The Associated Press has done a poll of sorts about McGwire's chances this year, but it looks like his chances aren't great.
The AP contacted, via e-mails and telephone, about 150 of the approximately 575 present or former members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who are eligible to cast ballots. Of that number, 125 responded, including 25 AP sports writers. Most of the voters' names were obtained in the Major League Baseball media directory.
And the breakdown was:
-- 74 will not vote for McGwire.
-- 23 will vote for him.
-- 16 are undecided.
-- 5 refused to say.
-- 5 aren't allowed to vote by their employers.
-- 2 will abstain from voting.
That means if all the undecideds and those refusing to say voted for McGwire, and everyone else voted, McGwire would need 84 percent of the rest to get into the Hall.
I expect Tim Russert to get out a greaseboard and start writing "Andro, Andro, Andro".
I heard a baseball writer say something like this earlier in the year:
"McGwire said 'I'm not here to talk about the past.' Well, when it comes time to vote, I won't talk about the past either. And I don't believe that Mark is presently doing anything to warrant induction into the Hall of Fame."
As for my opinion, which I'm sure you are all salivating to hear, the fact of the matter is, it's the Hall of Fame. Not the hall of who played the best, not the hall of who did or didn't cheat, but the Hall of Fame. As much as I hate to say it, by definition, that puts both McGwire and Bonds in. For good, better, or worse, and in my humble opinion, it's worse. They are part of baseball lore. Part of the history of the game now. If you don't like it, too bad. You should've turned off your TV and stayed home from the games during the homerun era. We bought tickets, we bought merch, we watched games on TV, baseball looked the other way. Why wouldn't they? They were making money. They were attracting new fans. Anyways, that's my rant. If anyone actually read this whole thing, I salute you. Almost as much as I do those who are about to rock.
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If all 74 write the same self-congratulatory nonsense as Ken Rosenthal before they do, the next couple of months are going to get ugly.
from the 70's to now
"McGwire said 'I'm not here to talk about the past.' Well, when it comes time to vote, I won't talk about the past either. And I don't believe that Mark is presently doing anything to warrant induction into the Hall of Fame."
As for my opinion, which I'm sure you are all salivating to hear, the fact of the matter is, it's the Hall of Fame. Not the hall of who played the best, not the hall of who did or didn't cheat, but the Hall of Fame. As much as I hate to say it, by definition, that puts both McGwire and Bonds in. For good, better, or worse, and in my humble opinion, it's worse. They are part of baseball lore. Part of the history of the game now. If you don't like it, too bad. You should've turned off your TV and stayed home from the games during the homerun era. We bought tickets, we bought merch, we watched games on TV, baseball looked the other way. Why wouldn't they? They were making money. They were attracting new fans. Anyways, that's my rant. If anyone actually read this whole thing, I salute you. Almost as much as I do those who are about to rock.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.