1. Jim Rice is the 21st player to win over 70% of votes in the Hall of Fame balloting but fall short of the 75% needed for election. The other 20 players have all ended up in Cooperstown. (Bugs and Cranks has a great rant on the caprice of BBWAA members and the mysterious rise—and occasional fall—of HOF-eligible players’ vote totals.) Rice has the support of this year’s only inductee, Goose Gossage: “I think Jim Rice does belong in the Hall of Fame. No hitter scared me, but Jim Rice came the closest.” As for Nick’s contention that Rice has no place in the Hall, I clearly disagree. But Nick’s post has convinced me that Dwight Evans belongs in Cooperstown as well, something I was on the fence about previously. Come on, Veterans Comittee!

2. What with all the Roger Clemens coverage, the NFL playoffs, and this little election-thingy going on right now, you might have missed this story, but the new Yankee Stadium is going to cost New York taxpayers a pretty penny—including $70 million for free VIP valet parking. Even more irksome to New Yorkers, while the poobahs will get 40 years of parking courtesy of the taxpayers, Joe Yankeefan will still have to pay out of his own pocket. That’s preposterous. However, I must throw cold water on the notion that fans are being gouged by a rate increase from $14 to $17 this year, and again to $19 at the new stadium in 2009, and up to $35 bucks by 2014. Most of the parking at Fenway is already at least $30. Yankee fans, suck it up.

3. After a successful workout for several teams in LA and offers from “three or four” clubs, Gabe Kapler has chosen to play for the Brewers next year. He’ll get 800k. Kapler managed Boston’s Single A affiliate last year to an uninspiring record of 58-81.

“Gabe brings versatility and athleticism to the outfield position,” said Brewers GM Doug Melvin. “He has always been a great teammate and possesses the determination to bounce back and become a valuable player to our club.”

This also elevates the already impressive hotness quotient of the Milwaukee Brewers, who field such eye candy as dreamy-eyed third baseman Ryan Braun and cutie-patootie Prince Fielder.

4. Also in the former-Red-Sox-making-a-comeback category, MLBTradeRumors reports that at least the Diamondbacks will be watching as Keith Foulke throws later this month. As for the idea that Foulke “may have special interest in” the Red Sox, I can guarantee right now that the Red Sox will not have any interest, special or otherwise, in Keith Foulke, who is (perhaps unfairly) less remembered for being part of the 2004 championship team than for being the perennially injured and ineffective closer of ‘05 and ‘06, speaking dismissively of Red Sox fans as “Johnny from Burger King” types that meant nothing to him, licking his World Series ring with groupies, and for (allegedly) sleeping with one of the Red Sox ball girls, (allegedly) in the clubhouse no less, and (allegedly) getting caught in flagrante delicto by Dawn Timlin, who (allegedly) promptly told Mrs. Foulke, who (most definitely) demanded a divorce.

5. Just to go back to the Hall of Fame for a minute, I would like to personally apologize to Goose Gossage. No, I don’t have a Hall of Fame vote. But I do have an Unfortunate Facial Hair vote. And there is absolutely no excuse for me to have overlooked Goose’s contributions in the field of facial hair when I wrote this retrospective of the fu manchu. Clearly, Gossage had a historic impact on the place of the distinctive moustache in baseball lore, and I was remiss not to formally recognize this sooner. I’m sure Goose will be as thrilled to be included in our UFH category as he is to be elected into Cooperstown. “It was very emotional I’ll tell you, off the charts. I can’t describe the feeling.” Yes, Goose, I’m sure. Only the lucky and the few get such recognition. But are you sure you really can’t describe how it felt? “A shock wave went through my body like an anvil just fell on my head.” On second thought, I think maybe calling it indescribable was fine.

1. It’s good to see Goose Gossage finally get in, as he was clearly the most deserving person eligible for the Hall of Fame but not yet in. In hindsight, it’s just amazing that it took him nine ballots to get in, and that Bruce Sutter got in first. Goose Gossage’s best 12-year run was better than Bruce Sutter’s entire 12-year career by almost any statistical measure except saves, plus Gossage also had another 10 seasons of pretty decent work on either side of his peak.

A lot of people are talking about how the election of Gossage speaks to a continuing evolution in how the Hall voters view closers, and that the door is being opened to allowing more relievers into the Hall. I hope that is not the case. Only five relief pitchers have been elected to the hall of fame, and already one of them (Sutter) and arguably a second (Fingers) can be ranked among the least deserving players enshrined

Here’s hoping that Gossage is the last reliever elected until Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman get the call.

2. Jim Rice only has one year of eligibility left, but if precedent is any guide, he is a virtual lock to get in next season, having secured a staggering 72.2 percent of the vote and falling just 16 votes shy out of 543 ballots cast. No player has ever gotten more than 70 percent of the vote without being elected the following year, and with the Rice supporters only needing to change the minds of a handful of voters and having a whole year to do it, it’s almost impossible to imagine that he won’t be in next year.

