Hall of Fame Voting Rules Need Change

Jay Mariotti was one of five Hall of Fame voters who turned in blank ballots and who may have prevented Bert Blyleven from being voted into the Hall of Fame yesterday.

Jay Mariotti former sportswriter for the Chicago Sun-Times and a panelist on ESPN’s Around the Horn show turned in a blank ballot and has more or less asked to be removed as a voter.

The worst thing is that Mariotti broke no rules since the Baseball Writers Association of America voters have a rule giving voters the option of not voting for anyone as written in the voting rules in section 4b of the voting rules:

B. Electors may vote for as few as zero (0) and as many as ten (10) eligible candidates deemed worthy of election. Write-in votes are not permitted.

So technically Mariotti had the right to vote for nobody. So he and the other four voters who turned in blank ballots were within their rights to not cast a vote for anyone. However that doesn’t excuse them for completely losing their senses and voting for nobody.

End Blank Ballots Nonsense

Maybe this nonsense of turning in blank ballots will end if the voting rules are amended to where each voter would be required to cast at least five votes. I don’t think the writers of the rules for voting ever thought anyone would turn in a blank ballot but left in the option in case only Neal Cotts, Carlos Silva and Scott Linebrink were on the ballot.

Bert Blyleven may have been voted in yesterday if not for the five voters not voting for anyone since Blyleven should have been on any ballot cast. After having campaigned for Blyleven’s induction for several years it was disappointing that five voters didn’t think he deserved a vote when he needed five votes to be elected.

Mariotti Another Corky Simpson

There are too many voters like Mariotti and Corky Simpson who last year voted for eight other players including Alan Trammell and Matt Williams but didn’t think Rickey Henderson was Hall of Fame worthy and  left him off his ballot and neither Mariotti or Simpson  have no business voting in the Hall of Fame election.

It is time that the Jay Mariottis and Corky Simpsons of the BBWAA be stripped of their voting rights. There are thousands of  baseball fans who could make better choices than Mariotti or Simpson.

Mariotti Shoving Dawson Out of Spotlight

I was planning on writing about Andre Dawson today but the idiocy of Mariotti has enraged me so much I instead am writing about changing the rules for the Hall of Fame voting to keep namby pamby lounge lizards like Mariotti from voting.