Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens don’t have the integrity, sportsmanship or

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Maybe, but do we even know really? It's a fairly recent trend that the world learns about people's every bad action.

Reminds me of Kirby Puckett. He was a beloved angel…until he wasn’t. Lucky for him he got into the HOF before scandal hit.

[Seven]

Respected journalists/media personnel/sports authors with a strong reputation, in the industry, should be the requirement. People like:

Peter Gammons
Joe Posnanski
Ken Rosenthal
Tom Verducci
Buster Onley
Jane Leavy
Bill James

Just to list a few

[Mike D.]

Maybe it’s the residual Platonist in me, but I tend to think the answer is fewer, better qualified voters, not more.

Maybe not quite the 12-16 voters of the various veterans committees (too small has its issues too), but not hundreds or thousands.

And you want a qualified writer, analyst, TV or web writer, or even former player or fan…someone who understands, cares, and will do the research and analysis required.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Maybe it’s the residual Platonist in me, but I tend to think the answer is fewer, better qualified voters, not more.

Maybe not quite the 12-16 voters of the various veterans committees (too small has its issues too), but not hundreds or thousands.

And you want a qualified writer, analyst, TV or web writer, or even former player or fan…someone who understands, cares, and will do the research and analysis required.

Completely agree, Mike. I think a smaller panel would be better. The inaugural class had 226 voters, that should be the cap, I think.

[jiw98]

Maybe it should be that the players do the voting. Who should know more than those that actually played the game.
Or maybe a point system. Earn the number of points needed to qualify and your in.

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by jiw98

Maybe it should be that the players do the voting. Who should know more than those that actually played the game.
Or maybe a point system. Earn the number of points needed to qualify and your in.

Too many players would probably just vote for their friends.

[GasHouseGang]

I think they should contact people on baseball card websites to vote for the HOF, because obviously we are interested in baseball and highly intelligent.

[egri]

If the results on the ballot tracker hold, this year's class will be Bonds, Clemens and Ortiz.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by egri

If the results on the ballot tracker hold, this year's class will be Bonds, Clemens and Ortiz.

LOL, nice they make Clemens and Bonds wait 10 years and Ortiz gets in the first year.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by egri

If the results on the ballot tracker hold, this year's class will be Bonds, Clemens and Ortiz.

There's usually a pretty solid drop off from what is listed on the tracker vs. what actually comes to be. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up seeing zero players from the traditional ballot, and the only players that end up going in are the ones from the Golden Era.