not sure where this is leading, he had a very short peak from 1982-1987 but the marketing campaigns for marginal HOF candidates seems to hold a lot of weight. See Bert Blyleven!

I don't get the love affair for Bobby Grich. One of the top omissions from the HOF according to Jay Jaffe's Cooperstown Casebook and a darling of the Sabermetric community. Counting numbers are terrible, his best season was 1981 which was full of statistical anomalies due to the strike. If he gets elected, it will be one of the worst selections ever, IMO.

There are certainly some interesting candidates for the committee to consider and I would expect another big class. At least 2-3 of these players should get in. I predict Simmons, Munson and Dale Murphy, and possibly Garvey. Hope Mattingly finally gets his due!

I wanted to start a separate thread dedicated to the VC since the Sabathia thread was getting long.

Here are the upcoming elections from the HOF website:

UPCOMING ERAS COMMITTEES ELECTIONS

Modern Baseball: December of 2019 for inclusion in the Class of 2020
Golden Days: December of 2020 for inclusion in the Class of 2021
Early Baseball: December of 2020 for inclusion in the Class of 2021
Today's Game: December of 2021 for inclusion in the Class of 2022
Modern Baseball: December of 2022 for inclusion in the Class of 2023
Today's Game: December of 2023 for inclusion in the Class of 2024
Modern Baseball: December of 2024 for inclusion in the Class of 2025
Golden Days: December of 2025 for inclusion in the Class of 2026

Definitions for each of these committee's:

TODAY'S GAME (1988 TO PRESENT)
MODERN BASEBALL (1970-1987)
GOLDEN DAYS (1950-1969)
EARLY BASEBALL (PRIOR TO 1950)

Let the predictions commence!

Next time around for Today's Game committee, I would like to see all new candidates on the ballot. Will Clark, Albert Belle, Joe Carter, and Orel Hershiser didn't get elected so let's see some new faces. Although, I think Hershiser belongs and Albert Belle had a short, dominant peak, and never had steroid allegations that I know of.

Would like to see Kenny Lofton, Jim Edmonds, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Carlos Delgado, Lance Berkman, John Franco, and Dave Cone at least get consideration.

Fred McGriff will definitely be on this ballot and I expect him to get elected since he never had any steroid whispers. Again, the VC will continue to reward non-steroid players, whether they're worthy or not.

I'm not sure how hall-worthy any of those candidates are, but I think Mattingly, Murphy and possibly Garvey and Whitaker should be top of the list.

Definitely on the Lance Berkman for HOF bus. Mentioned it on Reddit that he might be one of those “Hall of Very Good” guys who might sneak in the their 2nd to last ballot. Other people mentioned that a career .943 OPS is pretty good for a “Hall of Very Good” and that he’s been one of the best switch hitters of all time, to which I totally agree.

LETS GET ALL THE KILLER B’S IN THE HALL!

Posted by d_rock97 on 5/31/2019 3:07:00 PM (view original):
Definitely on the Lance Berkman for HOF bus. Mentioned it on Reddit that he might be one of those “Hall of Very Good” guys who might sneak in the their 2nd to last ballot. Other people mentioned that a career .943 OPS is pretty good for a “Hall of Very Good” and that he’s been one of the best switch hitters of all time, to which I totally agree.

LETS GET ALL THE KILLER B’S IN THE HALL!

Berkman didn't even make it past this last ballot. Shameful, but it was very crowded!

Got_Worms, how do you figure Lou Whitaker "had a very short peak from 1982-1987"? He was consistently good for many more years than that, and in fact his best season (going by WAR) came in 1991.

By the way, I grew up watching the Trammell-Whitaker Tigers. Both of them are borderline HOF'ers in my opinion, but if you're going to induct one you have to induct the other.

Posted by crazystengel on 5/31/2019 3:16:00 PM (view original):
Got_Worms, how do you figure Lou Whitaker "had a very short peak from 1982-1987"? He was consistently good for many more years than that, and in fact his best season (going by WAR) came in 1991.

By the way, I grew up watching the Trammell-Whitaker Tigers. Both of them are borderline HOF'ers in my opinion, but if you're going to induct one you have to induct the other.

What crazy said. Ham & eggs. Tinker to Evers to Chance.

i like simmons, munson and guidry.

