Who Gets Into The Hall
By Fred Owens
Who’s On The Ballot
The ballot this year as is every year I can remember, the ballot included names of good players who if honest would tell you that even though they had a few good years they are not HoF caliber. That being the case it may surprise you to know that there is a committee who can keep players off the ballot.
"BBWAA Screening Committee — A Screening Committee consisting of baseball writers will be appointed by the BBWAA. . . . (consisting of) six members, with two members to be elected at each Annual Meeting. . . the Screening Committee shall be to prepare a ballot listing in alphabetical order eligible candidates who (1) received a vote on a minimum of five percent (5%) of the ballots cast in the preceding election or (2) are eligible for the first time and are nominated by any two of the six members of the BBWAA Screening Committee. (my emphasis)"
That means that this year two members of the screening committee decided that Luis Castillo, Garret Anderson, Mark Grudzielanek and at least eight others were Hall of Fame worthy. What’s worse is that some writer somewhere who has a special relationship with one of these players will vote for him even though there’s no justification for it. Last year Darin Erstad got a vote and Aaron Boone got two. That would be laughable if it weren’t so sad.
This is another issue the BBWAA should address now that they have trimmed to voters down to what, about 6000?