Today, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2010 ballot, which contains 27 players. Any player getting votes on 75% of the ballots submitted will be admitted to the Hall in the Class of 2010. Here's the complete list:
Roberto Alomar, Kevin Appier, Harold Baines, Bert Blyleven, Ellis Burks, Andre Dawson, Andres Galarraga, Pat Hentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Shane Reynolds, David Segui, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell, Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile.
The results of the BBWAA voting will be announced on January 6, but now, you can submit your own ballot. Unfortunately, the SBN polling system doesn't allow multiple votes on one poll, so the poll here will let you vote for the ONE player you would vote for if you had only ONE vote (rather than the 10 you'd get on the BBWAA ballot). In the comments, you can leave your entire list of who you'd vote for. Below the fold I'll reveal my own ballot.
My 2010 inductees to the Hall of Fame, if I had a ballot, would be: Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar. Tim Raines and Barry Larkin are close, but I think I'd leave them for future ballots.
It is a crime that Blyleven isn't in already. He is fifth on the all-time strikeout list, threw 60 shutouts (ninth all-time, and among his contemporaries, only Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan threw more, and only one more, 61), and played on two World Series winners, the 1979 Pirates and 1987 Twins. His lack of 20-win seasons (only one) and the fact that he played in small markets works against him; if he'd have been a Yankee, he'd have been in long ago.
Dawson, I also believe should have been in long ago, and this time, with no "gimmes" among first-timers on the ballot, should get in. He got 67% of the vote last year and almost everyone who's gotten that much support in the past should get in.
Alomar had a decline in his last few years, otherwise he'd have gotten 3000 hits and been a lock (he finished with 2724). He was a 12-time All-Star and generally recognized at the best at his position (after Ryne Sandberg retired) among active players.
Barry Larkin suffered too many injuries and didn't have that many MVP-type seasons. In fact, he had a better year the year after he won his only MVP (1996) than the year he won it (1995). And Tim Raines, too, became mostly an ordinary player the last few years of his career, after being one of the best players in the game from 1981-85.
You may disagree. Cast your votes and post your comments!