Hall of Fame Voting

01-10-02

I’m Chuck Wilson with an ESPN Radio Extra Point,
ESPN's Jayson Stark once called the Baseball Writers Association of America "America's strangest electorate"....was he ever right. Look at the Hall-of-Fame voting announced this week. How do you explain the exclusion of Gary Carter, an 11-time All-Star and the National League's dominant catcher following Johnny Bench? Carlton Fisk is a Hall-of-Famer and Gary Carter is not? How can writers justify voting for a player as a Hall-of-Famer one year, but not the next? In 1999, there were 17 returning players on the ballot. 16 received significantly fewer votes than the year before. Why?....because sure-fire Hall-of-Famers Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount appeared on the ballot for the first time. While writers can vote for up to 10-players each year, many will vote for only a few at a time, so they add and drop names year-to-year. Look, you either think a player is deserving of the Hall-of-Fame or you don’t. Last year, The Veteran's Committee revamped its voting process. It's time the Baseball Writers Association did the same.
I’m Chuck Wilson