Thanks for trying to rethink this. A really nice book to read this off season is G. Scott Thomas' "Cooperstown at the Crossroads: The Checkered History (and Uncertain Future) of Baseball's Hall of Fame" which I will be reviewing in my 2023 new baseball book series.
I love the creative approach, but you are proposing a system, unless I misunderstand the process, that would put people like Roger Maris in the Hall. Why not Rocky Colavito? He had the better career, especially when you factor in ballparks. Does he go in, too?. I started watching the game in '61 and as a NY baseball fan, I loved Roger Maris. One hell of a player aside from the HR record. But he was not, by almost any definition, a Hall of Famer. I don't believe Garvey, John, or Kuenn, either. All wonderful players, but not elite. We have too many good-but-not-great players in the Hall as it is. And I'm not sure there is a problem with the voting. You note that basketball and football have created easier paths to their Hall. True, but who cares? I don't mean that derisively. I'm only pointing out that those halls have failed to capture the public imagination the way the hall in Cooperstown has. Maybe those chaps at the baseball Hall of Fame know what they're doing, although they dropped the ball on steroids (the lack of a clear policy has created a logjam in the ballot). The system doesn't seem broken enough to need fixing, although I wouldn't mind seeing players staying on the ballot for 15 years rather than 10.
The Baseball Hall of Fame voting process is cruel. It doesn't have to be.
Thanks for trying to rethink this. A really nice book to read this off season is G. Scott Thomas' "Cooperstown at the Crossroads: The Checkered History (and Uncertain Future) of Baseball's Hall of Fame" which I will be reviewing in my 2023 new baseball book series.
That’s a very straightforward approach. I think it would bring true consistency to the process.
I love the creative approach, but you are proposing a system, unless I misunderstand the process, that would put people like Roger Maris in the Hall. Why not Rocky Colavito? He had the better career, especially when you factor in ballparks. Does he go in, too?. I started watching the game in '61 and as a NY baseball fan, I loved Roger Maris. One hell of a player aside from the HR record. But he was not, by almost any definition, a Hall of Famer. I don't believe Garvey, John, or Kuenn, either. All wonderful players, but not elite. We have too many good-but-not-great players in the Hall as it is. And I'm not sure there is a problem with the voting. You note that basketball and football have created easier paths to their Hall. True, but who cares? I don't mean that derisively. I'm only pointing out that those halls have failed to capture the public imagination the way the hall in Cooperstown has. Maybe those chaps at the baseball Hall of Fame know what they're doing, although they dropped the ball on steroids (the lack of a clear policy has created a logjam in the ballot). The system doesn't seem broken enough to need fixing, although I wouldn't mind seeing players staying on the ballot for 15 years rather than 10.