Happy Baseball Bloggers Alliance Day to All! AND My Ballot for the Hall of Fame...

Today, December 10th is BBA Day. Baseball Bloggers Alliance Day.
I have been a proud member since March 2010, so this is my first BBA Day as a member. Actually I think it the first BBA Day period.
So what does BBA Day mean? Well, it is a day to advertise our network, reflect on why we are members and encourage more to join the Alliance.
My first introduction to the BBA came from C70 at the Bat, a Cardinals blog. I was trying to get a take on how Jaime Garcia was going to factor into the Red Birds plans for 2010 and found that website after a bit of googling. While reading the blog I noticed that C70 was a member of the BBA. Actually it turns out he is the founder.
I sent him an email asking how I could join. I thought there would be a long approval process and some form of an interview, but there wasn’t. I was approved automatically and could remain a member as long as I participated in the BBA Awards voting. Turns out that is the best part.
How often have you complained about how the BBWA voted for MVP or Cy Young or for the Hall of Fame? For me it’s pretty constant. Well, with the BBA WE GET TO VOTE!!! We aren’t actually placing players in Cooperstown, but it’s a real voting process with votes coming from people who cover the game they love and are generally doing it for free.
Every year I make my picks for the All Star Game and put a lot of time into my selections. This year I was able to vote as part of a group to choose the starting line-up. Ditto that with postseason awards. I voted with the group for the Walter Johnson Award for top pitcher, the Goose Gossage Award for top reliever and the Stan Musial Award for best overall player.
Presently we are voting for Hall of Fame suggestions. I just voted and as soon as the ballot came up on my screen I was hit by a rush, some goose bumps, some anxiety and a generally crazy awesome feeling.
As a baseball fan, a sentimentalist and a writer, so many times I have written about so and so belongs in the Hall of Fame.
When I clicked on the ballot I was greeted by many of these names and instantly got a taste of the pressure that the Baseball Writers must feel when they get their ballot.
I pasted all of the names from the ballot below; it is quite a list…

Alomar, Roberto, Baerga, Carlos, Bagwell, Jeff, Baines, Harold, Boone, Bret, Brown, Kevin, Blyleven, Bert, Franco, John, Gonzalez, Juan, Grissom, Marquis, Higginson,Bobby, Johnson, Charles, Larkin, Barry, Leiter, Al, Martinez, Edgar, Martinez, Tino, Mattingly, Don, McGriff, Fred, McGwire, Mark, Mondesi, Raul,Morris, Jack, Murphy, Dale, Olerud, John,Palmerio, Rafael, Parker, Dave, Raines, Tim, Rueter, Kirk, Santiago, Benito, Smith, Lee, Surhoff, B.J., Trammell, Alan and Larry Walker.

Wow. That is a long list of names, some pretty big names, and some pretty HUGE numbers. The rules for BBA Hall of Fame Suggestion Voting state that you can vote for up to, but no more than 10 players. I could have picked 10 names but I didn’t. Take away Kirk Rueter, Bobby Higginson and Kevin Brown and you could make a case for nearly every one of these guys. I voted for 5. Bert Blyleven was a no-brainer and that was the first name I checked. I scanned through the list and on the next time through I selected Barry Larkin and Jeff Bagwell. Those 2 aren’t really no-brainers, but I think they are legit Hall of Famers. Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro and Larry Walker have Bagwell-like numbers, and I came close to checking Larry Walker, but I couldn’t this time. My third time through the list I came close to voting for Harold Baines, Dave Parker, Jack Morris and Lee Smith, but resisted for some reason. The last 2 I voted for were Tim Raines and Fred McGriff. I couldn’t think of a reason not to vote for those 5, the other players, well, I just couldn’t come up with enough reasons TO vote for them. Regardless of whether a player used steroids or not, the stats produced by steroid era players have to be taken with a grain of salt and it isn’t easy picking and choosing the best of the best from that time. It also makes the numbers put up by Dave Parker, Dale Murphy and Harold Baines that much more impressive… For my vote Bags and Larkin got extra credit for team loyalty. I thought long and hard about Allen Trammell for that same reason.
BBA Hall of Fame voting stays open till December 28th. I believe if you join now you could still vote for the HOF Suggestion.
I hope that everyone has a Happy BBA Day!!! I am VERY happy that I joined before last season. I was quiet with my baseball writing, but that is because I didn’t have much to complain about – my team had a GREAT regular season. This year I already have lots to gripe about, so you can look forward to hearing my voice much more this year.
I hope that some of you writers out there consider joining the BBA today and for the upcoming baseball season. It is a GREAT network of baseball bloggers. I have made friends and contacts that I value and it provides great exposure for your blog.
Thanks for reading! Oh, feel free to agree or disagree with my picks for the Hall. I am ready! Oh, speaking of ready… What are you waiting for? Go check out the BBA website and see if its something you would like to be a part of… Oh, as evidenced by my choice of images - the BBA WELCOMES baseball writers who blog about baseball cards... Go Rays! Troll out.

