Bartender Banter: Great Halls of Fire

Well the ballots are in and it's no surprise that Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken were overwhelming chosen to represent the Class of 2007 to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Here's the voting breakdown. Goose Gossage got a little closer than last year but still missed out by 21 votes.

Most alarming is that McGwire only got 128 votes on the record 545 ballots cast. I knew there would be backlash against him but I didn't think it would be that harsh. We'll see how he fares next year since there are those tools out there that weren't going to vote for him the first time around, which is one of the most asinine things I've heard. You either intend on voting for him or you don't. What difference does it make if he ends up getting in eventually on a later ballot? Do people really remember who got in after multiple tries as opposed to those who got in immediately? Lots of guys get in after a handful of years on the ballot (Ryne Sandberg, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk, Harmon Killebrew, Duke Snider, Don Drysdale, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Hoyt Wilhelm, Juan Marichal to name a few). Does that make them lesser HOF inductees?

Then there's the whole blank ballot submission. There were two this year, one admittedly submitted by Paul Ladewski of the Daily Southtown. His reason was essentially in protest to players that played during the Steroids Era. Fine if you don't like the guys who fall under the dark cloud of performance enhancers, but Jesus, we all know Ripken and Gwynn most likely weren't a part of that. I mean has the guy ever seen Tony Gwynn's physique? Unless Denny's Moons Over My Hammy is considered a performance-enhancing substance, I don't think you have to worry about ol' Tony. And if you really wanted to send a message to the supposed juicers, then how about voting for those folks that played prior to that time, who are still on the ballot? Guys like Rice, Dawson, Mattingly, and Dale Murphy. Guys that were the most-feared sluggers of their era and have since been largely ignored, mainly because of the highly inflated statistics from the latter era that you so much abhor. Submitting a blank ballot is idiotic and you shouldn't be allowed the privilege to fill one out next year or any year for that matter.

This marked the 15th and final year for Steve Garvey to be on the ballot. Godspeed Steve. Say 'hi' to Ronnie on the Veterans Committee ballot for me.

I'll be back tomorrow with the TMSSS2000 results for this week's NFL games.