Say hey, baseball: It’s Hall of Fame election day

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The Baseball Writers Association of America will announce the results of the 2015 Hall of Fame vote on Tuesday afternoon at 2 pm eastern. We will see many inductees, possibly the most since the initial election back in 1936, but still only about half or one-third of how many we should see, with the difference based on whether you’re a small or large Hall kind of person. We know this already because many voters have released their ballots into the wild to be collected, giving us an incomplete picture of what could transpire. As of this writing, only about one-third of all votes have been tallied towards that end, so things could change, but the first four names on the list are likely in. As for Mike Piazza, it depends on how the other two-thirds of the voters feel about what to this point is a steroid myth.

That’s great news if you still care about the Hall of Fame, but even those with a passion for it are starting to see that slip for myriad reasons, reasons that have already caused others to subscribe to Cooperstown nihilism. Some, like Joe Posnanski, can still write thousands of words on the subject without coming off like an entitled baby wearing a suit, but said bediapered journalists with a mic and keyboard still exist in unnerving numbers in spite of Poz and his ilk. For some voters, it’s not their fault that their ballots aren’t stellar, as they can vote intelligently but not completely thanks to the 10-vote limit. Problem voters and a problem voting process mean that the results will be... wait for it... problematic.

If the BBWAA manages to elect five names this year, at least it will clean up the list a little and increase the chances that other players will be elected down the road. However, it looks like Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are both in danger of falling off this year by failing to secure five percent of the vote, and neither Roger Clemens nor Barry Bonds looks as if they’ve made any progress towards election. If you’re going to just sweep all the details you’re afraid future generations will frown on you for under a rug, you’re not creating an accurate accounting of the game. You’re writing the high school history textbook account of Baseball instead, and that’s not useful to anyone except the people writing it.