Congratulations to Mariano Rivera, the first player to be unanimously elected to the MLB HoF! The only professional sports jersey I own.
Total no-brainer, well-deserved! As a life-long Yankees fan, him and Jeter were amazing to watch over the years. I was fortunate to be there in Toronto when he tied the save record.
When that song came over the speakers and he starts walking in.....lights out! Plus he's such a likeable guy.
OK, hearing stuff like this makes me curious. How does the voting works? Can you vote against someone, or do you just have a certain number of votes and spend them on other people? I'm not into baseball, but I hate everything I know about it. This just sounds like one more thing. I mean, even I know that that guy should be unanimous, and I only know baseball from SportsCenter.
Select group of 400 members from the Baseball Writers of America Association. Need 75% of votes to qualify. Only positive votes count. Have ten years on the ballot. There are also some oddball (old-timer's committee) avenues in. (Being non-American/non-Carribean, not surprised you don't like basebol; it's an elegant game )
Well, I like football, so I'm not sure it's about geography. A Phillies game at Veterans Stadium was one of the most boring afternoons of my life. Objectively, why would someone not to vote for Ken Griffey Jr? That kind of political BS, the stupid "unwritten" rules, the pace of the game, etc. I'm definitely the wrong spectator for baseball.
Elegant? Anyway, baseballs excitement level is pegged at 0. Having said that, I'm signing the boy up to play. Sometimes being a dad is pretty difficult.
Local guy, Mike Musina, got voted in. Unlike some of you feriners, Baseball is America's game. Getting into the HoF is a big deal and not easy.
Can one voter vote for everyone that's on the ballot in a single year, or is there a limit? Could everyone on the ballot get in on the same year and clear the backlog?
Each elector can vote for ten candidates in each given year. A candidate must be up-voted by at least 75% of the electors to get into the HOF.
Since a member only gets a limited (10) votes to cast on a ballot, and I would think some folks would chose not to enter someone like KG Jr. because he's a slam dunk, and they want to promote some more marginal candidate.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense given the limit. But that opens the door for some potentially stupid situations. What if 30% of them had thought that the others would be voting for Ken Griffey?
Apparently, some other folks agree with you all on Ken Griffey, Jr. But 99%+ is pretty darn close: https://www.mlb.com/news/who-didnt-vote-for-ken-griffey-hall-of-fame/c-161242860
I was guessing with my idea; reading the article was insightful. It brought to light the past practice often used of not voting for a sure-pick on first year eligibility. How else to explain Willy Mays being excluded from 24 ballots? But like most things, things change. The Rivera result will probably usher in a bunch (well, some) of full-consensus picks. Who here want's to guess the next one? I think Jeter will miss a couple, mostly based on missteps as an owner.