Quote:
Originally Posted by egri
If I was a writer, my reasoning might be that Griffey is going in come hell or high water, and he only needs 75%. Player X is on the borderline and needs every vote he can get. If my ballot is already full, with Griffey on there, I would not have a problem replacing Griffey with Player X. Griffey would still get 90%+ of the vote, and my guy would get some extra help.
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I was going to mention the same thing. There have been a few admittedly marginal players who might have squeaked in in their last eligible year but were dropped because of a very solid group somewhere in between. The one that comes to mind right off is Dwight Evans. Not a first ballot guy for sure, but someone who might just make it. Health kept him just short of 400 HR which was almost a certain thing when he played. Combined with his fielding he might have made it.
From Wikipedia.
" Evans was dropped from the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot when he did not receive the minimum five percent of votes in his third year of eligibility. Evans received 5.9% in 1997, 10.4% in 1998, and 3.6% in 1999. Evans' low vote total in 1999 is attributed to the appearance of future Hall of Fame players Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Robin Yount, and Carlton Fisk on the 1999 ballot. Based on his win shares metric, baseball statistician Bill James has argued that Evans is a worthy candidate for induction.[3]
Steve B