Greg Maddux Won't Get Into The Hall Unanimously

Many writers who have a Hall of Fame vote have been revealing their votes publicly. I like this transparency and wish all the voters would do so.

There are also "trackers" who are keeping tabs of all the public votes -- here's a Google spreadsheet with (as of this writing) 138 of the ballots, probably somewhere around 25 percent of the total expected to be cast.

Until this morning, Greg Maddux had been mentioned on every ballot.

Until this article at MLB.com revealed the ballots for their writers who have ballots (MLB.com writers are not active BBWAA members but some have "legacy" votes), with this vote standing out like the proverbial sore thumb:

KEN GURNICK, Dodgers beat reporter
Morris

Morris has flaws -- a 3.90 ERA, for example. But he gets my vote for more than a decade of ace performance that included three 20-win seasons, Cy Young Award votes in seven seasons and Most Valuable Players votes in five. As for those who played during the period of PED use, I won't vote for any of them.

You can have a reasonable debate about Jack Morris' qualifications for the Hall. I, personally, don't think he's a Hall of Famer and wouldn't vote for him if I had a ballot, but I can see some of the arguments for him.

But to vote for only Morris -- and no one else? What is Gurnick attempting to do here? To not vote for anyone for the Hall other than Morris, no one at all from the Steroid Era? Tarring an entire generation because of rumor and innuendo?

I have no idea what Gurnick means by his ballot. Is he trying to effect change in the voting procedure by doing this? That's the wrong way to do it, in my view. There's no question that voting procedures for Hall induction need to be revamped; team broadcasters and national braodcasters who have at least 10 years' experience ought to have votes, too, and some retired BBWAA members who don't cover games any more shouldn't.

It appears, now, that Greg Maddux might go into the Hall with all the votes but one. Shame on you, Ken Gurnick.