Harold Baines and the Hall of Fame

[jortafan]

Am I the only one who’s disgusted with the vote total received Tuesday by Harold Baines?

It’s not like I expected him to get 75 percent. But to come within one vote of being knocked off the ballot entirely for future years? That’s just ridiculous.

Personally, I bop back and forth mentally about whether Harold belongs in Cooperstown. Despite the significant career stats, I can see where some people could think that Baines was never a dominant enough player during his era. Let’s be honest -- the presence of Harold didn’t stop some of those White Sox teams from the 1980s (particularly the latter part of the decade) from being dreadful.

If I had a Hall of Fame ballot, I probably could have been persuaded to give a vote to Baines. Of course, I also would have voted for Andre Dawson just so I could see all the Cubs fans choke in disgust when his bronze plaque immortalized him as a Montreal Expo (he did play there for 10 seasons).

For those who have a problem with the designated hitter, I think they need to get over it. It is a fully legitimate position in modern-day baseball. Besides, Harold was a fully legitimate outfielder for several seasons until his knee problems cropped up in the mid-1980s. It’s not like we’re talking about Edgar Martinez, who became a DH because he was never good enough to play a defensive position in the major leagues.

Yet somehow, I expect Martinez will manage to get considerably more respect when he gets on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2010.

And for those who think it would have made a difference if Harold could have got another 134 regular season base hits (to reach the magic number of 3,000 for his career), I don’t think it matters. I honestly believe there are a number of people with ballots who would have gladly made Harold the first player with 3,000 career hits to not make the Hall of Fame.

In closing, I would hope the attitude could change during upcoming years and Harold can manage to get respectable vote totals in the future. Who knows -- maybe a future version of the Veterans Committee will look more favorably on Baines and he’ll actually get inducted into the Hall?

I’d hate to see Harold suffer the fate of Fernando Valenzuela, who in 2002 barely got enough votes to stay on the ballot for a second try – only to get knocked off for good in 2003.