Of all the players mentioned above, the most deserving are Mattingly (Donnie Baseball should be a slam dunk), Steve Garvey, Keith Hernandez, one of the best defensive 1B ever, Lou Whitaker as part of the Trammell-Whitaker combo, Albert Belle & Lance Berkman. I guess Simmons, though he's an uninspiring choice. Will Clark's peak dominance too short, Dave Parker maybe but a controversial choice. Love Munson, Bernie Williams & Posada, but not for the HOF. Most of the others are somewhere between Hall of Very Good and Hall of Very, Very Good, if that.

Posted by crazystengel on 5/31/2019 3:16:00 PM (view original):
Got_Worms, how do you figure Lou Whitaker "had a very short peak from 1982-1987"? He was consistently good for many more years than that, and in fact his best season (going by WAR) came in 1991.

By the way, I grew up watching the Trammell-Whitaker Tigers. Both of them are borderline HOF'ers in my opinion, but if you're going to induct one you have to induct the other.

Outside of his 1978 ROY season, Whitaker didn't earn any hardware in any seasons outside of this range, excluding 1982. Looking at his stats, I'm surprised he wasn't an All-Star or Silver Slugger in '82.

What do you think about Parrish? One of the best catchers of the decade and since we're on the sentimental Tigers train, Rudy York and Bill Freehan belong in the HOF too!

Posted by thunder1008 on 5/31/2019 5:16:00 PM (view original):
Of all the players mentioned above, the most deserving are Mattingly (Donnie Baseball should be a slam dunk), Steve Garvey, Keith Hernandez, one of the best defensive 1B ever, Lou Whitaker as part of the Trammell-Whitaker combo, Albert Belle & Lance Berkman. I guess Simmons, though he's an uninspiring choice. Will Clark's peak dominance too short, Dave Parker maybe but a controversial choice. Love Munson, Bernie Williams & Posada, but not for the HOF. Most of the others are somewhere between Hall of Very Good and Hall of Very, Very Good, if that.

After Baines got elected all bets are off. Nobody knows WTF is going to happen moving forward!

I don't think Tony LaRussa and the rest of the VC understand the slippery slope of a **** storm, Pandora's Box they've opened!

Posted by Got_Worms on 6/1/2019 12:18:00 AM (view original):

Posted by crazystengel on 5/31/2019 3:16:00 PM (view original):
Got_Worms, how do you figure Lou Whitaker "had a very short peak from 1982-1987"? He was consistently good for many more years than that, and in fact his best season (going by WAR) came in 1991.

By the way, I grew up watching the Trammell-Whitaker Tigers. Both of them are borderline HOF'ers in my opinion, but if you're going to induct one you have to induct the other.

Outside of his 1978 ROY season, Whitaker didn't earn any hardware in any seasons outside of this range, excluding 1982. Looking at his stats, I'm surprised he wasn't an All-Star or Silver Slugger in '82.

What do you think about Parrish? One of the best catchers of the decade and since we're on the sentimental Tigers train, Rudy York and Bill Freehan belong in the HOF too!

Whitaker was a quiet type, like Trammell. Morris, Gibson, and Parrish were sort of the flashy guys on those Tigers (although none as flashy as manager Sparky Anderson, who for a long time looked like he'd be the only person from that 1984 championship team who'd make it into the HOF).

I don't think Freehan and Parrish belong in Cooperstown, unless there's some sort of initiative to try to get players at underrepresented positions inducted. They were very good catchers, obviously.

Ever read the Tigers oral history book Cobb Would Have Caught It? Lots of funny Rudy York stories in that one, mostly from the hilariously foul-mouthed Billy Rogell. York was a character, and had a few great seasons. But not a serious HOF candidate.

Catcher definitely is an under represented position in Cooperstown. Bill Freehan made 10 straight All-Star games (11 total), and 5 consecutive Gold Glove's which is pretty impressive, especially for a catcher!

Surprised he was only on one ballot in 1982 receiving very little support. As far as catchers go, Thurman Munson definitely belongs!

Posted by Got_Worms on 6/1/2019 11:22:00 AM (view original):
Catcher definitely is an under represented position in Cooperstown. Bill Freehan made 10 straight All-Star games (11 total), and 5 consecutive Gold Glove's which is pretty impressive, especially for a catcher!

Surprised he was only on one ballot in 1982 receiving very little support. As far as catchers go, Thurman Munson definitely belongs!

thats why i have munson and simmons as first 2 from the list.
a great catcher is like the ringo starr.