8 Players on Contemporary Era HOF ballot announced.

Handsome Wes · 12-08-2025, 12:10 PM

I will admit that I was wrong when I suggested that I thought both the ballot - and the committee - were designed to put both Murphy and Mattingly into the Hall of Fame.

The results, though, indicate that the process is even more of a joke.

For Carlos Delgado to receive more votes than both Murphy and Mattingly is mind-boggling. Delgado only went to two All-Star games and only received top five MVP votes twice in his career.

Dale Murphy has as many MVP awards as Delgado has All Star Games!

And it's not like Delgado has a vastly superior WAR either - 44.4 (avg. 3.5 per year) compared to 42.4 / 3.8 for Mattingly and 46.5 / 3.5 for Murphy.

Delgado - fine career and all - but he got 3.8% of the vote on his lone appearance on the ballot back in 2015, and absolutely no one -- no one! -- in the ten years since then has said "you know who really got jobbed on the HOF vote? Carlos Delgado."

And yet he just leapfrogged both Mattingly and Murphy in terms of votes!

It suggests to me that voters took his top-line numbers: 473 home runs, .929 OPS, and jotted his name down, because yes, it is superior to Don & Dale. But that ignores the fact that DM & DM played in an era bereft of offense, and Delgado did not.

The HOF committee was supposed to give extra examination to a particular era. Instead, they lumped a bunch of candidates from multiple eras into one group -- and then had voters *who weren't even from any of these eras* decide on who got in.

Like I said, it is a total joke.

There is not one baseball fan who looks at the Hall of Fame and says "yep, they got it right."

And you can talk about cheaters and scoundrels and such, but come on, all of that is selective outrage.

12-08-2025, 12:10 PM	#10
Handsome Wes Member Join Date: Oct 2020 Posts: 965	I will admit that I was wrong when I suggested that I thought both the ballot - and the committee - were designed to put both Murphy and Mattingly into the Hall of Fame. The results, though, indicate that the process is even more of a joke. For Carlos Delgado to receive more votes than both Murphy and Mattingly is mind-boggling. Delgado only went to two All-Star games and only received top five MVP votes twice in his career. Dale Murphy has as many MVP awards as Delgado has All Star Games! And it's not like Delgado has a vastly superior WAR either - 44.4 (avg. 3.5 per year) compared to 42.4 / 3.8 for Mattingly and 46.5 / 3.5 for Murphy. Delgado - fine career and all - but he got 3.8% of the vote on his lone appearance on the ballot back in 2015, and absolutely no one -- no one! -- in the ten years since then has said "you know who really got jobbed on the HOF vote? Carlos Delgado." And yet he just leapfrogged both Mattingly and Murphy in terms of votes! It suggests to me that voters took his top-line numbers: 473 home runs, .929 OPS, and jotted his name down, because yes, it is superior to Don & Dale. But that ignores the fact that DM & DM played in an era bereft of offense, and Delgado did not. The HOF committee was supposed to give extra examination to a particular era. Instead, they lumped a bunch of candidates from multiple eras into one group -- and then had voters who weren't even from any of these eras decide on who got in. Like I said, it is a total joke. There is not one baseball fan who looks at the Hall of Fame and says "yep, they got it right." And you can talk about cheaters and scoundrels and such, but come on, all of that is selective outrage.