Collective Troll Card of the Day...

Today’s quick card of the day features a young right handed pitcher named Rik Aalbert Blyleven, commonly referred to as Bert. Most of you who read this blog know that Bert Blyleven is one of my favorite pitchers of all time and I truly believe that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. I WILL make a case for him and his due enshrinement soon and I will probably post several cards of him before the 2010 season begins. For now, the card of the day is from the 1972 Topps set, card # 515 of Bert Blyleven. BB’s rookie card is number 26 in the ’71 set-this is his second year card, but is one of my favorites. Blyleven had signed onto the Twins organization at age 18 and split his first pro season between rookie ball and at Orlando of the Florida State League. He did so well (7-2 combined) that he skipped AA ball all together and went to AAA. Bert began the 1970 season with the Evansville Triplets of the American Association as a 19 year-old, but after a hot start with them (4-2, 2.50 ERA, 63 Ks in 54 innings) he was promoted from being a Triplet to a Twin. He would start 25 games for Minnesota that year and posted a 10-9 record with a 3.18 ERA. The Twins would win their division and Blyleven saw postseason action before he saw his 20th birthday. His appearance was short-he pitched 2 innings in relief in a losing effort against Baltimore in the ALCS, but his two inning debut was a success. He struck out 2 and didn’t allow an earned run. In 1971, Blyleven’s first full year in the bigs, went even better. He logged 278 innings pitched (9th), completed 17 games (8th), pitched 5 shutouts (5th) while winning 16 games. His most impressive statistic was his 224 strikeouts (4th). He showed a remarkable curveball early on which set up his fastball even more dramatically. Of course Blyleven would go on and pitch for a total of 22 seasons with 5 different ball clubs, but this is where it all began-with the Twins in the early ‘70’s. Here is what the back of the card has to say about Bert Blyleven:
“As a rookie with the Twins in 1970, Bert became the 25th teenager in the history of baseball to ever win as many as 10 games in a season. He was named as the Sporting News American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year and was 12th in the AL in ERA (3.18). In his first big league start at Washington, 6-5-70, Bert gave up (a) homer to (the) 1st man he faced, Lee Maye, but proceeded to hurl shut out ball and won game, 2-1.”
A rookie, teenager pitcher who can pitch 9 innings of shutout ball after giving up a leadoff homerun is pretty remarkable, but that was Bert Blyleven. Stayed tuned for Bert Blyleven “Cards of the Day” and a case for BB to go to Cooperstown. He earned 63% of the vote last year-2010 just might be his year! I love this game, I love this hobby! Troll out.

The 5 For The Hall!

