Alan Trammell

The 2011 Baseball Hall of Fame vote was announced today and a couple of things struck me. First, I agree 100% with the selections of both Robbie Alomar and Bert Blyleven. I wasn't always a supporter of Blyleven but I'll get to that in a minute. Another thing which struck me was Barry Larkin getting 62.1% of the vote - which bodes well for him getting to the 75% needed for induction next year. Good for Barry! He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

All of the above is fine and good but wouldn't normally be enough for me to take the time to comment on. What struck we tonight was a couple of graphs and an old story which combined to urge me from my inaction.

First - the graphs.

These graphs compares Barry Larkin, Roberto Alomar, Alan Trammell and Derek Jeter. I added Derek Jeter into the mix because I think most people who follow baseball would agree that Derek Jeter will get elected into Cooperstown. So that makes the graphs a comparison between a Hall of Famer, a player who probably will get voted in next year, a guy who is almost a guaranteed lock and then also Alan Trammell - a guy who just got 24.3% of the vote on his 10th year on the ballot. Take a look at those graphs and tell me that Alan Trammell isn't almost exactly the same as the other players.

This brings me to the story.

Aristotle was perhaps the smartest man of his age. He is still studied today. Yet Aristotle wasn't always right. For instance he believed that since a man is bigger than a woman then logically a man must have more teeth than a woman. The problem is he never bothered to check. Any dentist can tell you that a man and a woman have exactly the same number of teeth. The brilliant Aristotle looks stupid for not checking.

I feel Aristotle's pain because I'm guilty of not checking as well. First it was not checking on Blyleven's case for the Hall of Fame. I changed my mind a while back on that but it wasn't until I saw the above graphs that it struck me how equal Alan Trammell was to the other players he was being compared to.

I don't have a Hall of Fame vote but if I did - I'd vote for Alan Trammell.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

According to the Rasmussen Poll 55% of people polled pick Alabama to win BCS Championship game while 37% say Texas will win. According to Covers.com - 57% of bettors are taking Alabama -4 points while 43% of bettors are taking the points and Texas... A couple of Texas fans having some fun imitating Alabama fans... Terry Francona is moving Jacoby Ellsbury to left field and having Mike Cameron start in center. I wonder if moving Cameron to right and having JD Drew play left was considered. Cameron's arm is good enough for right field and having Drew play left could save some wear and tear on his often fragile body... Now I feel kinda bad - Cowbell girl is sight impaired... There were four main reasons that Robbie Alomar wasn't a first ballot Hall of famer; 1. some people are still upset about the spitting incident, 2. some people won't vote for anyone on their first ballot, 3. the recent AIDS rumor about Alomar (homophobia), and 4. some writers use their ballots for "look at me" moments (see Jay Marrioti and him not voting for anyone). I'd bet that for many who didn't vote for Alomar that these reasons overlapped... Terry Glenn joins the Maurice Clarrett Ohio State Alumni All-Stars... Heh heh - the Beatles doing a Marlboro cigarette commercial... Tweet of the day from @Erik_Seidel "Obama still not addressing the security breech that allowed Joan Rivers back in the US"... Interesting column by Pete Thamel on J.C. Percy, the anonymous Boise back-up who made the call to execute the fake punt... The Booby Hatch presents Suck It (probably NSFW)...

Robbie Alomar

This is very sad and very shocking.

Baseball great Roberto Alomar has full-blown AIDS but insisted on having unprotected sex, his ex-girlfriend charged Tuesday in a bombshell lawsuit.

Wow - just wow! If true then this is shocking and tragic. If false then this is shocking and outrageous.

I've long been in the camp believing that Roberto Alomar is a Hall of Fame player. I can't help but think that many close-minded voters will use this to hold back from giving Alomar his (or her) vote. It's sad but true but if Alomar has full-blown AIDS then I think his chances of getting voted into the Hall of Fame will hit a brick wall.