Seamheads 2009 Hall of Fame Vote
January 3, 2009 by Mike Lynch · 12 Comments
I have a Seamheads group at Facebook and I decided to see how many of the 284 members (and counting) I could get to submit a Hall of Fame ballot in an effort to see who we think should go into the Hall of Fame this year and how closely we mirror the actual voting.
I wasn’t expecting a much greater response than I’d gotten from previous topics of discussion, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm. So far I’ve gotten 113 ballots in only two days, including from esteemed author Peter Golenbock, author and former Yankees PR Director, Marty Appel, and MLB.com senior columnist, Barry Bloom, who actually gets to vote on the HOF candidates and has been doing so since 1992.
The response has been so fantastic I’ve decided to post about it here as well as open the voting to our writers and readers (and anyone else who stumbles across this). Below is the list of eligible candidates. You can vote for as many as 10. Players with an * indicate those who are on the ballot for the first time. Please submit your ballot in the comments section below. I’ll post the results at a future date.
2009 Hall of Fame Candidates
Harold Baines
*Jay Bell
Bert Blyleven
*David Cone
Andre Dawson
*Ron Gant
*Mark Grace
*Rickey Henderson
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
*Jesse Orosco
Dave Parker
*Dan Plesac
Tim Raines
Jim Rice
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell
*Greg Vaughn
*Mo Vaughn
*Matt Williams
If you need help remembering their career accomplishments, Baseball-Reference.com has them posted on their main page.
rice
henderson
parker
dawson
Blyleven, Henderson, Raines, Trammell
Henderson
Raines
Blyleven
Trammell
Thanks for voting. After counting the above ballots, here’s an updated tally:
Rickey Henderson- 158/160 (98.8%)
Bert Blyleven- 112/160 (70%)
Tim Raines- 93/160 (58.1%)
Mark McGwire- 70/160 (43.8%)
Andre Dawson- 68/160 (42.5%)
Jim Rice- 64/160 (40%)
Alan Trammell- 58/160 (36.3%)
Lee Smith- 34/160 (21.3%)
Tommy John- 28/160 (17.5%)
Jack Morris- 28/160 (17.5%)
Dale Murphy- 22/160 (13.8%)
Don Mattingly- 15/160 (9.4%)
Dave Parker- 7/160 (4.4%)
Harold Baines- 6/160 (3.8%)
David Cone- 6/160 (3.8%)
Mark Grace- 4/160 (2.5%)
Ron Gant- 1/160 (.6%)
Mo Vaughn- 1/160 (.6%)
Matt Williams- 1/160 (.6%)
Blyleven
Dawson
Henderson
McGwire
Raines
Smith
Trammell
Bert Blyleven
*David Cone
Andre Dawson
*Rickey Henderson
Tommy John
Mark McGwire
Tim Raines
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell
Updated through here.
Blyleven
Rice
Henderson
Raines
Updated through here. Here are the latest returns:
Rickey Henderson- 179/181 (98.9%)
Bert Blyleven- 128/181 (70.7%)
Tim Raines- 108/181 (59.7%)
Andre Dawson- 77/181 (42.5%)
Mark McGwire- 77/181 (42.5%)
Jim Rice- 74/181 (40.9%)
Alan Trammell- 65/181 (35.9%)
Lee Smith- 41/181 (22.7%)
Tommy John- 32/181 (17.7%)
Jack Morris- 32/181 (17.7%)
Dale Murphy- 23/181 (12.7%)
Don Mattingly- 16/181 (8.8%)
Dave Parker- 10/181 (5.5%)
David Cone- 8/181 (4.4%)
Harold Baines- 7/181 (3.9%)
Mark Grace- 5/181 (2.8%)
Ron Gant- 1/181 (.6%)
Mo Vaughn- 1/181 (.6%)
Matt Williams- 1/181 (.6%)
Bert Blyleven
Rickey Henderson
Andre Dawson
Lee Smith
In order of worthiness
Henderson
Blyleven
Dawson
John
Raines
Parker
Rice
Murphy
Morris
Baines
I would vote for Trammell too, and he’s probably just a smidgen more worthy than Harold Baines. But the fact that Lou Whitaker (and Frank White) disappeared from the ballot almost instantly makes me list him 11th, since his qualifications and their are pretty similar.
Sorry about the tardy update, but I actually had to work today. I’ve received 20 more ballots, which brings us to 203. Excellent turnout!
Here are the latest returns (203 ballots):
Rickey Henderson- 201/203 (99%)
Bert Blyleven- 143/203 (70.4%)
Tim Raines- 121/203 (59.6%)
Andre Dawson- 88/203 (43.3%)
Mark McGwire- 84/203 (41.4%)
Jim Rice- 82/203 (40.4%)
Alan Trammell- 67/203 (33%)
Lee Smith- 48/203 (23.6%)
Tommy John- 39/203 (19.2%)
Jack Morris- 37/203 (18.2%)
Dale Murphy- 26/203 (12.8%)
Don Mattingly- 17/203 (8.4%)
Dave Parker- 13/203 (6.4%)
Harold Baines- 10/203 (4.9%)
David Cone- 10/203 (4.9%)
Mark Grace- 5/203 (2.5%)
Matt Williams- 2/203 (1%)
Ron Gant- 1/203 (.5%)
Mo Vaughn- 1/203 (.5%)