Thoughts on the Baseball Hall of Fame: 2008 Veteran's Committee Ballot

Yesterday, the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown announced a list of 10 names from the post-1943 era that will be up for consideration this year. Among those names are Gil Hodges, Joe Torre, Ron Santo, Jim Kaat, Dick Allen, Luis Tiant, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Maury Wills, and Vada Pinson.

Candidates from pre-1943 were announced, but that's for another time. The guys above are the meat and potatoes. They will be voted on by current living Hall of Fame members and will need 75 percent of the vote to garner induction. There are 64 living Hall of Fame members; meaning 48 will need to say "yes."

In past years, the committee has been relatively stingy with the election process, and Torre himself has fallen short in three separate election bids. The reasonable expectation would be for two or, at the most, three of these players to be inducted next July.

The fellas at the 'Table poured some beer and got into an old fashioned debate. Immediately, Dick Allen (350 home runs, but under 2,000 hits), Tony Oliva (never reached 2,000 hits), Gil Hodges (compares far too closely to George Foster, Jack Clark and Boog Powell), and Maury Wills (too one dimensional) were knocked out.

Those are the rules.

Let's breakdown the remaining candidates.

Joe Torre (C, 3B - Brewers, Cardinals, Mets, and Braves)

Torre was a nine-time All-Star, won a gold glove, and was MVP of the National League in 1971. Over his career, he amassed 2,342 hits, 252 home runs, and a .297 career batting average.

He finished in the top-10 in hits, OBP, and RBI four separate times, but none after 1971. Torre even won himself a batting title. From a statistical standpoint, he's very much like Gary Carter from a numbers perspective, but Carter spent his entire career behind the dish. From 1971 on, Torre spent his career at the corner-infield spots.

He's a dead ringer for Ryne Sandberg's numbers as well, and he played nearly the same number of years. It's tough to compare him to other players, such as Bill Dickey, strictly because war stopped some of those careers for a time.

As a player, he's borderline. We're not advocates of putting in players because someone else was in. Just because Carter is in (and we don't think he should be) does that mean we put in Torre? Our answer on that front is no.

However, voters are allowed to consider the managerial careers of these players. If we do that, there is no way you cannot include Torre. That being the case, it also is a shame he hasn't received more than 45 percent of the vote.

Our Verdict: IN, but just because he managed so well.

Jim Kaat (P - Washington/Minnesota, Chicago, Philly, New York, and Cardinals)

Kaat won 16 Gold Gloves in his 24 years of pitching, becoming one of the best ever at fielding his position. He recorded 283 wins, finishing in the top-10 seven times, good for 31st all-time. He had phenomenal control, finishing with one of the fewest walks-per-nine innings ratio in the game and registered in the top-10 for that category 12 times.

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