Hall of Fame Voting

I just read a great article from June 2008 by Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times.  In it he explains how the great Joe DiMaggio forever changed the way the Baseball Writers of America Association (BBWAA) conducts its voting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Back in the day there was no formal structure for voting, no rules or even a ballot.  The voters sent in votes.  They could vote for whomever they wanted even if a player was still playing. Joltin’ Joe got votes while he was away from baseball during WW II.  And there was no real ballot.  The retired player had to meet a percentage of votes and any former player could be voted in.

The Yankee Clipper and others, like Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella mentioned in The Umpire’s article from a couple of days ago, were not voted in during their first year on the ballot, because they received votes in those previous years and were inducted only when the majority of sports writers realized that a five year period of time had elapsed since the player had retired.

Even though Joe was voted in on his third (real) go round, he actually was inducted into the hall before his five years were up.  The five-year rule was in place because of the scandals that have followed baseball from the beginning and probably because the Black Sox Scandal was still fresh in the baseball world’s minds.  At that time it was more of a rule of thumb that five years was the lower limit.  Babe Ruth was inducted in the inaugural class of 1936, even though he had been retired for only one year.  It was at the time of Joe D’s election that the BBWAA decided to formalize the structure and clean up their act somewhat.

Now let’s get back to the clowns, like Mariotti and others of his ilk who now hold back votes because they don’t think that so-and-so should be a first ballot hall of famer.  Back in the day there were no first ballot hall of famers, because THERE WAS NO BALLOT!  And the voting was way different than it is today.

So, please, when you read one of the idiots writers stating their case loudly that since Player X (insert all-time great’s name of choice) didn’t get in on the first ballot, then certainly Player Y (insert recent retiree’s name of choice) shouldn’t get in on the first ballot, please point them in the direction of Mr. Jaffe’s article.  Perhaps someday the writers will get it right.