The Red Sox Life Hall of Fame Ballot, Part II

Please see Part I for disclaimers. As in Part I, I owe a debt to the great Baseball Reference.




Bill Mueller is a shoo-in. OK, not really.

Dale Murphy. Yes. Hall voters don’t seem to like Murphy (this is his 14th year on the ballot), but I’d throw him a vote. Maybe they don’t like the ‘80s?

Rafael Palmeiro. Yes. Baseball made my bed, and I’m lying in it. Raffy has 569 home runs (only 11 players have more) and more than 3,000 hits (only 24 players have more). He wagged his finger and lied to us, and that makes it a bitter pill. But I still say the era is more tainted than the individual players (though they are, too). Every era of baseball has its own taint. Pull the lever and move on.

Bernie Williams. No. A tough call, and we underrate defense, but the batting numbers just aren’t there.

Vinny Castilla. No. Similar numbers to Bernie Williams, but a lower career average and none of the Gold Gloves.

Javy Lopez. No. This is a tough class. I could see Bernie, Vinny, or Javy getting in.

Ruben Sierra. No. More home runs and hits than you might think, but no.

Jeremy Burnitz. No. Lifetime .253 average, never hit over .300.

Tim Salmon. No.

Tony Womack. No. I think I am learning that everybody gets on the ballot.

Phil Nevin. No. Solid player, time on bad teams, and a good hitter whose average declined to barely break .200 in his final years.

Brian Jordan. No. Better than some of these other guys, though.

Eric Young. No. It looks to me like Young should have had a better career. He hit .324 one year, and he had chances with the Dodgers, but bad teams (I’m guessing) kept his RBI numbers low.

Bill Mueller. Yes. He should be flown to Cooperstown on a private jet, with Bud Selig and Hank Steinbrenner laying their coats over puddles if need be. Oh wait, this is about entire careers, right? Damn it. No.

Terry Mulholland. No.

Brad Radke. No.

I thought this would be more fun than it turned out to be. I have more sympathy now for the people who are obligated to make their ballots public, unlike those of us who just do it for kicks. Good luck to all nominees.