A modest proposal for the Baseball HOF

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

There is a simple fix to the myriad problems today's HOF voters face; PED suspects, ballot limitations, etc... but I imagine the HOF is too conservative to enact a sweeping change.

Every voter should score every eligible player one to 10, anyone who receives 75% of the available points is in. It is amazing how many sins a system like this fixes.

Think Bonds is a HOF'er but want to acknowledge he's not perfect? Score him an 8 or maybe a 7. It also forever changes the "unanimous" debate. Instead of worrying that someone may go unanimously whereas Hank Aaron (or any other all time great) did not. You now legitimately stand almost no shot at a perfect score without all the controversy. You may be able to craft a creditable argument that Randy Johnson is only a 9. Certainly a better argument than any for leaving him off the ballot altogether.

Finally, it will help clear any perceived back log of HOF worthy candidates, but I don't think it will be a more permissive system in the long run. Unless you get voters banding together to inflate a score there is almost no reason to not vote honestly.

Unfortunately in the current system people are playing games with their ballots (sometimes for noble reasons) so the ballot isn't "honest." But it will not be that much easier to accrue approximately 4000 points than it was to get named on about 400 Ballots, it may even be tougher in the long run, which may be a good thing!