Hall of Fame ballot 2009

Alan Trammell made six All-Star teams and won four Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers in his career. John Iacono/Sports Illustrated

Bill James has told me -- more than once -- that if he had a Hall of Fame vote, he would probably vote for the maximum of 10 players every year, or as close to 10 as he could justifiably go. As he wrote: "I would always prefer to vote for 10, because if everyone votes for 10, only two or three will be elected. If people leave spaces empty the expectation goes down dramatically."

I should say that I have never been entirely certain that he was serious ... you never know with Bill. You know the story about Bob Dylan going up to Barry Manilow* sometime in the 1980s and saying, "Hey man, you just keep doing what you do." And Manilow never knew what the heck Dylan meant by that, which I'm sure was the whole point.

*So, I was walking around Best Buy the other day, and I ran across the new Barry Manilow CD. I was going to look at the back of it right then but there was a young woman standing there, and while I am very happily married and only have eyes for my Margo, I'm also not about to go look at the back of a Barry Manilow CD with a young woman standing there. Force of habit, I guess.

Eventually, though, she left, and I was able to see that it was Barry Manilow singing the "Greatest Songs of the Eighties." And I have to admit, my interest was piqued -- I was thrilled to think about Barry Manilow singing Sunday Bloody Sunday, Beds are Burning, Melt With You, Atlantic City, Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream), Human Nature, Fight the Power, (Don't Go Back To) Rockville, Hot for Teacher, Cherish, Little Red Corvette, Walk Like a Man, AEIOU and Sometimes Y, Bizarre Love Triangle, Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Radio Free Europe, Cum on Feel the Noize, Time After Time, Tom Sawyer, Out in the Street, Thriller, Bullet the Blue Sky, Rock Lobster, Under the Milky Way, Just Like Heaven, Should I Stay or Should I Go, Almost Blue, Rock Me Amadeus, Johnny 99, Paradise City, Cult of Personality, Video Killed the Radio Star, Our House, Who Can It Be Now, 88 Lines about 44 Women, Basketball, When Doves Cry, It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Pretty in Pink, Where The Streets Have No Name, The River, Driver 8, Private Idaho, Mexican Radio, The Promise, and about a thousand other songs. I loved the '80s, loved the music, loved the shlocky stuff, loved the hair, loved the new wave, loved-loved-loved it all.

And I should have known: Barry managed to find pretty much all the songs from the 1980s that I absolutely hated:

1. Islands in the Stream. Let's hope that is now what we are, really.

2. Open Arms. Nothing to hide. Believe what I say. I swear if I get this song in my head I will NEVER fall asleep.

3. Never Gonna Give You Up. If I am reading this right: Since 2001, Rick Astley has released: (1) Together Forever -- Greatest Hits and More; (2) Greatest Hits; (3) Greatest Hits ... I'm guessing this was a re-release; (4) The Best of Rick Astley -- Never Gonna Give You Up; (5) Love Songs (A Greatest Hits Album); and (6) Platinum and Gold Collection -- Rick Astley. I simply have nothing more to say about this.

4. Have I Told You Lately. This is one of two good songs on the album ... Van Morrison. I cannot IMAGINE what Barry does to it.

5. I Just Called to Say I Love You. Man, I would love to let Jack Black loose on Barry for doing this song.

6. Against All Odds. My high school senior class song. And no, I'm not going back for my 25th reunion this year. This song is why.

7. Careless Whisper. One of my all-time guilty pleasures, sadly enough, is George Michael's "Praying For Time" album. I do not make excuses for this; my taste is my own, and I like that album. I still HATE this song.

8. Right Here Waiting. Whatever it takes. Or how my heart breaks. Richard Marx. I have not thought one time about this song in 20 years, and I STILL know every word ... these take up the valuable brain cells that I should be using to write my book.

9. Arthur's Theme. I distinctly remember that Christopher Cross won the 1981 Grammy Award. And I have long thought that this HAS to be the all-time musical travesty. I was entirely wrong. Other Grammy winners in the 1980s include:

1983: Toto IV by Toto.

1985: Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie

1986: No Jacket Required by Phil Collins

I would say that if forced by terrorists to listen to one of those albums again and again, the Chris Cross album would not finish fourth.

10. Hard to Say I'm Sorry. It just gets worse and worse. I was convinced that Right Here Waiting was my least favorite song of the 1980s. Or Just Called To Say I Love You. But no, there is absolutely no doubt that THIS is my least favorite song of the 1980s.

11. Time After Time. OK, I love this song. Well, I love it when Cyndi Lauper sings it.

12. (I've Had) The Time of My Life. Wait a minute. Did I say Hard to Say I'm Sorry is my least favorite song of the 1980s? Yeah, we might need to go to a tiebreaker system.

At least he didn't do, "We Built The City." Or "Broken Wings." I guess there's that.