Which is a shame. Because if Jim Rice is a Hall of Famer, than there are probably at least a hundred other guys with better careers than Rice who should go in too. For a guy who was a left fielder, who hit in the middle of incredible lineups, and who demonstrably got a huge boost from playing half his games in Fenway Park, Rice has no place in the Hall of Fame.

People keep trying to argue that Rice was the best outfielder in the American League during his prime. But I’m not sure that Rice was even the best outfielder on his own team during those years, because Dwight Evans, who was one of the better defensive outfielders of all time, did just about everything equal to or better than Rice. Well, except pile up RBI, which was just a function of where Rice was penciled into the batting order anyway.

If Jim Rice is a Hall of Famer, than Dewey should have been a mortal lock. Jim Rice had a career OPS+ of 128, despite not playing through his late 30s decline phase, whereas Evans had a career OPS+ of 127. Evans had 345.5 career win shares (including 51.9 on defense), whereas Jim Rice had only 282 career win shares, ranking him 228th all-time (right between Sal Bando and Boog Powell). And though Rice averaged 6.0 runs created per game over his career, Dewey averaged 6.2, and again that’s including all the declining late-30s seasons Evans played which Rice didn’t.

And yet Evans got less than 5% of the vote and fell off the ballot after one year, whereas Rice keeps building momentum towards his eventual enshrinement? Crazy.

3. It was gratifying to see Mark McGwire’s vote totals holding firm at just a shade over 23 percent, hundreds and hundreds of votes shy of election, especially after a lot of people were predicting that he would see a big jump now that he had already been “punished” in his first year of eligibility.

I wrote a post in this space last year, arguing that we should never elect anyone tainted by steroids, because the Hall is an honor and not a right. I think my policy might be changing in the wake of the Mitchell report, after realizing just how widespread the abuse was. Now I am starting to think that maybe if a player were to come clean, 100%, and take full responsibility for his mistakes (and I don’t mean the Andy Pettite “I only did it once and it wasn’t even wrong” thing), then maybe we should consider them for the Hall.

Because players coming clean in an honest and humble way would be the best hope for healing the sport and moving forward.

But until Mark McGwire comes clean, and there’s no sign that he ever will, I will keep rooting for them to keep him out of the Hall forever.

4. Lastly, I was amazed and saddened to see that Tim Raines only got 24.3 percent of the vote. Fine, I understand all you New York-based writers never noticed Raines because he played all those years in Montreal while you guys were too busy noticing Yankees and Red Sox like Jim Rice. But shouldn’t you at least take a look at his career numbers? Did any of the people who didn’t vote for Raines even consider that he was a superior player to former stolen base king and present Hall of Famer Lou Brock in just about every way imaginable?

I don’t know who these guys are comparing Raines to, that they feel he falls short, other than Rickey Henderson, but Rickey Henderson was far and away the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. And I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Tim Raines was the second greatest leadoff hitter of all time.

I mean seriously. A .385 on base percentage? 808 stolen bases, 4th all time in the modern era behind only Henderson, Brock, and Ty Cobb? The highest stolen base percentage in baseball history at 84.7%?

And as long as people are giving Andre Dawson extra credit for playing on bad knees, and Kirby Puckett free points for having his career cut short by glaucoma, and Jim Rice sympathy for mysteriously becoming sucky at age 34, shouldn’t Raines get some points for the even more insane numbers he would have put up if he wasn’t playing the last third of his career while battling Lupus?

So yeah, 24.3 percent, that’s ridiculous. I think Tim Raines is going to have to be the subject of my next Hall of Fame crusade.

Ladies and gentleman of America and to our readers in Korea, today, something wonderful happened in election history. Something majestic. No, I’m not talking about how I can continue to not worry about having to refer to Ron Paul as “Mr. President” (yeesh). There was another election in America on this day, and for this, our eyes were not on Dixville Notch and where their 17 total voters will pledge their support, but rather, on another small town called Cooperstown, New York.

Yes, friends. Goose Gossage (or as I know him, Richard Michael Gossage) was the lone entrant into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. So you all know what this means, right?

WE WERE RIGHT!!!

WE CALLED IT! WE SOOOOOOOOOOO CALLED IT! THAT WAS ALMOST A MONTH AGO! EAT IT EVERYONE ELSE!

(By the way, in my mind, there was rather colorful confetti flying around as I made that announcement. We now return to your previously scheduled unwarranted and undeserved boasting).

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! HIGH FIVES ALL AROUND!

We have so many people to thank. First and foremost, we’d like to thank our readers, specifically Melissa, Rich, and Danny O for their participation in our balloting process. We couldn’t have done it without you (and Rod Beck thanks you too). And I’d also like to thank… Umm… No. No, that’s about it.

POP THE CORK! Wait, no, not that one. Let’s use that other one. It’s cheaper.

Beginning last week, we here at UmpBump set out on a quest to fix the Baseball Hall of Fame. First, we set out to discover which deserving players have been unjustly excluded from the eternal glory that is enshrinement Cooperstown. Our journey began last week as each of the UmpBump contributors made a case for one of the players not yet in the Hall who they feel should be.

First, Coley made the case for perennial ’80s pitching ace Jack Morris, whom he dubs “The Ultimate Winner.”

