Hall Of Fame Voters Must Be Scrutinized

Like most baseball fans, I get excited when when the Hall of Fame voting comes around. No other sport brings such anticipation come Hall of Fame time.. You don't see NFL fans jumping around going, "Which offensive linemen are heading to Canton this year?"

Yesterday, Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were named. But it's the circumatances surrounding their elections that ticks me off. The result: A problem that must be fixed.

First off, Henderson is and was a no-brainer. The career stolen base leader and greatest leadoff hitter of all time, Rickey is an all time great. Period. Henderson received 94% of the vote. Meanwhile, Rice (who I think of as a very good/near great player) had to wait 15 years for the call to the Hall.

What gives? Why is it that NO ONE-not Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth-has EVER gotten 100% of the vote? This annoys me. When a guy is OBVIOUSLY deserving of Cooperstown, how could anyone not vote for him? I'd love to meet the idiots that felt that Mays, Aaron and Ruth weren't Hall of Fame material. Equally stunning, yesterday long time Pirate Jay Bell got 2 votes. Bell isn't deserving of the PIRATES Hall of Fame.

On the flip side, why should Rice wait 15 years to get in? Why is he more deserving in 2009 than he was in 1995? The answer is that somebody somewhere decided that Rice was a bad guy and had to wait, or was convinced by another voter. Perhaps the Baseball Writers now encompasse younger voters who don't care that Rice wasn't Mr. Congeniality with the press.

There has to be a way for the voting to be more objective. When guys like Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese and Bill Mazeroski don't sniff the Hall for 15 years of eligibility, the Veterans Committee choices become glorified popularity contests. Rice was better than all three of those guys combined, and I'm still not 100% sure that he belongs. That's my point: If you have to ask, the answer is no.

There has to be a way that either a guy IS or ISN'T worthy of the Hall. Phil Niekro, Don Sutton and Harmon Killebrew may be great guys, but they DON'T strike me as 'immortal.' That's what Cooperstown is supposed to be about. Maybe Bud Selig can make himself useful and do something about who goes in, who doesn't, and how the selection process is executed.

Watch Henderson and Rice talk about there selections here.