So Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken got elected to the Hall of Fame, Mark McGwire didn’t, and everything else was exactly what we expected, too. Well, maybe not everything. Take a look at these vote totals from the bottom of the list:
Paul O’Neill, 12 votes
Bret Saberhagen, 7 votes
Jose Canseco, 6 votes
Tony Fernandez, 4 votes
Dante Bichette, 3 votes
Eric Davis, 3 votes
Bobby Bonilla, 2 votes
Ken Caminiti, 2 votes
Jay Buhner, 1 vote
You might be saying, “One vote is only 0.2% of the voters, what’s the big deal?” The big deal is that there is one voter who apparently thinks Jay Buhner belongs in the Hall of Fame. There are 12 who think Paul O’Neill belongs. If we assume that each of these votes was from a different person, I have just listed 40 voters who have demonstrated that they know exactly nothing about what makes a player worthy of the Hall of Fame. And they are the ones voting!!!
If I ever find out that the guy who voted for Jay Buhner is one of the eight who didn’t vote for Ripken, my head will literally explode, because I will put a stick of dynamite in my mouth.