This is a complete disgrace. I’m not sure why anyone would take the Hall of Fame voting process seriously when clowns like Barry Stanton — who clearly do not take the process seriously — have a vote.
This guy voted for Tino Martinez and B.J. Surhoff, yet didn’t vote for Roberto Alomar or Bert Blyleven or Barry Larkin or Jeff Bagwell or Tim Raines or Mark McGwire or Alan Trammell. This has to be a joke, right?
I agree with Craig’s take over at Hardball Talk:
That said, a lot of people marvel at the breadth of the BBWAA’s Hall of Fame electorate. There are guys voting there who haven’t covered baseball for years. One is a political cartoonist in Montreal. Another is a college football writer. This one was found to have committed journalism’s greatest sin. In light of all of that, is it crazy to ask whether it’s worth the BBWAA’s time to reconsider who gets a vote and who doesn’t?
The BBWAA is hyper-selective at who gets to vote for awards: only 28 or 30 guys each, all actively baseball writers. They get it right for the most part too. The Hall of Fame has hundreds of voters from all over the place, and they’re increasingly screwing the pooch. Isn’t there a happy medium to be found? Is it time to look for one?
Indeed. And until there are reforms, I’ll never take the Hall of Fame seriously again.