Well, the votes have been cast and both Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn enter the Hall of Fame (not unanimously as revealed yesterday). And as expected Mark McGwire received less than a third of the vote based on the "wait and see" approach as applied to him specifically which I applaud. Steve Garvey was in his final year of elligibility and all those below 5% will be removed from the ballot as well.
Hard to believe someone actually cast votes for Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti, Dante Bichette et. al. but then again...
Jim Rice (64.8% in 2006), Andre Dawson (61%), and Bert Blyleven (53.3%) all fell in the voting although Goose Gossage (64.6% based on last year's induction of Bruce Sutter) has gained strength.
For me, of those on this list and not elected I would like to see Blyleven, Gossage, and McGwire (if nothing further develops in a few years) in the Hall but the HOF is not usually something I get too fired up about either way.
2007 BBWAA Hall of Fame Voting Results
Name Votes % of Votes
Cal Ripken Jr. 537 98.5
Tony Gwynn 532 97.6
Rich Gossage 388 71.2
Jim Rice 346 63.5
Andre Dawson 309 56.7
Bert Blyleven 260 47.7
Lee Smith 217 39.8
Jack Morris 202 37.1
Mark McGwire 128 23.5
Tommy John 125 22.9
Steve Garvey 115 21.1
D.Concepcion 74 13.6
Alan Trammell 73 13.4
Dave Parker 62 11.4
Don Mattingly 54 9.9
Dale Murphy 50 9.2
Harold Baines 29 5.3
Orel Hershiser 24 4.4
Albert Belle 19 3.5
Paul O'Neill 12 2.2
Bret Saberhagen 7 1.3
Jose Canseco 6 1.1
Tony Fernandez 4 0.7
Dante Bichette 3 0.6
Eric Davis 3 0.6
Bobby Bonilla 2 0.4
Ken Caminiti 2 0.4
Jay Buhner 1 0.2
Scott Brosius 0 0.0
Wally Joyner 0 0.0
Devon White 0 0.0
Bobby Witt 0 0.0
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Steve Thornley of SABR added these interesting tidbits in an exchange on the SABR list related to 500 homerun and 300 win players:
"Harmon Killebrew, in 1984, in his fourth try, was the last 500-homer guy to not make it his first time. There was also Eddie Mathews (elected in 1978, 5th try), Mel Ott (1951, 5th try), and Jimmie Foxx (1951, 6th try, not counting run-off elections but counting an election when I believe he was still playing).
Neither 500 homers nor 300 wins by a pitcher has been a lock for first- year induction, but for whatever reason, 3,000 hits has been, at least for the last half-century.
Paul Waner was the last to not be inducted in his first year. Waner was elected in 1952, his sixth time on the ballot (not counting run- offs). Before that there was Eddie Collins, elected in 1939 in his fourth year of eligibility, and Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie, both in
1937 in their second year.
For 300-win pitchers, Don Sutton in 1998 was elected on his fifth try. Others: Phil Niekro (1997, 5th try), Gaylord Perry (1991, 3rd try), Early Wynn (1972, 4th try), Lefty Grove (1947, 4th try), Eddie Plank, 1946, 6th try), Kid Nichols (1946, 5th try), G. C. Alexander (1938, 3rd try), and Cy Young (1937, 2nd try)."
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