IBWAA RESPONSE TO HOF BBWAA VOTING RULES CHANGES

The IBWAA sees the Hall of Fame’s BBWAA 682-word voting change statement and raises it this:

As was the case since its inception July 4, 2009, there is no 10-year waiting period for new members to vote in IBWAA elections. It’s a digital organization. New members may vote in the next election following their joining, and are not only being allowed but encouraged to join and vote right up until balloting deadlines. No stamps or fax machines are employed. Just click send.

IBWAA members may be card-carrying or not, with both paper and digital cards being available.

None of this for the IBWAA: “…potential Hall of Fame voters, all of whom must be 10-year BBWAA members, must hold an active BBWAA card or have held active status within the last 10 years. BBWAA members previously holding Hall of Fame voting privileges who are no longer active in the game and are more than 10 years removed from active status will have the opportunity for annual reinstatement, based on their coverage of the game in the preceding year.”

Ten years away from the game? Please. If you write regularly about baseball on the Internet you qualify for IBWAA membership and voting privileges; if you don’t, you don’t. No reinstatement is ever required.

The IBWAA is comprised of 385 members, including prominent national figures and college students, working in major and minor league towns across America and on several continents.

IBWAA season award balloting runs from September 1-30 of each year, with results being announced in early November. The IBWAA Hall of Fame election takes place in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

And remember, glove conquers all.

original link: http://ibwaa.com/ibwaa-response-to-hof-bbwaa-voting-rules-changes/

The Purge 3: Hall of Fame Voters

We’ve all seen the Purge and Purge 2: Anarchy movies, imagine that type of plot just with Hall of Fame voters instead of everyday people. For one day and one day only all voting for future Hall of Fame players is allowed for a select few owners, writers and men and women who cover this great game of baseball. These Hall of Fame voters have made a bit of a mockery, in my opinion anyway, of the Hall of Fame voting over the past few seasons and for much of the steroid era and that may change starting in 2016.

The Baseball Writers Association of America just inducted four members into Cooperstown this past weekend including Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz but that may change for better or worse going forward. Under the old rules you had lifetime voting rights no matter how far removed you were from covering the game but a purge is going on with the Hall of Fame voters. Under the new rules you are no longer allowed to vote if you have not actively covered the game in the last 10 years, a breath of fresh air for the more progressive fans of the game.

This by no means will eliminate the “character clause” that is keeping many steroid users, suspected steroid users and players out of the Hall but it is a definite step in the right direction. In 2016 I don’t expect the likes of Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro and others to make the game but it may help those borderline cases in Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza finally make the Hall despite their undeserved “ties” to the steroid era in general. 

Mike Piazza Should Make Hall of Fame in 2016

Mike Piazza fell just short of the Hall of Fame for a third straight vote in 2015 but should not have to wait much longer to get elected. Piazza topped out at 69.9% of the vote this season after garnering just 62.2% in 2014 and 57.8% in his first season in 2013. If Craig Biggio, who missed the Hall by two votes in 2014 before getting in this season, and his eight point jump is any indication it looks like Piazza may finally enter the Hall in 2016.

Entering a class with new comers like Ken Griffey Jr., Billy Wagner and Trevor Hoffman there is undoubtedly going to be another big class elected and another logjam on the ballot. Next year seems like the most likely of seasons for the best hitting catcher in Major League history to join the rank of the immortals. Piazza was a 12 time All-Star and will use Biggio’s induction as a precedent for positional players of the “Steroid Era” to finally get into the Hall in my opinion. 

Randy Johnson: I have "no remorse" about coming to Yankees

He might not have left such an impression on the locals when he was with them, but retired major-league pitcher Randy Johnson enjoyed his time with the Yankees.

Johnson said so during a press conference Wednesday, one in which this year's newest members of the Hall of Fame were announced. Johnson, the only player in the class who ever played in the Bronx, was elected to Cooperstown Tuesday with appearances on 97.2 percent of the writers' ballots, the highest total of the four inductees. 

But it's unlikely many of those votes came due to his performance with the Yankees, a rather short period which lasted from 2005-2006. 

"I had no remorse about coming [to the Yankees]," Johnson told The Bergen Record's Pete Caldera. "I know it might be hard for a lot of people to believe that. [But] I came to New York because I wanted to. I love New York."

