Mariano Rivera received 100 percent of the votes for his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was a tremendous achievement as he was the first ever inductee to receive all votes.
And he deserves it.
There has been some outrage from fans complaining about how it’s not fait that Rivera was the first one to receive the honor. They mention inductees like Ken Griffey, Jr., Nolan Ryan and even Babe Ruth who never got to 100 percent.
Homer with some of his former teammates: Steve Sax, Wade Boggs and Ozzie Smith. (Photo: Milo Stewart, Jr.)
Today, Homer Simpson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
As a tribute to the infamous softball episode in which Homer and his team of MLB ringers defeated Shelbyville’s power plant, the Hall of Fame decided to bestow this induction honor to the legendary television dad. The episiode (“Homer at the Bat”) is considered to be one of the episodes in history. In fact, I consider it their best episode ever.
This “induction” is all about fun. It’s not a serious move but a way to have some humor and honor a television icon and the 25th anniversary of the episode.
But there are some people who don’t understand humor. Take a look at some comments regarding the induction from this post.
This brings me so much joy!
My love for The Simpsons and baseball came at the near same time for me as a young kid. It was only until my later years in high school did I start to really enjoy and appreciate The Simpsons. At the same time, my passion for baseball bloomed to a high fever pitch with the Oakland A’s making their run in the baseball world with Moneyball.
I look back at this episode and I proclaim this to be the show’s most perfect episode. Best ever? That is debatable. But the best story of all time? Absolutely. This show had no side stories. It was one continuous journey to see Homer’s triumph, then his fall, then his resurrection back to glory. It was funny. It was unfortunate. It was difficult to get all nine players to voice act.
But in the end, it beat the Cosby’s and helped establish The Simpsons as the real deal. And for Cooperstown to celebrate them like this? Absolutely wonderful! I want to go back to Cooperstown just for this exhibit. Maybe I will. Maybe I will!
I was certain these two would get in and they did. Griffey even got the highest vote percentage ever. That’s pretty cool. (How could three voters not include him?)
But I look at the rest of the list and wonder.
Where is Trevor Hoffman? Where is Jeff Bagwell? Tim Raines?
What a tremendous day it was for me. I boarded my flight late Friday night, arrived in Detroit, then flew out to Albany. I rented a car and drove an hour to Cooperstown. I arrived around lunch time and the first thing I did was grab a bite from a local cafe. I visited Cooperstown back in 2008 so this is not anything new for me. My whole goal was to witness the induction ceremony. Everything else was a bonus.
Because of such long lines to the museum, I decided to wander around Main Street. The street is filled with baseball memorabilia shops. The last time I was here, I didn’t really give it a good look. This time around, I found some really cool gems. Mickey’s Place is one of my favorite shops but I didn’t discover its existence until after I left my first trip. This time I went there. Since I had already bought so many caps from them online, there was nothing there that I needed. It was still nice to see their stock.
For several years I have been planning a trip back to Cooperstown. I went there in 2008 and wanted to return last year for Frank Thomas. That didn’t work out but this year, I knew I had to make it. I booked everything three months ago and now this weekend I will finally be there.
Just look at that class. Phenomenal! I am a huge Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson fan. John Smoltz was my favorite pitcher from the Braves trio and Craig Biggio was just nails every time. This was my childhood. This is why I love baseball. It’s going to be crazy flying out to Albany tonight and driving all the way out to Cooperstown. But for the induction ceremony, I have to be there.
Then after all that, I will be driving out to Boston to visit Fenway Park on Tuesday for Pedro’s jersey retirement. That’s my first time ever at Fenway. I am really excited for that.
But before that on Monday, I will head out to the Basketball Hall of Fame. This is going to be real exciting to visit this museum. That just leaves the Hockey Hall of Fame as the last one for me to visit.
This is my weekend. I will share as much as I can on social media. I am really excited for this. I think I might go back next year.
For a quick recap of the above story: Dan Le Batard has a National Baseball Hall of Fame vote and he decided to let the readers of Deadspin decide who he should vote for. He had reasons to do this, mainly to show that the current voting system was flawed. He received no compensation and the votes he submitted via Deadspin was actually pretty on point with what I think was a good ballot. However, the fallout has been harsh from some media types while others have praised him.
I don’t understand the issue. If the votes were absurd, there would be a problem. But the votes that were submitted all had valid reasons. The reaction also shows that maybe the old writers just don’t like change.
What did he do that is different from asking a friend for an opinion on the matter? Just think that Le Batard asked for thousands of opinions.
A couple years ago I looked at the potential Hall of Fame classes for Cooperstown and realized that from 2014-2016, those three years will be filled with great classes. Today, it was announced that Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas will be this year’s enshrinees.
I expected those three to be first ballot selections and they are. As an A’s fan, seeing Thomas get in is a personal joy as he help lead the team to an impressive and fun 2006 playoff run. His joy is my joy.
Greg Maddux is a Hall of Famer. That was decided way before he retired. The question was, however, was whether or not he would get all the votes to go in as a unanimous inductee. As we find out, he will not.
Apparently there’s one voter named Ken Gurnick who only voted for Jack Morris and is avoiding any player that played during the steroid era. That doesn’t seem fair, but that’s apparently how it’s going to be.
Voting results
You saw how I voted for this year’s ballot and I was not surprised if nobody got in. That’s exactly what happened.
My biggest surprise is that Biggio and Piazza were both linked as clean players and both had more than enough qualifications to get in. It looks like they both will get in next year. Schilling’s postseason record should have gotten him in also.
But when it comes to the steroid users, it’s a tough one. But it looks like with their current voting result, it might not happen for them ever in their lifetime. With guys like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas and Jeff Kent coming in next year, there will be a bigger logjam. Players like Morris and Raines will also be heavy favorites. Bagwell might even get into it too.
But at the end of the day... 