The CYA voting is interesting… but the ERA+ of 131 for a closer doesn’t excite me.

And though I’m generally not a labor guy, I absolutely agree with you on Marvin Miller. Confusing to me that the Veterans Committe, made up of ex-players, doesn’t recognize *how* important and impactful Miller was to the game. Yet… the VC puts in Bowie Kuhn. And one day, Bud Selig will be a HoFer. Just chew on that for a few minutes.

Plus, and I think this goes without saying, if any non-players belong in the Hall of Fame, then Marvin Miller does:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=4700428

You really don’t think Lee Smith belongs? Top 5 in CYA voting three times, top 10 four times, career ERA+ of 131; he’s not Mariano Rivera but not too different from Bruce Sutter IMHO.

I’d say a definite “yes” to Alomar, Blyleven, Larkin, McGwire, and Raines. Alomar is amongst the top 3 or 4 2B of all-time, IMHO… easy selection. Blyleven’s continued omission is simply embarassing. Barry Larkin is underappreciated in my book, overlapping Ozzie Smith and playing at the same time as Cal Ripken. Larkin may not be “inner circle”, but he is deserving of a bust in Cooperstown. McGwire is the Cris Carter of MLB - with the notable difference being that Carter was never linked to PEDs (although it being the NFL, even if he was, it probably wouldn’t matter… but that’s a separate discussion for another day). Buddy Ryan famously and condescendingly summed up Cris Carter thusly, “All he does is catch TDs.” Um… yeah - and he does that *really* well… which is a good thing. Well… all McGwire did was hit HRs. I don’t care if the andro, et al, helped or not… he still hit a lot of ‘em, really far, and quite often. He belongs. And Tim Raines is only the second-best leadoff hitter of all-time, and if he had the good fortune of playing in an era other than the one Rickey Henderson played in, Raines would not have been overshadowed - and would’ve gotten in first ballot, as he deserved to.

My “I could be swayed” guys are as follows:
Dawson - very impressive numbers… perhaps best summed up in the trivia question (forget exactly how it’s worded) that addresses the raw combination of having speed, while hitting for average and power… something like, “Who are the only 4 guys to have X hits, Y HRs, and Z SBs in their careers?” - and the answer is Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Andre Dawson, and I forget the fourth. Sure, the X, Y, and Z are perhaps arbitrary - but I submit points to the player Dawson was for his career. In fact, I might have just talked myself into voting for him outright, to be honest.

Morris - full disclosure, I always loved Jack Morris (and Kirk Gibson, which is why I was a closet Tigers fan, truth be told). I’m not sure the numbers justify induction, but I’m willing to listen if somebody wants to make the case.

Trammel - oh, and owing to my closet Tiger fandom, I was also a huge fan of Trammell and Whitaker… which may be swaying my willingness to listen. I’ll say this, Trammell may not ultimately deserve induction, but I submit even then, his career is still underrated by most. At worst, I submit he deserves serious consideration - again, even if the ultimate decision is that he falls just short. I think too many people don’t even consider him.

Guys like McGriff, Lee Smith, et al, should be very proud of their careers - but they simply are not HoF-caliber careers. No shame in that of course, but that’s the facts.

And finally, as Tank points out, guys like David Segui and his ilk managed to last in the majors at least 10 years so they have to be put on the ballot at least once, until they don’t get the 5% necessary to remain on the ballot in subsequent years, and are thus dropped. That said, David Segui and his ilk still played in the majors and I didn’t… so I can’t in good conscience make fun of their listing on the ballot being a technicality. After all, by any meaure (technicality or not), I’m not listed on any HoF ballots… so they’ve got *that* going for them… which is nice.