I don't think they really cared too much about Babe Ruth's image after he won the Yankees a bunch of World Series :D

Like I said, a popularity contest.  The BWAA votes.  If they don't like you they can keep you out, Jim Rice is a case in point.  If it was purely on stats, without voting, it would be a fairer method.



Oh. My. God.  How do you have elections of any nature?  By voting, that's how.  Whether it's student class president, head cheerleader or POTUS, you have a list of candidates and based on their qualifications, you vote to determine who wins.  Or in this case, who gets into the HOF.  There are a select number of players every year that come up for election and the BWAA has to determine BASED ON STATS.....ON STATS who gets in and who doesn't.  Are you trying to tell me that they also don't like Ron Santo, Goose Gossage and Don Mattingly?  Hello.....look at their stats comperable to other people playing the same position who are currently in the hall and then tell me if they belong or if they don't.  Here's a list of other LFers in the HOF.  Please tell me by looking up all the numbers if Rice should be included with them: Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Willie Stargell, Stan Musial, Billy Williams and Lou Brock.  Jim Rice and Ted Williams don't even belong in the same sentence unless you're saying they both played for the Red Sox.

You CANNOT just line up a bunch of batting averages, earned run averages and the like and say if you get over this number in each of these fields you get in.  Then everyone and their brother would get in and that's not the point of the HOF.  Jim Rice, while good......doesn't have the numbers to get in.  Sorry.  Some people have really good years that look like they're HOF-bound and then things happen that make it look not so likely.  It's not bias.  It's not favortism.  It's not a popularity contest.  It's "take a look at the following people already there who played that position and tell me if he deserves to be in with them". 

Barry Bonds may have the numbers to get in when it's all said and done but if Bud Selig says that because of the steroids he's not eligible for the HOF, that's not the BWWA's fault.  It's Barry's for being a jackass.

Oh. My. God.  How do you have elections of any nature?  By voting, that's how.  Whether it's student class president, head cheerleader or POTUS, you have a list of candidates and based on their qualifications, you vote to determine who wins.

Student President(he$$ US President), head cheerleader, POTUS, win because of qualifications?  Naive to say the least  ::)




Jim Rice and Ted Williams don't even belong in the same sentence unless you're saying they both played for the Red Sox. Jim Rice, while good......doesn't have the numbers to get in

He did have the numbers, if he didn't he wouldn't keep making the ballot.  The constant reason that shows up when asked of the voters(if they care to answer) is that he wasn't a nice quy.  He wasn't, to the media, so now is payback time.  Most players aren't Ted Williams, that doesn't keep them out of the Hall.  His stats were way to over the top for them to pass him up, but take note, Ted, while everyone gets teary eyed talking about the Splendid Splinter, was considered an awful, awful, human being.  There are players whose images while playing become distant memories and they become the loveable figures that don't match the reality of their actions during their carreers. He hated Boston, but then I can sympathize with that.  It is my opinion it is because playing for Boston he had to hide his hispanic background.





Barry Bonds may have the numbers to get in when it's all said and done but if Bud Selig says that because of the steroids he's not eligible for the HOF, that's not the BWWA's fault.  It's Barry's for being a jackass.

Whether or not Selig keeps him out is another story.  He will of course keep McGwire out, since he admitted taking steroids, and other suspected players will have to be blackballed at the same time.  If he puts the skids on McGwire I would say Bonds and him can sit home together and talk about the good old days.

Student President(he$ US President), head cheerleader, POTUS, win because of qualifications?  Naive to say the least  ::)


I was talking about in theory, for God's sake.  Christ. 

He did have the numbers, if he didn't he wouldn't keep making the ballot.  The constant reason that shows up when asked of the voters(if they care to answer) is that he wasn't a nice quy.  He wasn't, to the media, so now is payback time.  Most players aren't Ted Williams, that doesn't keep them out of the Hall.  His stats were way to over the top for them to pass him up, but take note, Ted, while everyone gets teary eyed talking about the Splendid Splinter, was considered an awful, awful, human being.  There are players whose images while playing become distant memories and they become the loveable figures that don't match the reality of their actions during their carreers. He hated Boston, but then I can sympathize with that.  It is my opinion it is because playing for Boston he had to hide his hispanic background.

A lot of players that have no chance to make the hall make the ballot every year.  You wanna know why?  "Maybe next year".  If the first year you're eligible you don't get in, they take you off the ballot, the HOF would be pretty effing empty.  Also, maybe the next year's class will be weaker than the previous, so the person who might not have been able to get in the previous year would be able to get in the next.  And WHO THE HELL CARES IF TED WILLIAMS WAS AN AWFUL HUMAN BEING?  I know about his contempt for the press, but this has nothing to do with that.  I could give a flying fig in hell about who he hated, who hated him, why they hated each other.....means nothing.  If the way these people really were was a determinant for inclusion, once again.....the hall would be an empty place.


Have you tried taking a look at the numbers of the people he comes up for election with every year?  Have you?  I don't think you have.  If you did a little comparison shopping, you'd see that while Rice is good......he's not that good.  He benefited from having good teammates (Yaz, Fisk, Lynn) all those years in Boston, but if he had been stuck on another team without them, he wouldn't have near the numbers he does now.