I have to say, I wasn’t thrilled with the way the voting went, but they have all been tallied up and I am ready to officially induct 5 new members in to cyber-Cooperstown. Of the 5 players I voted for, only one made it. We had 41 different people vote and only 1 player even got half the votes. A lot of the overlooked players from the 40s, 50s, 60s and seventies remain overlooked and no Negro League Players will get into the Blog-O-Fame. I would like to make y’all wonder a little bit more, but I am going to announce the top 5 in the voting. These are the guys that all of you want enshrined into the Blog-O-Sphere-Hall-of-Fame Class of 2009 and a half…
First, these are the 3 guys who got a lot of support, but it came too late. They are all left tied for 6th place with 14 votes a piece. In my opinion all 3 of these are 100% Hall-worthy, but Andre “Hawk” Dawson, Barry “Did He Have a Nickname?” Larkin and Tim “Rock” Raines will all have to wait until next year, close but no cigar…
Coming in tied for 4th place overall with 15 votes each are the spitter, Roberto Alomar and the Crime Dog Fred McGriff!
Tied for second place with 19 votes each are two guys whose only hope is the Blog Hall, they are Shoeless Jackson and Pete “Charlie Hustle” Rose. One I feel belongs there, the other I don’t know because not only have I never seen him play, and I don’t know anyone who has. From what I have read, the dude can hit, but it’s hard for me to back him without a visual or a trusted source…
That leaves one man; the top vote getter with a very impressive 22 votes (54%) is the Flying Dutchmen, Bert Blyleven. The guy is fifth All Time in strikeouts with 3,701; he’s 9th in shutouts and has 287 wins to go along with his two World Series rings. This guy belongs if anyone does!
There ya have it folks. This was our vote, this is our Hall.
Go Rays! Troll out.

The Vote for the Hall of Fame!

Not a single vote for Joe Torre, only 1 vote for Donnie Baseball. Only one former Negro League player has been brought up. Two votes for Mike Jackson (62-67 career), a vote for Dave Burba (115-87)? Those are only some of the surprises so far in this early 2010 Hall of Fame vote. The contest has 5 more days for people to enter and hopefully we will receive many more votes. Here is how voting is shaping up so far and who will go to the Hall if voting were to cease today. The Top 5 so far are:
1. Bert Blyleven (16)
2. Shoeless Joe Jackson (15)
3. Fred McGriff (14)
3. Pete Rose (14)
5. Barry Larkin (11)
Hot on their spikes are Roberto Alomar (10) and the trio of Andre “Hawk” Dawson, JJ “Buck” O’Neill and Tim “Rock” Raines all with 8 votes each. Rounding out the top ten are Gil Hodges, Ron Santo and Dale Murphy-each with 4 votes. Closer Lee Smith has 3.
Allen Trammell, Edgar Martinez, Harold Baines, Minnie Minoso and Mike Jackson each have 2 votes a piece. There are 13 others who have at least one man or woman in their corners for blogosphere immortality consideration, they are: Jim Kaat, Robin Ventura, Artie Wilson, Maury Wills, Mark McGwire, Ellis Burks, Charlie Hough, Will Clark, Andres Galaragga, Bowie Kuhn, Andy Ashby, Vern Stephens and Dave Burba.
One can make a solid case for at least ¾ of the players mentioned. Everyone is so very thoughtful, very knowledgeable, very informed and very creative. There were a few names that I hadn’t thought of myself, but they definitely have a case. Makes me proud to be a blogger! Now we just need to push for more votes. 18 hardly seem like enough votes to put someone in the Hall of Fame (even if it isn’t real)! Please encourage folks to vote. I’ve decided that people CAN vote even if they don’t follow this blog (but they can’t win) and if you aren’t voting because you don’t want to be overloaded with a bunch of cards you don’t want-vote anyway and specify that you don’t want to be entered to win. I would really like to get 50 people to vote for this thing. You can vote on this comment thread now, I have archived the votes from the other one. I will repeat my first entry as a sample (but my dupe vote will not count). Also, the cards shown in this post (of potential HOFers) will be added to the prize pack. The prize is now guaranteed to have at least 40 cards, plus 3 HOF autographs and at least one bonus auto, plus magazines, postcards and other HOF related stuff. Please vote for the next 5 guys to head to (internet) Cooperstown! Link this post to your blog and you will get a bonus entry, too. Go Rays! Rock the vote baby! Troll out.