Roberto Alomar: Jilted

I know that there were a number of players who many feel were snubbed for the HoF this year, including Bert Blyleven, Tim Raines, and more. But I'm going to focus on Roberto Alomar because he's my boy and one of my favorite players. He gave us some good times and represents the last time we had something to cheer about in Baltimore. We also happen to have the same birthday but that's just icing on the cake. When I tuned in to see the HoF announcement this afternoon, I actually thought I was doing it to see if anyone got at least 75% of the BBWAA vote in addition to him. I honestly thought he was a shoo-in, even if he did miss the SBN Hall by 1 vote.

But Alomar didn't get voted in. He missed the threshold by 8 votes. Robbie Alomar will be in the Hall of Fame, but he won't be a first ballot HoF'er. Some make the argument that only the best of the best should get voted in on the first ballot, but I think that is poppycock. You are a Hall of Famer or you're not a Hall of Famer. I have been to the Hall of Fame and I've didn't see the "First Ballot" wing of the museum. Did I miss it?

Roberto Alomar is one of the finest second basemen in baseball history, both offensively and defensively. Those of us who had the pleasure of watching him saw him make plays that seemed almost impossible. Unfortunately MLB.com doesn't have any defensive highlights of Alomar, the only ones they have are of him hitting (I do think you'll enjoy this one, though).

Alomar finished his career with a WAR of 63.6. Of the 18 members of the Hall of Fame who played at least 50% of their games at 2nd place, only 6 had anything higher (complete list). Some people say that the measure of a Hall of Famer is if he is one of the most dominant players during the time he played. To say that Alomar wasn't is simply absurd. During his career he was selected for 12 consecutive All-Star games, he won 10 gold gloves and 4 silver sluggers (the most ever by a 2B). In the 1990s  He led all 2Bs in the decade in HR (129), 2B (294), BA (.311), SLG (.470), and OPS (.857), and ranked second to Chuck Knoblach in BB (672) and OBP (.387).

Ultimately this won't really matter. Alomar will get into the Hall of Fame and in the end that's all anyone remembers. But this is about more than Alomar getting snubbed. This is about the ineptness of those who vote for the Hall of Fame. The Hall's integrity is already in question by the inclusion of some of the less than great players who have been inducted in the past, and seeing some of these voters butcher the vote is painful. If they don't think Alomar should be in the Hall of Fame and have legitimate facts to back them up, I'd like to see them. But if they're abstaining because he spit in an umpire's face or because they don't think anyone should be voted in on the first ballot or because they think he didn't hustle in the 2001 ALDS, they should have their voting privileges revoked.