Johnson was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Yankees in exchange for Javier Vasquez, Dioner Navarro and the late Brad Halsey in January of 2005, ending a six-year stint with Arizona. He went 5-0 against the Red Sox that season and 17-8 overall, seemingly setting himself up for a nice run with the club.

But his ERA skyrocketed to 5.00 in 2006 while he threw 20 2/3 fewer innings, causing the Yankees to deal him back to the Diamondbacks the following winter. 

"I still managed to win 34 games in two years," Johnson said, preferring to look at his stats positively. "It wasn't the exciting Randy that people had witnessed against the Yankees, but I still gave everything I had."

Johnson was selected to the Hall this week in his first time up for the honor, joining two others in accomplishing the feat. Former Brave John Smoltz and former Met Pedro Martinez made up that duo, and longtime Astros OF Craig Biggio completed the entire group.

It is yet to be revealed which team's cap Johnson will wear on his plaque, but it's a safe bet the one with the interlocked "NY" won't be it. 

The IBWAA Makes Me Proud to be a Member

The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America conducts a Hall of Fame vote just like the Baseball Writers Association of America does. For the most part the consensus is the same with a few key differences, those differences being that Mike Piazza (2013) and Craig Biggio (2014) were elected by the IBWAA before the BBWAA elected them and Barry Larkin was not elected to the IBWAA as of 2015 when he was a member in the BBWAA. Also the IBWAA voted to bump up the number of selections from 10 to 15, which I think will help with the logjam of deserving players.  I have always felt a little bit of prestige and such being a member of the IBWAA but when I opened my email and saw our Hall of Fame tallies it really made me proud to be a member.

For the year 2015 the IBWAA selected five to join the Hall including Randy Johnson (98.24%), Pedro Martinez (95.15%), John Smoltz (82.82%), Jeff Bagwell (81.94%) and Tim Raines (79.30%). Curt Schilling was the first runner up in the vote garnering 65.64% followed by notable players including Roger Clemens (64.76% up from 56.64% in 2014) and Barry Bonds (63.44% up from 57.52% in 2014). 

Johnson, Pedro, Biggio & Smoltz Elected to Hall

For the first time since 1955 the Baseball Writers Association of America has elected at least four players into the Hall of Fame in one class. The 2015 class includes Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio and John Smoltz. The trio of pitchers being elected in one year marks the first time that has ever happened in the Hall and BBWAA history as well.

Johnson received 97.3% of the vote while Biggio landed 82.7% of the vote after falling just two votes shy in 2014. Martinez garnered 91.1% of the vote and Smoltz finished out the class by gathering 82.9% of the vote from the writers. Congratulations to all four of these men, I don't see anyone I would have left off my ballot.

Don Mattingly received just 9.1% of the vote in his final season while former Yankees Roger Clemens (37.5%), Tim Raines (55.0%), Mike Mussina (24.6%) and Gary Sheffield (11.7%) all received enough votes to stay on the ball next season.

For the complete list CLICK HERE.

My Hall of Fame Ballot

The ballots for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame have been announced and there are a few notable first timers on the list. As many of you know I am a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and I will get a say in that ballot but I will save that ballot reveal for another day. Today I wanted to reveal who I would vote for if I had a vote in the BBWAA ballot.

Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado, Nomar Garciaparra, Gary Sheffield, Tony Clark and John Smoltz are among 17 newcomers to the ballot joining Craig Biggio who fell two votes shy last season among others. Don Mattingly will also appear on the ballot for the 15^th and final time in his eligibility this season while Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, and Time Raines make their returns to the ballot.

My ballot includes Johnson, Martinez, Smoltz, Mattingly, Mike Mussina, Bonds, Clemens, Biggio, Piazza and Raines. While I know many will disagree with the Mattingly pick I had to slide him in there as my 10^th and final selection. Many more will disagree with my picks who were linked to steroids and the entire steroid era but it’s referred to as an era because, and I use the term loosely, everyone was doing steroids. The Black Sox threw the World Series but it wasn’t called the Black Sox era it was called the Black Sox scandal because they were one of the only ones doing it. Everyone did steroids and no one should be punished for it before it was illegal in the game.