What the Hall?

OK, so the Hall of Fame voting results are due out next week. And as any regular readers left to us know, it has been our tradition to write up our choices for the Hall of Fame.

We've been doing this for a while now, and I for one have grown weary of recycling the same arguments for and against my choices. And those arguments haven't really changed from last year (or from years long past).

In an effort to shake things up a bit, I thought I'd try something different. Instead of relying on the same, boring, rational, semi-well-thought-out arguments, I shall instead recycle some of the less-well-thought-out arguments I've seen bandied about for some of the less-than-qualified candidates for the Hall of Fame by some of the less-than-rational members of the BBWAA (and you know who you are).

Besides, Jim has already laid out some pretty good stuff. I’d just be repeating what he said.

Here are my choices for the Hall, accompanied by some lame arguments that I won't take credit for:

Bert Blyleven: Back in 1990, I sent him a polite note asking him to sign the enclosed baseball card. He was nice enough to sign it and send it back (in the SASE, of course). Because Bert was nice to me, he should be in the Hall of Fame.

Rich Gossage: He was a key member of two World Series Champion Yankees teams. 'Nuff said.

Mark McGwire: Numbers should never enter into these kinds of discussions. He’s a Hall of Famer – ‘nuff said!

Alan Trammell: I remember seeing him play in 1987, and he always came up huge when it counted. And he clutch in the 1984 World Series. Post season performance should count for more than the regular season…

Tim Raines: Dude played in Denver for a while. Anybody who played in Denver is a bona fide Hall of Famer in my book!