Shoutout to today’s guest writer: Miggy Gutierrez
Miggy is trying to represent Australia in the 2013 World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) for the MLB Fan Cave (@MLBFanCave)
Check out Miggy’s video tell us why he should be picked. Good luck to you Miggy.
Twitter handle: @miggyflavored
We all witnessed what occurred with Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame vote a couple of days ago. However, I am not here to pile on to the discussion on how the likes of Biggio and Piazza were “robbed”, or on how Bonds and Clemens were “dutifully/unfairly punished” or even on how Edgar Martinez continues his long battle over the DH stigma. My focus is not on the magic number of 75: the percentage needed to be worshiped on a plaque for all of Cooperstown’s eternity. Instead, I would want to key on a different number, 5: the percentage needed to have your name printed for another year in the highly contested HOF battle. For every Jack Morris, Don Mattingly and Lee Smith, players who have accumulated enough votes to pursue the dream once more, there is a Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar and Bernie Williams, those whose HOF goal have been denied faster than we can even look up their statistics.
My proposal is not to circumvent the efforts of Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s to protecting what is known as an elite establishment. However, I hope to pursue a channel to allow one case to be not left in the shadows after years of tireless work pleasing their ultimate employers: the audience worldwide. Furthermore, in this proposal, I seek to draw the consideration of these mentioned viewers towards the Hall of Fame ballot, but not to the point where fans can elect players themselves into the HOF.
Proposal: After the Hall of Fame vote is casted very year, allow a popular vote amongst fans to decide a single player who did not receive enough support to be in next year’s Ballot to be kept on so-called Ballot. Player may only receive vote once during tenure on Ballot and is only limited to those whose names are eliminated from the Ballot after the latest vote. Eligibility is only given to those players who receive less than 5% of the BBWAA vote.
Before you readers consider this particular writer brainwashed by reality television for conceiving this “immunity” notion, I would want to point out a few possible benefits from this particular solution:
-Allows fan interaction without BBWAA giving up control:
As much as I would salivate at the chance to a have direct say on who is elected into the HOF, I respect the current process and am content on having BBWAA continue holding onto their reins. However, in a society where we can justify allowing the People to hold elections on any possible entity, why not cater a tad bit to the very people who the writers are ultimately representing? We will not have an ultimate say on who gets selected, but at least we will have the say on who should still be considered.
-Sponsorship Opportunities:
I am not talking about trading an overall number one draft pick to name your nephew Chalupa Batman. That being said, baseball is now allowing sponsorship promotions to change the way managers call the bullpen. In fact, the best relief pitcher every year is given an award with a sponsor’s name attached to it. So why not call it the (insert insurance) Safety Net Vote or the Holds Vote sponsored by (insert company) [because let’s face it, this is the only time Holds and Hall Of Fame will ever be in the same sentence].
-Shorten the wait for Baseball:
The general population is trying every imaginable effort to calm their baseball itch. Why else would MLB Winter Meetings and the Hot Stove reports be so popular? Why else would we continue to hold such debates in terms of the Hall of Fame Ballot? Do you see any other sport with close to as much focus on its shrine as MLB? We are even holding the World Baseball Classic before the MLB season starts (insert subliminal advertisement about the MLB Fan Cave and its WBC edition here). Why not allow fan participation here as well leading up to Spring Training? You can hold voting booths in each of the MLB teams’ fan fest or any other promotional activities going on during the off-season, giving further incentive on the public to attend certain events. Social media and all its clout could allow another channel for these fans to direct their short attention spans (as in while they multi-task uploading a #festday picture of a pulled pork sandwich on Instagram and RT’ing a deep philosophical quote from some Internet celebrity).
-Honor those who served the game, at least for a tad bit longer:
Again, this promotion will not guarantee any player who receives the vote to catch fire and receive the necessary seventy-five percent the following year. In fact, I cannot guarantee the player will receive the necessary five percent to stay on the Ballot for yet another year. However, I will guarantee as the public stares as the following year’s Ballot, vivid memories of their beloved player will be invoked by the mere mentioning of his name. If you do not believe me, ask why does the baseball population care so much on who threw Aaron Sele a bone and gave him some recognition? At least it would have been one more year where Bernie Williams would see his name in more than just a jazz club in Times Square. It would have given Jose Canseco another reason to spur his #yeswecanseco campaign than only efforts to be elected as the mayor of Toronto. It would give parents an excuse to bring up stories about Orel Hershiser, Juan Gonzalez, and John Franco to their children.
I know there are many potential flaws with this proposal as well. I am not saying that this system idea would be necessarily better for the appreciation of the game. The point of this exercise is discussion; without it, progress in any aspect of life would cease. I do not need to use sabametrics to tell you there is an unlikely probability of this proposition to occur. Nevertheless, like for these decent players fading from mainstream recognition to local lore, a chance, and especially a second chance, is worth more than what meets the eye.
