MLB Hall of Fame Voting 2019

My 2019 MLB Hall of Fame vote is as follows:
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Roy Halladay
Edgar Martinez
Fred McGriff
Mike Mussina
Mariano Rivera
Scott Rolen
Curt Schilling
Larry Walker

MLB Hall of Fame Voting 2018

My 2018 MLB Hall of Fame vote is as follows:
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Vladimir Guerrero
Trevor Hoffman
Chipper Jones
Edgar Martinez
Fred McGriff
Mike Mussina
Curt Schilling
Jim Thome

Just missed (next five - alphabetical):
Johnny Damon
Scott Rolen
Omar Vizquel
Billy Wagner
Larry Walker

My guess at players with >=60% of the vote this year (as of 1/12/18):
C Jones 88%
Thome 87%
Hoffman 80%
Guerrero 76%
——-
E Martinez 65%

Actual Results:
C Jones 97%
Guerrero 93%
Thome 90%
Hoffman 80%
——-
E Martinez 70%
Mussina 64%

MLB Hall of Fame Voting 2017

My 2017 MLB Hall of Fame vote is as follows:
Jeff Bagwell
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Vladimir Guerrero
Trevor Hoffman
Fred McGriff
Mike Mussina
Tim Raines
Ivan Rodriguez
Curt Schilling

My guess at players with >=60% of the vote this year (12/27/16):
Raines 83%
Bagwell 81%
Hoffman 78%
------
Rodriguez 62%
Guerrero 60%

Actual Results:
Bagwell 86%
Raines 86%
Rodriguez 76%
------
Hoffman 74%
Guerrero 71%

MLB Hall of Fame Voting 2016

I've previously stated my opinion on steroids and the backup of players on the Hall of Fame ballot so I'll spare those details again.

The most significant change for me this year is I have finally come around on Tim Raines and Alan Trammel (and the removal of Jeff Kent / addition of Curt Schilling). Raines has too many intangibles (that don't always show up in a box score) in addition to his numbers not to make it in. For Trammel, I see the comparisons to Barry Larkin and just don't quite understand how Larkin gets in so easily and how Trammel could never get enough traction.

For Kent, the more I think about it I feel that he was just a little to one dimensional for enshrinement. I am on the fence about him though, especially with the offensive numbers he put up as a second basemen.

With Schilling, I really struggled with if I would give my vote to him or Mike Mussina. When you weigh everything out, it is a flip of the coin for me so I gave it to the Red Sox with an impressive postseason resume. But, I could have just as easily voted for Mussina (and maybe should have). Regardless, there are not enough pitchers from the era in the Hall so I feel responsible to start voting for a few when possible.

My 2016 MLB Hall of Fame vote is as follows:
Jeff Bagwell
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Ken Griffey Jr
Trevor Hoffman
Fred McGriff
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Curt Schilling
Alan Trammel

My guess at players with >=60% of the vote this year (1/3/16):
Griffey Jr 96%
Piazza 78%
----------
Raines 71%
Bagwell 67%
Hoffman 63%

MLB Hall of Fame Voting 2015

This year, again, I am using all ten spots. In my opinion, it’s pretty hard not to right now. Based on space, I have only left Bonds/Clemens on from those tied fairly directly to steroids. To me, their awards, stats, etc. are too exceptional to leave off.

The backup of players into the Hall over the last handful of years will unfortunately cause some players to fall off the list who otherwise wouldn't have. As I have said before, I don't believe you can ignore that time period so I am of the belief that we should be voting in the statistically deserving players, regardless...but it's ultimately not going to happen based on the requirements around the number of players that can be on a ballot, etc.

Who’s to blame? Most significantly, MLB for ignoring the steroids until they were forced to and for raking in the money along the way. But, I also blame a decent percentage of the Baseball Writers for continuing to think they are bigger than the game.


My 2015 MLB Hall of Fame vote is as follows:
Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Randy Johnson
Jeff Kent
Pedro Martinez
Fred McGriff
Mike Piazza
John Smoltz

Smoltz is the tough one for me this year. I think there is a chance he misses in his first year of eligibility but I am pretty confident he ultimately will be voted into the Hall, next year at the latest.

My guess at players with >=60% of the vote this year (1/4/15):
Johnson 96%
Martinez 89%
Biggio 81%
Smoltz 78%
----------
Piazza 68%
Bagwell 62%
Bonds 60%

MLB Hall of Fame Voting 2014

The list is getting long so some of last year's guys were cut. This year, I am using all ten spots. In my opinion, It's pretty hard not to right now. Based on space, I have only left Bonds/Clemens on from those tied fairly directly to steroids. To me, their awards, stats, etc. are too exceptional to leave off.

The backup of players into the Hall over the last handful of years will unfortunately cause some players to fall off the Hall of Fame list who otherwise wouldn't have. As I have said before, I don't believe you can ignore that time period so I am of the belief that we should be voting in the statistically deserving players, regardless, but it's ultimately not going to happen based on the requirements around the number of players that can be on a ballot, etc.

However, on the flip side, I am still honoring McGriff because I think he played the right way during his career. It doesn't hurt that he was my favorite player for a decade as well.

My 2014 MLB Hall of Fame vote is as follows:
Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Tom Glavine
Jeff Kent
Greg Maddux
Fred McGriff
Mike Piazza
Frank Thomas

It took me a long time to add Glavine and Thomas this year. I'd guess they will both get in this year. If not this year, they will next year I would think.

