2007 Baseball Hall of Fame

So the BBWAA revealed the newest members of Cooperstown today: Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. and San Diego Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn. Ripken actually received the third highest amount of votes ever, behind only Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, and there's really no question that both of those guys belonged.

On the outside looking in (again) are guys like Bert Blyleven, Jim Rice, Andre Dawson and, perhaps most egregiously, Goose Gossage. Gossage got just over 71%, a higher percentage than he's ever received, I think, but still not enough to enter the Hall.

Most interestingly is the fact that Mark McGwire received just 23% of the vote. We all know Big Mac helped saved baseball, even if he had used steroids to do it, but I still think he'll get in someday.

So what do you guys think? I'm most disappointed that the writers continue to overlook Blyleven... and there were two completely blank ballots? What the hell is up with that? Those two guys should have their privileges revoked for being stupid.

I'm not a very big fan of baseball, but my great grandmother was an enormous fan of the San Diego Padres. In fact, if memory serves, after her death, my family bought a brick with her name on it, or something of the like, that was used to construct the concourse. Anyway, I'm sure she would've been thrilled that Tony Gwynn was instated into the Hall of Fame.

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Originally Posted by Strider

Most interestingly is the fact that Mark McGwire received just 23% of the vote. We all know Big Mac helped saved baseball, even if he had used steroids to do it, but I still think he'll get in someday.

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And I feel that snubbing him was the right thing to do. The day a known steroid user makes it in the Hall of Fame is the day I will boycott baseball altogether for the rest of my life (in essence, banning myself for life from baseball), because I feel that it is a double-standard that while gamblers (Pete Rose) and game-throwers ("Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the "Black Sox") are outlawed from the Hall of Fame, drug cheats like Mark McGwire are being considered for it. And that does not sit very well with me, because as I said, it's a double standard.