O/T, Slightly, Should Hodges Go In HoF Ahead of Santo

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I think order of induction means very little.

It took Joe DiMaggio 7 years to be inducted, and people think it's a crime Cal Ripken didn't get 100 percent on his first year. As far as I know, most baseball players consider DiMaggio to be a good baseball player, despite the black smear on his name that he wasn't elected into the Hall within 0.5 seconds of his name being posted for voters. And, by the way, most historians consider Ripken to be a good player too.

To me, the ludicrousness of the heated HOF voting percentage debates is that many people thought it unjust that Ripken and Tony Gwynn didn't get 100 percent of the vote (which, obviously, would be the highest percentage in history and the highest possible), even though no one who complained considers Ripken or Gwynn the best player ever. These people see high crime when Ripken and Gwynn get higher percentages that Cobb, Honus Wagner, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Walter Johnson and Joe DiMaggio-- even when these complainers consider these other players superior to Ripken and Gwynn.

Ripken and Gwynn themselves would never say they should have received higher percentages than Babe Ruth and Willie Mays.