2023 Contemporary Era Ballot Nominees

[G1911]

Pretty good list of names this time, I think, for voting next month. Belle, Bonds, Clemens, Mattingly, McGriff, Murphy, Palmeiro and Schilling. None of whom would be an egregious choice, though I wouldn't vote for all of them. Will they finally let Bonds and Clemens in now that steroids are openly ignored if a favored Red Sock does them?


https://baseballhall.org/discover/co...er-ballot-2023

[packs]

Fingers crossed on Albert getting in. I've got a pretty tough rookie if he does:

[mrreality68]

Will be interesting to watch and see the results

Some interesting names and well qualified. Just have to see how the committee votes. 12 votes and they are in

[G1911]

3 steroid guys.

2 political/social “problems”.

3 guys who are judged on their actual performance.

I have no idea what the committee will do, if they will ignore steroids or controversial personalities and ignore media dislike. I don’t see on the Hall site the actual names of the 16 voters to see who they are and then figure what they’ll likely do.

I’d probably vote for everyone except Murphy and Mattingly, but if the committee leans towards punishing political and steroid offenses, it might be their year as there are only 3

[BobC]

Originally Posted by packs

Fingers crossed on Albert getting in. I've got a pretty tough rookie if he does:

Don't go holding your breath. Anyone caught using corked bats, throwing balls at fans, and chasing down trick-or-treaters who egged his house for not having candy and actually telling the local cops he'll kill these kids if he catches them first, is likely not going to get a lot of sympathetic votes. At least he shouldn't.

[packs]

But if that were all in play wouldn't he not be chosen for the committee vote? It's my understanding these candidates are hand picked.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by packs

But if that were all in play wouldn't he not be chosen for the committee vote? It's my understanding these candidates are hand picked.

Don't disagree, but frankly not sure why they picked him in the first place based on all that known and factual bad history he has. It came out that all his bats were corked at one time, and all he really got for it was a rather short, multi-game suspension, that most people totally forgot about because the '94 player's strike kicked in right after he got caught. If he was willing to go to that level to cheat, what would make you ever think he completely stopped cheating somehow after that?

I have a sort of complementary piece to go along with your Joey Belle card. The big local rock station in town, WMMS, 100.7 FM, put out a large sticker that said "JOEY" on it back in the day to sort of commemorate/mock Belle. It also included a picture of the station's mascot, a cartoon buzzard. Actually a neat piece you don't really see anywhere.

[D. Bergin]

Wasn’t there a couple of studies put out that basically said, corked bats didn’t do sh#t? Might even have led to worse outcomes LOL.

[mrreality68]

McGriff should be in most deserving and least controversial and has the stats to go with it.

Belle has the next best chance IMO

Mattingly not healthy long enough and dope and politics gets in the way with others that might have been deserving

[G1911]

I’ve never understood how McGriff isn’t in. The steroid users are punished and kept out for the most part, but then so is McGriff essentially for not being as good as the Palmeiro’s who were cheating.

I hope he is selected, I am rooting for him.

[packs]

I think Belle should be a lock but will not be surprised if he doesn't get in. I think he was far better than Vlad and any other non-500 home run club member. He hit 50 homers and 50 doubles in one season and is the only player ever to do that. At the time, only him, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx had ever hit 30 homers and driven in 100 runs for 9 seasons in a row. He was only 5 RBI's short of driving in 100 runs for a decade straight.

But I understand everything going against him, of course.