I do believe there are two levels of Hall of Famers though, the no doubt first timers (like Maddux) and the exceptional players that should ultimately make it but they may need to be a little patient (which I would classify Glavine in for sure and Thomas for the most part as well).

My guess at players with >=60% of the vote this year (1/7/14):
Maddux 93%
Glavine 79%
----------
Biggio 73%
Thomas 72%
Piazza 70%
Morris 67%
Bagwell 65%

MLB Hall of Fame Voting 2013

For those curious, I explained myself last year about the reasoning for my voting process (see 2012 vote).

My 2013 Hall of Fame vote is as follows (I am using nine of my possible ten voting spots):

Jeff Bagwell

Craig Biggio

Barry Bonds

Roger Clemens

Fred McGriff

Mark McGwire

Rafael Palmeiro

Mike Piazza

Sammy Sosa

I considered punishing Bonds/Clemens/Sosa for one year but ultimately decided that was ridiculous.  Ultimately, you're either your going to vote for those three or you're not.  Bonds and Clemens have no doubt HoF stats and you can make a case that Sosa is at least in the ballpark of that classification too.

My guess at players with >=60% of the vote this year (1/8/13)
Biggio 81%
----------
Morris 70%
Bagwell 69%
Piazza 67%

The Art of Racing in the Rain

It's been easy to let Gina handle the girl's birthday blogs the last couple of years, especially considering she does such an incredible job with them.  I figured it was my turn to chip in on some level and so here I am blogging about our pooch.

Today, Casey turns ten years old.  It's hard to believe that.

Earlier this week I finished reading The Art of Racing in the Rain (suggested to us by Jeff and Martha) and it felt to coincidental not to take advantage of the timing and say something about Casey and about reaching this milestone.  For those of you who have not heard of the book, if you are a dog lover it's definitely worth checking out.  The entire story is told from a dog's point of view.

We got Casey in August of 2003, four weeks after we were married.  He was 14 months old.  By all accounts, he shouldn't be ours.  The shelter that he was at had a policy in place that would not allow them to hold dogs for anyone.  I had called about him on a Thursday after seeing his profile on petfinder.com but we were unable to get up to see him until that Sunday.  On Fridays and Saturdays, the shelter he was at had open adoption days and if someone wanted him during that time we would be out of luck.  But, something happened in the Thursday phone call.  What was supposed to be a five minute chat about the high level details for coming up to see him on Sunday (if no one claimed him yet) turned into a half hour conversation with the lady who answered the phone.  They had interested families in him that weekend but without telling me they had decided to unofficially hold him for us because she was convinced we were going to be the right fit.  

I fell in love with him right away.  Gina took a little more convincing, but mainly because he pretty much looked like a train wreck with long dreadlock / matted hair (the picture above is from our first day home with him), not to mention his smell.  To Gina's credit, she saw how I responded when he was brought out to see us and she never questioned whether we should take him or not.  She let me make the decision.  She also let me name him Casey (and reference my love for baseball).  

It's only fair that dog number 2's name will be up to her. :)

We had a lot of fun with him the first couple of years.  In this picture we are up at a cabin with Matt and Ann before any of us had kids.

This picture is at Matt and Morgan's place in Chicago.  He stayed with them for a couple of days while Gina, two month old Natalie, and I continued on to the St. Louis area for Andrea's wedding (Gina's cousin).

Casey's been there for pretty much every big event in our life since our wedding and in the process he's gone from being our baby #1 to our baby #4.  At times it's been hard on him but he's transitioned well all and all.  

He's been an amazing dog with our children.  Some of the abuse he's endured from them as toddlers would drive anyone nuts but he's been incredibly patient and tolerant with them.

Here he's enjoying being outside, nothing like a little wind in the face to make his day.

At the park (Spring 2012)

With his girls (June 2012)

In the Art of Racing in the Rain, you're basically forced to think about life from your pet's perspective.  It's a good thing to do.  

I'd be so curious to hear what he has thought of the last nine years being an eye witness to so much of our lives.  More than anything though, I'd just hope that he'd tell us that we'd done right by him and that he's thankful to us for giving him a good life.  We probably should have taken him on more walks or maybe slowed down a bit and made a little more time for him but overall I feel like we've made sure he has been an integral part of our family.

He's been a great dog.  We were so fortunate to have ended up with him.

As of today (his 10th birthday), I am going to try to do something going forward I haven't done very well with over the years.  For so long I have dreaded the day that we will lose him.  I've recognized that even though he's been here with us for so many incredible memories, he won't be here for even more.  The times that I think about it (which is more often than I probably should), I get really really sad.

But, he's only ten.  I need to keep telling myself that.  Initially that seems like such a landmark number for a dog to hit but with some luck (because he is small) he could live another five years pretty easily, maybe even more.  

Going forward, I am going to be very intentional about enjoying my time with him instead of dwelling on what he is going to miss out on with us down the road.  

At a minimum, I owe him that.

Look like someone you know?

I believe credit goes to Jenny Zupan for noticing it first.

Here's something interesting about Gotye's recent hit "Someone That I Used To Know"...

While the song seems to have to do with a failed relationship the title and a fair amount of the lyrics still tie to Rory's situation in one way or another.

I just can't believe how much they look alike when you talk about jaw structure, the curl of their hair, the eyes, the upper lip, how their month's open, etc.

I have a hard time watching this video.

That's what I'm talking about