UmpBump’s 2008 Hall of Fame Picks
Continuing an annual tradition we began last year in this space, we here at UmpBump cast our ballots this year for who we think should be in the Hall of Fame who is not yet in.
The rules were simple: elect anyone you want, with no restrictions. Just like the real Hall, players who appear on at least 75 percent of all ballots cast are considered elected to the UmpBump version of the Hall of Fame. The voters consist of the main UmpBump contributors Alejandro, Coley, Sarah, Nick, and Paul in addition to three guest voters.
This year’s guest voters were our good friend, occasional guest poster, and loyal UmpBump commenter Melissa, the inimitable Kensai, who authors one of the very best Dodgers blogs on the web, Fire Ned Colletti Now, and the illustrious Dan Rosenheck, who writes for the New York Times and The Economist.
Here are the results of the balloting (names with number of votes received):
Rickey Henderson – 8
Tim Raines – 6
Bert Blyleven – 5
Andre Dawson – 5
Ron Santo – 5
Dwight Evans – 3
Mark McGwire – 3
Dick Allen – 2
Ross Barnes – 2
Bill Dahlen – 2
Joe Gordon – 2
Gil Hodges – 2
Joe Jackson – 2
Grant Johnson – 2
Sherry Magee – 2
Don Newcombe – 2
Jim Rice – 2
Pete Rose – 2
Ted Simmons – 2
Dave Stieb – 2
Alan Trammell – 2
Deacon White – 2
Harold Baines – 1
John Beckwith – 1
Charlie Bennett – 1
Pete Browning – 1
Bert Campaneris – 1
David Concepción – 1
Will Clark – 1
David Cone – 1
Bob Caruthers – 1
Darrell Evans – 1
Wes Ferrell – 1
Bill Freehan – 1
Jack Glasscock – 1
George Gore – 1
Bobby Grich – 1
Heinie Groh – 1
Stan Hack – 1
Paul Hines – 1
Keith Hernandez – 1
Charley Jones – 1
Jim Kaat – 1
Charlie Keller – 1
Cal McVey – 1
Dick Lundy – 1
Minnie Miñoso – 1
Dobie Moore – 1
Graig Nettles – 1
Alejandro Oms – 1
Buck O’Neil – 1
Johnny Pesky – 1
Billy Pierce – 1
Lip Pike – 1
Rick Reuschel – 1
Hardy Richardson – 1
Bret Saberhagen – 1
Reggie Smith – 1
Jimmy Sheckard – 1
Joe Start – 1
Harry Stovey – 1
Ezra Sutton – 1
Quincey Trouppe – 1
Lou Whitaker – 1
Maury Wills – 1
Jimmy Wynn – 1
As we can see from these results, this year UmpBump unanimously elected Rickey Henderson, who appeared on 100 percent of the 8 ballots cast. This is not surprising, as Rickey looks likely to challenge Tom Seaver’s record for percentage of votes received on the real Hall ballot this year. Tim Raines also edged into our verson of the Hall this year, appearing on exactly 75% of ballots cast (6 out of 8).
Also giving strong showings were Andre Dawson, Ron Santo, and Bert Blyleven. Dawson held steady from last year at 5 votes, while Santo and Blyleven made progress, both jumping up from 3 votes to 5. Mark McGwire and Dwight Evans also made up ground, moving up to 3 votes from 2 and 1 last year, respectively.
Several players who received significant support from UmpBumpers last year did not even get one vote this year. Players who got at least two votes last year but none this year included Jack Morris (4 votes last year), Tommy John (3), Roger Maris (3), Rod Beck (2), Albert Belle (2), Don Mattingly (2), Dale Murphy (2), Luis Tiant (2), and Joe Torre (2).
December 7th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
A) We are a fickle, fickle lot.
B) TWO people voted for Rod Beck last year???? I forgot about that.
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December 8th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I want to know who didn’t vote for Tim Raines. Show yourselves!
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December 8th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I didn’t vote for Raines. But that was mostly out of laziness.
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December 8th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Dude. Rock would have voted for you.
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December 8th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Tim Raines rules. Plus, he always had the option of celebrating a home run by pretending to sniff the foul line.
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December 8th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I cost Andre Dawson induction, LOL. Maybe you should have walked more Hawk. :o
Who were the awesome people that voted with me on these guys?
Dick Allen – 2
Ross Barnes – 2
Bill Dahlen – 2
Joe Gordon – 2
Joe Jackson – 2
Grant Johnson – 2
Sherry Magee – 2
Pete Rose – 2
Alan Trammell – 2
Deacon White – 2
:o
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December 9th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Kensai, I was just looking at the actual ballot when I voted so Rose wasn’t eligible. Had I expanded the list like I did last year, there’s be another vote for ol’ Pete.
And crap, I just realized that I forgot to put in a vote for Trammell.
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December 9th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
So, not only 3 umpbump voters but the veterans’ committee has once again snubbed Ron Santo. Santo’s son made a documentary about Ronnie’s life called, “This Old Cub,” and I would recommend it to anyone that thinks this man doesn’t deserve to be in the H.O.F. I think he deserves to be in based on his performance alone but to add in the fact that the guy played every day while managing diabetes is truly incredible. To this day, I do not believe there has been an every day position player to play the game while suffering diabetes.
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December 9th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I don’t want to dispute Santo’s credentials. But I do want to ask a question. Can we give extra credit for playing with diabetes? It seems to me that that’s a slippery slope. Does that mean we give Andre Dawson extra credit for playing with chronic knee pain? Do we give Albert Belle extra credit for the degenerative hip condition that ended his career?
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December 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Rocco Baldelli’s mitochondria would like consideration, please!!!!!
And Rock Raines would like to nominate his coke habit, also.
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December 10th, 2008 at 7:35 am
melissa-I didn’t even factor in him having diabetes. I guess it could be a factor in the voting.
Regardless, he deserved it anyway.
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December 10th, 2008 at 10:38 am
For me it’s a moot point, because Ron Santo *already* deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because of the numbers he put up, diabetes or no.
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December 10th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Nick, ditto.
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December 10th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
As I said before Santo deserves induction regardless of diabetes. The reason I mention it is that it’s a disease that he inherited before he became a baseball player and it is in fact a disability to overcome. The advanced blood sugar testing that exists today was not available when he played. It is a difficult disease to manage now let alone in the 60s. I would add that character and what an individual has overcome is in fact related to the criteria for induction. It should be taken into consideration but it should not be something that would put a player without the skill to be considered like Baldelli for example. I also think injuries acquired from playing aren’t comparable to a disease. Knees not withstanding Dawson deserves to be in as well. People forget that he put up great offensive numbers while he played center for 7 or 8 years. 5 tool player.
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December 12th, 2008 at 10:48 am
kensai, I voted for all of those guys.
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