I love arguing about who should and should not be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  So many people spend so much time researching each player on the ballot, and then they come up with conflicting opinions.  It’s great.

Of course, the reason there is so much disagreement is because a vote for the Hall of Fame can be so subjective.  Numbers only tell us part of the story.  Some people feel numbers tell the biggest part while others think the numbers are just a small part.  But everyone agrees that the human element — the part that is hardest to quantify — is a part of the equation.

This year, HOF voting is especially difficult.  There are several players who are borderline candidates, but who have significant support.  There are also a few returning players who are making a push for the coveted 75% of the votes cast. 

I want to take a look at each of the players who stands a realistic chance at election.  There are a bunch of them.  I’ll also indicate how I would vote if the Hall of Fame would get on the ball and make me an official voting member.

First, let’s take a look at the players who are appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year.

First-Time Candidates

Roberto Alomar — Generally speaking, Robbie Alomar is underrated.  He has a career batting line of .300/.371/.443 with 210 career homeruns.  In fact, he had more hits ( 2,724) than any second baseman since World War II.  And to be honest, those numbers are a bit skewed to the low side because of the final three uninspiring years of his career.  He was a terrific second baseman, winning 10 gold gloves, more than any second baseman in history, and being part of 12 All-Star teams.  Alomar could also run.  He stole 30 or more bases eight times.  If you want a second baseman who can field, run, hit for average, and hit for power, Alomar is your man.  But does he deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?  Yes, I think he does.  Will he make it this year?  No, I don’t think so.  Alomar is best known to some people as the guy who spit in umpire Gary Hirschbeck’s face.  He also has been the center of some controversy following his playing days.  These things probably should not matter, but I think they will.  Alomar will eventually get in the Hall of Fame, but I don’t think he’ll make it on his first ballot.

Andres Galarraga — I think Galarraga will get some support, but I don’t think he’ll get into the Hall of Fame.  I also don’t think he deserves to get in.  The “Big Cat” was a nice player and a good hitter, but his numbers fall well short of qualifying him for the Hall.

Barry Larkin — Without looking at the numbers, here’s what I remember about Barry Larkin: He was an immensely talented defender who made hard plays seem routine.  He was a good hitter who could hurt you in several ways.  He hit for average and had some power, and he was a good base runner.  I also remember him being kind of a selfish player, often looking for any sort of slight to claim that he was being disrespected.  He was a player that played his entire career with Cincinnati, but often seemed to be at odds with the organization.  I also remember him being injured a lot.  He was a good player, but not the best, either at his position or on his team.  That’s my recollection.  The numbers pretty much back up the quantifiable part of my recollection.  Larkin had a career hitting line of .295/.371/.444 with 198 career homeruns.  He had 379 stolen bases and was only caught stealing 77 times in 19 years.  Unfortunately for Larkin, he only played 150 or more games in a season four times in his career.  On the positive side, Larkin was selected to 12 All-Star games, won three gold gloves, and won the MVP, Lou Gehrig, and Roberto Clemente awards.  All impressive, but in the end, not enough for the Hall of Fame.  I vote “no.”

Edgar Martinez — Joe Posnanski wrote an enlightening piece about Martinez’ chances for the Hall of Fame.  Pos concludes that Martinez is one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.  Martinez is underrated, but I don’t think he’ll get into the Hall of Fame this year or in the future.  It may not be fair, but I don’t think voters are ready yet to put in a player that is viewed almost exclusively as a DH (although some people see HOF’er Paul Molitor as a DH).  While I can’t argue with Martinez’ numbers, I don’t think I would vote for him either.

Fred McGriff — The “Crime Dog” is a difficult call for me.  On the one hand, he hit .284/.387/.509 with 493 homeruns over 19 big league seasons.  He had 10 seasons of 30 or more homeruns and 8 seasons with 100 or more RBI.  He was an All-Star five times, including in 1994 when he won the All-Star game MVP award.  He won three Silver Slugger awards (with three different teams), led the league in homeruns twice and OPS once.  There’s no doubt, the guy could hit.  And yet, I don’t see him as a Hall of Famer.  He was a good hitter, but not an elite hitter.  He was a decent fielder, but never won a Gold Glove.  To me, he is the typical guy who had a really nice career, had some special moments, but was never the kind of player that gets elected to the Hall of Fame.  Sorry, Fred.

Robin Ventura and Todd Ziele — I’m not going to waste my time and look up the stats for these two guys, but they both had nice careers.  Hall of Fame careers?  No, not even close.  But that won’t stop them from getting some votes.  Even though there’s no way either of them sniffs the Hall, I wanted to mention them in this post because I liked both players and will likely never again have the opportunity to mention either of them in relation to the Hall of Fame.

Tomorrow, I’ll take a look at the hold-overs from previous ballots.