2009 Baseball Hall of Fame Nominees: Part I

We are going to switch gears here from the NFL and take a look at the candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame:

Harold Baines: The black Don Johnson of beards stats hold some water. 1,628 RBI's was 10th in the AL when he retired (and since a lot of them had to be Frank Thomas waddling from 2nd) that is pretty impressive. But his main positive for inclusion into the Hall is that he was "clutch" which can't be measured, unless your A-Rod, then you are not clutch. This is his 3rd year on the ballot and he has received 5.3% and 5.2% of the votes for inclusion (you need 5% to stay on the ballot)

Chances of Election: 0.00001%
Chances of Staying on the Ballot: 88%
Should he be in the Hall: No

Jay Bell: Lets see, he made 53 errors in his first minor league season. He has a career batting average less than .270, HR's less than 200 and RBI's less than 1000, I have the same stats and I dont see my name on the ballot.

Chances of Election: 0.00%
Chances of Staying on the Ballot: 2%
Should he be in the Hall: No

Bert Blyleven: Normally i wouldnt vote for a guy who was given a nickname by Chris Berman, but Bert's stats measure up, 287 wins, over 3500 SO's, so i have no idea why the voters wont vote him in. Maybe they don't like his creative use of the word F*ck on air or maybe they went to a Twins game and weren't circled. Anyways, last year he received 61.9% of the votes so hopefully if a few of these old foggie sportswriters die and they let a few new guys to vote, and he will get it.

Chances of Election: 71%
Chances of Staying of the Ballot: 100%
Should he be in the Hall: Yes

David Cone: This is his first year on the ballot and since he played for both the Yankees and the Mets, many of the Hall of Fame voters have had to go see there doctors after experiencing an erection lasting longer than 4 hours. The cure, he also played for the Royals. My original thought was no, but looking at his resume and stats, i have to reconsider.

Chances of Election: 7%
Chances of Staying on the Ballot: 81%
Should he be in the Hall: Maybe

Andre Dawson: Nicknamed the "Hawk", he was not only known for his power (438 HR's) and his cannon of an arm (one of his balls is still lodged in Ryne Sandberg's torso, or so i am told) but he had speed too as he notched 314 SB's as it is really hard to tag a hawk. He also won the MVP for the last place Cubs in 1987, and i know "last place" and "Cubs" is kinda redundant.

Chances of Election: 94%
Chances of staying on the Ballot: 100%
Should he be in the Hall: Yes

Ron Gant: Gant was one of the first to join the elusive 30-30 club in baseball when he banged 30 groupies in 30 days in January of 1994 after he signed, at the time, the richest one-year contract in baseball history of $5.5 million dollars. Oddly enough that is what A-Rod makes right now everytime he bangs a 50-year old whore.

Chances of Election: 0.48%
Chances of staying on the Ballot: 2.47%
Should he be in the Hall: No

That is part 1, part 2 is coming this weekend.