ANYWAY, I have tried to take Bill seriously on his "Vote for as many people as you can" advice ... and now when I vote for the Hall of Fame, I try to vote more openly than I might otherwise. I do this because (A) I always listen to Bill; (B) I probably lean toward the idea of a reasonably big Hall of Fame and (C) I don't like seeing good candidates fall off the ballot before people really give them their fair consideration. I mean, Jim Rice only got 29.8% of the vote in 1995 and now he probably will get elected. It's a travesty that Dan Quisenberry, Lou Whitaker, Frank White, Dwight Evans, Bobby Grich, Keith Hernandez and numerous others fell off the ballot without getting their due consideration. I mean, seriously, Bobby Grich got ELEVEN votes his one year on the ballot.

Here are the top 5 second basemen in career OPS+ (2,000 or more games):

1. Rogers Hornsby (175)
2. Eddie Collins (141)
3. Joe Morgan (132)
4. Bobby Grich (125)
5. Charlie Gehringer (124)

The other four are in the Hall of Fame. He's seventh among second baseman in home runs and the Top 6 will all be in the Hall of Fame (depending on Jeff Kent). He won four Gold Gloves. He led the American League in homers and slugging in 1981. He started All-Star Games at shortstop and second base. He was a great player ... I don't know if he belongs in the Hall of Fame (his career was not terribly long), but I know there should have been a longer discussion about it. I think you could argue convincingly that Grich was every bit as good a player as Ryne Sandberg.

So, that's my prelude. If I was the judge and jury for the Hall of Fame and my vote was the only one that counted, I would have put four players on this year's ballot in the Hall: Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, Bert Blyleven and Alan Trammell. But as one of more than 500 voters, I voted for some others as well.

A rundown of my ballot:

Harold Baines: No. But he should have the "Professional Hitters" wing in the Hall named for him.

• Jay Bell: No. I once wrote a column before a Royals season telling fans that they would love Jay Bell. I still get kidded about that by friends here -- fans really didn't fall in love with the guy. The guy didn't exactly, you know, bust it. I remember in a two-week period, I saw Bell not run out a ground ball -- I mean he didn't even leave the box -- and not even try on a looping fly ball that was hit about 10 feet behind him at shortstop. He was like Roger Dorn come to life. But he also hit. He only played one season in KC, but he is still the Royals season record holder for shortstops in:

Homers with 21 (second is Angel Berroa with 17)

On-base percentage with .368 (second is Berroa with .338)

Slugging percentage with .461 (Berroa second again with .451)

Hits with 167 (Berroa second with 164)

RBIs with 92 (Berroa second with 73)

OPS+ with 115 (Berroa and Kurt Stillwell second with 101).

Bert Blyleven: Yes. Of course.

David Cone: No. Didn't play his first full year until he was 25, and he was pretty much done at 36. But from 1988 through '99 he was 175-96 with a 3.15 ERA, he won a Cy Young, led the league in wins one year, went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA another year. I guess he didn't quite last long enough, though in retrospect I kind of wish I had voted for him just as a tip of the cap and an effort to keep him on the ballot.

Andre Dawson: No. I have the utmost respect for the guy, but I just can't do it. That .323 on-base percentage ... it would be lower than all but five Hall of Famers -- Bill Mazeroski, Joe Tinker, Luis Aparicio, Rabbit Maranville and Brooks Robinson. And none of them went in for their bats. I guess the way I look at it, this is a bit like voting in a .255 hitter. I will say I wish I could get past it.

Ron Gant: No. But it's worth noting that he hit 321 homers and stole 243 bases in his career. Good player.

Mark Grace: No. I love Bill James' line on how Mark Grace was the ultimate No. 2 hitter and Ryne Sandberg was a solid No. 3 hitter, but they almost never hit in those spots because of their fielding positions. Grace hit for a high average, handled the bat, walked and didn't hit with power, but he was a first baseman and so he spent 75% of his career hitting third or fourth. Sandberg did hit with power and for average, but he was a speedy second baseman and as such batted second 57% of the time. It just shows you the power of perception.

Rickey Henderson: Yes. Of course.

Tommy John: Yes. He didn't have a great peak, but 288 wins, a surgery named for him, an excellent postseason record, 46 shutouts and an enviable record as a great control pitcher is a Hall of Fame case. I know people keep comparing Jack Morris to Bert Blyleven on the ballot, but I don't see that at all: Blyleven was a much better pitcher than Morris. I think people should instead compare Morris to Tommy John:

Jack Morris vs. Tommy John Player Wins ERA ERA+ SHO 20-Win Seasons Postseason World Series Top Cy Young Finish Tommy John 288 3.34 110 46 3 6-3, 2.65 ERA 2-1, 2.67 ERA Second (twice) Jack Morris 254 3.90 105 28 3 7-4, 3.80 ERA 4-2, 2.96 ERA Third (twice)

Sure, I'm cherry picking -- Morris has his advantages too. He had more complete games, started three All-Star Games (John never started one) and had quite a few more 15-plus win seasons. But I think when you take everything into account ... John's case compared to Morris' is pretty compelling.*

*TangoTiger blog points out the remarkable similarities between Jaime Moyer and Jack Morris.

Moyer: 246-185, 106 ERA+, 3,746 IP, 2,248 Ks, 1,074 walks.

Morris: 254-186, 105 ERA+, 3,824 IP, 2,478 Ks, 1,390 walks.

I don't really need to comment beyond that, except to say that I find it STUNNING that Moyer has just 200 fewer strikeouts than Jack Morris.