Cooperstown is Calling (2010 Edition)

The call has been made. That's right. Call. Singular. Only one. And it goes to Andre "The Hawk" Dawson.

If you remember back to the last month, I filled out my ballot and voted for 10 people. I'm rather generous with my vote (and again, this is fictional because the Hall of Fame is not stupid enough to give me an actual vote).

I had voted for Dawson, and I don't think anyone is surprised that he made it in this year. You can argue some of his numbers aren't worthy, but as a child who grew up in the 80's, Andre Dawson was larger than life. He passes what I call "The Think Test". When you think about Andre Dawson, I think greatness and dominance. That's why I voted for him.

Bert Blyleven also had my fictional vote, but needed 5 more real votes to actually get inducted. He still has two more years on the ballot, and most think he'll drum up enough support next year, despite the fact that he won't pitch another inning, or strike anyone out between now and then.

Roberto Alomar got 73.7 percent of the vote, but needed 75. He'll get in next year, because there are a slew of voters who will never vote for someone on the first ballot (and if you're one of them, you should have your vote taken away).

Jack Morris had a big increase from last year, and Barry Larkin fared well for a first-time candidate, leaving both with hopes of increases in the next few years to get them in.

No one else got over 50% of the vote, meaning only time will tell if they can drum up enough support in their remaining years on the ballot. A handful of players received less than 5% and dropped off the ballot, but none of which are worthy of talking about.

Again, I think the best and worst part of the Hall of Fame vote is that you are not held to any standard. It's entirely your ballot. If you have some personal bias against Willie Mays, you don't have to vote for him. If you think David Segui deserves a vote (and someone did this year), then put him on your ballot.

I personally feel there should be a bit more accountability for the vote. If you are stupid enough not to vote for a guy like Ruth, Mays, or Gehrig, then maybe it's time to have your vote taken away. Also, if you vote for David Segui, but don't vote for Andre Dawson, then I think you need your head examined.

But then again, that's the beauty of the system as well. Was Dawson truly better than Blyleven? There's no real way to know, and only a vote of this nature can determine it.

Either way, I maintain that debating the Baseball Hall of Fame candidacy of certain players remains the greatest sports debate in the history of the world. Dawson gets in this time...but we'll be back in December to argue over this yet again!

Some Diamondbacks Moves

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and are looking forward to the new year. My holiday week has been wonderful so far, and I'm looking forward to enjoying a few more days at home with family and friends. As noted below, my apologies for not updating the blog regularly over the last few days, but I think we can all agree that spending time with your loved ones outweighs any baseball news.

But, since this is a baseball blog, here are a few good links for you to keep you up-to-date on what's going on in the world:

-Nick Piecoro's blog has information about the Diamondbacks signing Bob Howry, and also a post about how Arizona is just waiting on an answer from free agent second baseman Kelly Johnson.

-Jayson Stark of ESPN.com wrote a great article about why Barry Larkin should be a Hall of Famer. I'm biased because I am a huge Reds fan, but I agree with everything he says.

-The Mets signed Jason Bay to a big contract. Most everyone I've heard so far is ripping the Mets for the signing. Basically, it's not that Bay is a bad player, but the Mets have so many needs right now, that they put too much money into Bay. Besides, he's not very good defensively, the new Mets stadium has a huge outfield, and everyone thinks his power numbers will go down as well.

That's all for now. Have a safe and happy New Year's holiday, and I'll post if anything strikes my fancy between now and then.