2007 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot, Part One

The 2007 MLB Hall of Fame vote will be one of the most controversial in history, as Mark McGwire graces the ballot for the first time. There are 32 candidates, including McGwire, on MLB's official ballot. Two - Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. - are regarded as sure things. Seventeen - over half of those on the ballot - are first-time candidates. Of those 17, three - McGwire, Jose Canseco, and Ken Caminiti - are either known or suspected steroid users. And finally, two starting pitchers - Jack Morris and Bert Blyleven - are hometown candidates on the fringe of Hall acceptance. MLB Announces the results tomorrow, and I will profile the candidates I would vote for, as well as some who are considered "on the fringe".

My votes, if I had them, would be for:
Harold Baines, OF/DH
Bert Blyleven, SP
Tony Gwynn, OF
Tommy John, SP
Jack Morris, SP
Cal Ripken Jr., SS/3B
Lee Smith, CP

I'm not sure how players are selected for inclusion on the official Hall of Fame ballot, but I'm not quite sure about the inclusion of guys like Scott Brosius, Wally Joyner, Devon White, and Bobby Witt.

And, just for fun, a look at the HOF Monitor scores of the 32 official candidates, from Baseball-Reference (a score over 100 indicates a good chance of induction, 130 or higher indicates a virtual cinch):
1. Tony Gwynn - 277.5
2. Cal Ripken, Jr. - 236
3. Mark McGwire - 169.5
4. Jim Rice - 146.5
5. Lee Smith - 135
6. Albert Belle - 134.5
7. Don Mattingly - 133.5
8. Steve Garvey - 130.5
9. Rich Gossage - 126
10. Dave Parker - 125.5
11. Jack Morris - 122.5
12. Bert Blyleven - 120.5
13. Alan Trammell - 118.5
14. Andre Dawson - 118
15. Dale Murphy - 115.5
16. Tommy John - 111
17. Dave Concepcion - 106.5
18. Jose Canseco - 103
19. Orel Hershiser - 90.5
20. Dante Bichette - 82
21. Tony Fernandez - 74
22t. Paul O'Neill - 70.5
22t. Bret Saberhagen - 70.5
24. Harold Baines - 66.5
25. Bobby Bonilla - 64.5
26. Ken Caminiti - 38
27t. Jay Buhner - 34.5
27t. Devon White - 34.5
29t. Eric Davis - 27.5
29t. Wally Joyner - 27.5
31. Scott Brosius - 19
32. Bobby Witt - 7

As stated over at Baseball-Reference, the HOF Monitor scores how likely a player is to be inducted into the Hall, not how deserving they actually are. Tomorrow, we'll look at Baseball-Reference's HOF Standards scores, and see how they compare.