Here’s the 13 newbie names on the ballot:
Jeromy Burnitz
Vinny Castilla
Brian Jordan
Javy Lopez
Bill Mueller
Terry Mulholland
Phil Nevin
Brad Radke
Tim Salmon
Ruben Sierra
Bernie Williams
Tony Womack
Eric Young
I’m not a big proponent of the "if you have to think about ‘em then they’re not Hall of Famers" school of thought, in part because it gives miserably short shrift to lesser-known names. However, reading the names and immediately getting the dry heaves probably does say something about this lot.
There’s some talent here, but when Bernie Williams — who was a good player and deserves to be on the ballot — is the top of the heap, well, there’s not a lot more to say.
At first glance I don’t think any of them will get voted in, ever, by the BBWAA, and other than Williams and Salmon I don’t think any will be back for the 2013 ballot.
Your thoughts on any of these candidates?
I think Bernie Williams is going to be the only one of these guys to get the 5% needed to return next year. I think he’ll get 15% or so…
EDIT- I don’t really get the problem with ,’SO-AND-SO is on the ballot?!’ Frankly, I think they should just automatically include everybody who’s eligible.
…Oh, wait, that would be 55 guys this year. OK, so that wouldn’t work, but still, I’d only be upset with someone being ‘nominated’ if they weren’t eligible. They could’ve put Joey Eischen up there, I don’t care.
If people VOTED for him, though, I’d get upset…
None of them will get in…Williams is by far the best player there,statistically anyway;I don’t see Salmon getting enough votes for a repeaton the ballot-if I was going to guess any other guy besides Williams getting on a second ballot I’d say probably Ruben Sierra-he has 500 more hits than Salmon (2100+ vs 1600+) and he was a pretty good hitter in Texas especially, for a few years-so he might get some token votes from the writers there-plus a few from Oakland..plus a few from New York.
I could see Eric Young, Vinny Castilla, Ruben Sierra, Bernie Williams, and Tim Salmon make a decent run, and I could even see one or two eventually squeaking in a future year with a weak class like this one, but in my opinion none of them really have a good shot. Mulholland might get a few votes just for being able to hang around as a pitcher for so long too, but also not enough to get in
Most of them I wouldn’t even vote for the Hall of Very Good.I wouldn’t vote for any of them for the HOF ballot.Which, in a way, is good news for some of the returnees who do deserve votes.Larkin, Morris, and Lee Smith should see a dramatic increase in vote totals.Larkin for sure will get in and this will probably be the best shot for Morris and Smith.Heck, I could even see Bagwell make his way up the ballot to the 60′s or so.
The list is almost laughable.Not a true HOFer on the list.Bernie Williams is probably the star name and he falls in the "very good" category.I really shook my head at the name, Terry Mulholland.What in God’s name is he doing on such a list????
Not much more to say!
I liked Bill Mueller and Eric Young back in the day, but I’m surprised to see their names on the list. I definitely think Bernie Williams has the strongest potential, while the others are just ehhh
Bernie Williams will be the first ballot guy on that list who will stay on the ballot for the coming years. I believe he’ll get within 10-15%.
i see only Williams staying and the others gone
it will be a good year for a player that has been on the list for a while
Only happen news will be for Bernie and Salmon, who won’t come close to making it but will at least stay on the ballot with over 5%. For the rest, see ya later!
This is the most beautiful sight imaginable for Jack Morris, Tim Raines and Barry Larkin.
I totally agree with you other than those two not a strong class at all.
I don’t really see any of these guys making it, but there does exist a pretty good argument for Bernie Williams.
Not only was he one of the most iconic of the postseason players of his day (he still holds many LCS records) but one has to realize that the Yankees were good back then in part because of Bernie Williams. The thinking is that the Yankees are good so Jeter doesn’t deserve an MVP and so on, but if one considers, Jeter was one of the important reasons they were good. Same goes for Bernie. And not just for a year or two, but for over a decade. I’d endorse his Hall of Fame entry.
Alas, however, no one asked me. And I don’t think enough people think the way I do, so he probably won’t go.
None of those guys will make the HOF, not even close. As you and others have said only Bernie Williams and Salmon will even be on the 2013 ballot. Harold Baines had 2866 hits and 1628 RBIs, if he doesn’t make the cut none of those guys are even close.
Edit: I see people mentioning Tim (crack Rock) Raines as gaining from this. No way he should be in the HOF. I agree he had great numbers but he has admitted to using cocaine during games. No way he should be allowed into the HOF. There are enough PED users in there already.
Bill Mueller?!?!?!? Unbelievable…did he even make 1 all star team in his whole career??? If…. Its a known fact that the baseball world is up the redsox asses but this is amazing..we cant just have every player who won a WS with the Sox on the ballot.. they actually have to be a great baseball player..
Bernie Williams is the only one I would vote for!
Really! Jeromy Burnitz! What did he ever do?
coffee