The Doors to Cooperstown May Be Closed This Year ....
As any sports fan knows, getting elected to the Hall of Fame in Baseball is the hardest of all to win. I think voters are only allowed three choices, and a winner has to be on 75 percent of all the ballots, so you do the math. It's a tough racket.... One voter leave a spot blank? You're screwed. Another voter can't stand the team you played on? Maybe he'll be dead next year.... You're on the ballot the same year as Ted Williams? Good Luck! A year with three winners is almost impossible. Sometimes there are two. Often, there is only one winner.....
And then, there is this year, when the crop of eligible players isn't exactly sparkling. The leading newcomer seems to be Roberto Alomar, who had good stats, but never won a championship. That happens when you spend most of your career in Baltimore. Sorry, Bobby! Then you have guys like Barry Larkin and Fred McGriff, who were good, but never considered the best in the game at their positions. Lastly, there are retreads like Bert Blyleven, Dave Parker and Andre Dawson, who are like McGriff, but 20 years older. Anyone of these look like surefire winners to you? Me neither. There is a real good chance that the gates to Cooperstown will be welded shut in 2009. As it should be. I loved Don Mattingly, but even I will admit that Donnie Baseball needed to play another 5-7 years to have HOF-worthy stats..... There is one longshot - Mark McGwire. But the juicing stigma is still pretty fresh.
So, baseball fans, don't book that front row seat to next Summer's Induction ceremony just yet - you might be the only one. I took the field at Doubleday Field. Once. As a batboy....... But even I can tell you that Pat Hentgen, Robin Ventura, Ellis Burks and Alan Trammell aren't gonna make it this year - or any....
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