Alejandro followed with his argument on why Tim Raines’s usage of cocaine was different from later players’ usage of steroids.

Paul then countered with his analysis of why Mark McGwire deserves enshrinement, “steroids be damned.”

Next, Sarah offered a paean to her childhood hero, the mighty Red Sox slugger Jim Rice.

Finally, I presented evidence for why the Hall of Fame should have a place for Gil Hodges, the player who received the most votes ever in his 15 years on the ballot without actually getting in.

Then, after each UmpBumper had made their case for their favorite player not yet in the Hall, we handed out virtual Hall of Fame Ballots to see if anyone was truly found worthy in the eyes of UmpBump as a whole. The rules were simple: 1) Vote for any player who has been retired for at least five years, whether they are currently on a ballot or not. 2) Vote as many times as you like.

The panel of voters consisted of UmpBumpers Sarah, Nick, Alejandro, Paul, and Coley, as well as loyal UmpBump readers Melissa, Rich, and Danny O. Here were the results (name and number of votes):

Goose Gossage – 7
Andre Dawson – 5
Gil Hodges – 4
Jack Morris – 4
Bert Blyleven – 3
Tommy John – 3
Roger Maris – 3
Tim Raines – 3
Jim Rice – 3
Ron Santo – 3
Rod Beck – 2
Albert Belle – 2
Don Mattingly – 2
Mark McGwire – 2
Dale Murphy – 2
Buck O’Neil – 2
Pete Rose – 2
Luis Tiant – 2
Joe Torre – 2
Alan Trammell – 2
Harold Baines – 1
Dwight Evans – 1
Joe Gordon – 1
Shoeless Joe Jackson – 1
Davey Johnson – 1
Dave Justice – 1
Jim Kaat – 1
Chuck Knoblauch – 1
Sam Leever – 1
Mickey Lolich – 1
Minnie Minoso – 1
Deacon Phillippe – 1
Jimmy Scott – 1
Lee Smith – 1
Maury Wills – 1

As we can see, the overwhelming favorite and the only player to surpass the 75% threshold usually required for Hall induction was relief ace Goose Gossage, who appeared on 7 of 8 ballots cast (88%). Andre Dawson, Gil Hodges, and Jack Morris also had strong showings, and Bert Blyleven, Tommy John, Roger Maris, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, and Ron Santo also drew significant support.

Perhaps UmpBump will elect some of those other guys next year, but for now, only Goose Gossage has the UmpBump seal of approval for Hall of Fame induction. I think I speak for many of us here at UmpBump when I say that we would be very, very surprised if Gossage doesn’t get in this year. Everyone recognizes by now that it is perfectly legitimate to elect career relief pitchers into the Hall if they were truly great, and Gossage was certainly a much better pitcher than Bruce Sutter, who is already in.

Next time: UmpBump Fixes the Hall of Fame: Part II – Getting the Wrong People Out!

Here’s who I would vote for if I had a Hall of Fame ballot, in order of how much I think they deserve to be in:

1. Cal Ripken Jr. – Even if he hadn’t set the ironman record, he would still be a shoo-in for the the Hall because of how he revolutionized the way we think of what a shortstop should contribute on offense. At a time when shortstop was still seen as a position where you could sacrifice offense for defense, Ripken hit 438 homeruns at the position. Oh yeah, he also won 2 MVPs, 2 gold gloves, and the 1982 AL Rookie of the Year. Far and away the best shortstop of his era.

2. Tony Gwynn – the best pure hitter of his day, Gwynn was an 8-time batting champion and was also a good defender who won 5 gold gloves. His .338 career batting average ranks 14th all time in the modern era, and the best of all who played since Ted Williams retired in 1960.

3. Goose Gossage – One of the most feared and dominant relievers of all time, Gossage was better than hall of famer Bruce Sutter by many measures and had a career almost twice as long. He was named to 9 All-Star teams in 11 years from 1975 to 1985, and had an ERA of 2.90 or better in his first 10 years as a relief ace. The only way Gossage doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame is if you believe that no reliever should ever be allowed in.

4. Jack Morris – Morris’s career ERA is high for a hall of famer, but that’s about the only reason I could see to keep him out. The man was the ace of every team he ever pitched on, including four World Series squads, and outdueled John Smoltz in the greatest game in World Series history. If the Hall of Fame is all about stats (which it is clearly not), then he could be kept out, but if it is about fame and glory, there has to be a place for Jack Morris, who was the greatest starting pitcher of the 80s.

5. Andre Dawson – The first 16 years of Andre Dawson’s career are virtually identical to the entire 16 years of Jim Rice’s, except that Dawson stole 318 bases to Rice’s 58, won 8 gold gloves to Rice’s zero, and hung around a few more years to hit 56 more home runs than Rice. Dawson was a complete player, whereas Rice was a one-dimensional slugger.

Close but not quite: Jim Rice, Dale Murphy, Burt Blyleven, Tommy John, Alan Trammell, Mark McGwire

Strictly for people who think the “save” stat actually means anything: Lee Smith