Will Clark Got Shafted!

[hudsonharden]

I saw the results of this years HOF voting and I was outraged that Will Clark won't be on next year's ballot. Clark is by no means a first ballot Hall of Famer, but I think he deserves a couple tries. His number don't look spectacular in the steroid era, but I remember him as one of the best 1B of his generation.

2176 H, 284 HR, 1205 RBI, and .303 BA in less than 2,000 games.

-plus-

6-time All-Star, a gold gloves, and he finished top 5 in the MVP voting 4 times!

Guys like RAFAEL PALMEIRO only cracked the top 5 MVP voting once!

[BoSox Rule]

Will Clark has a great case for enshrinement and how he is off the ballot. It's pathetic. He is one of the 50 most efficient hitters ever and an unbelievable defensive 1B. He should be in the Hall

[56 chmps]

Guys like RAFAEL PALMEIRO only cracked the top 5 MVP voting once!

You have a very good argument there and he does deserve to be in the hall. But disregarding steroids clark didn't hit 500+ homers if you know what I mean.

[DoubleX]

Clark's not a Hall of Famer in my book, but he deserved more than the one and done treatment.

[abacab]

Someone really needs to do something about the 5% rule. It serves no purpose at all, and it takes players completely out of consideration for as much as 15 years! Apparently the whole point is to keep the ballot "uncluttered" with unworthy names. Well, it's one thing to not list the names of players who don't get 5% - that's fair. But why should they be rendered completely ineligible for BBWAA consideration? It doesn't make any sense.

[hudsonharden]

I really don't know whether I consider Clark a HOFer. He's not a first balloter but he's not a one-and-done either. I guess he fits somewhere in between, like Jim Rice. I certainly think he was a much bigger star than Alan Trammell.

[mac195]

Trammell was the better player. Clark was also very good but the HOF balloting is a threshold, a yes or no decision. Clark is close, but I'd have to agree that he merits a "no". It seems harsh that he falls short of 5% and off the ballot in one year, but I recognize that very close is still zero votes if the BBWAA all thought like me.

[Ex-Expo fan]

The same thing happened to Joe Carter 2 or 3 years ago. That stuff really makes me wonder if some of the baseball writer are really apt to share their vote for the Hall of Fame, or if they are just extremely biased. I'm not saying Joe Carter was a Hall of Famer, but that he shouldn't have been scraped from the list in his first year of eligibility. Some players hang on to it by reputation alone.

[Cougar]

Ted Simmons, Dewey Evans, Lou Whitaker, and about a half dozen third baseman are welcoming Will the Thrill to the "If we can't get 5% then something's very, very wrong with the system" club.

[Cougar]

The same thing happened to Joe Carter 2 or 3 years ago. That stuff really makes me wonder if some of the baseball writer are really apt to share their vote for the Hall of Fame, or if they are just extremely biased. I'm not saying Joe Carter was a Hall of Famer, but that he shouldn't have been scraped from the list in his first year of eligibility. Some players hang on to it by reputation alone.

Yeah, Joe Carter's there too. Unfortunately it's all too crowded.

[Cougar]

Bingo!

There are way too many mistakes that get made, of which Clark is only the latest casualty.

The rules may only be the second biggest problem, though. The voter pool is a bigger one.

Someone really needs to do something about the 5% rule. It serves no purpose at all, and it takes players completely out of consideration for as much as 15 years! Apparently the whole point is to keep the ballot "uncluttered" with unworthy names. Well, it's one thing to not list the names of players who don't get 5% - that's fair. But why should they be rendered completely ineligible for BBWAA consideration? It doesn't make any sense.

[mac195]

Ted Simmons, Dewey Evans, Lou Whitaker, and about a half dozen third baseman are welcoming Will the Thrill to the "If we can't get 5% then something's very, very wrong with the system" club.

Would you vote "yes" for all of those players?

[Cougar]

Actually, yes I would.

[mac195]

I'm not saying Joe Carter was a Hall of Famer...

Then why would you expect any of the BBWAA members to vote for him?

[Ex-Expo fan]

Then why would you expect any of the BBWAA members to vote for him?

Because they have voted for Alan Trammel, Orel Hershiser, and Dave Concepcion, have voted in Ozzie Smith on his first ballot and have voted in Bruce Sutter before voting in Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven and Goose Gossage.