Do you see any likely HOFers on the Hall's 2011 VC "Expansion Era" ballot?

Well...IMO...looking at them one by one,...

Vida Blue - No..good career-mostly propelled by 3 exceptional years in the 70's -not HOF worthy though.

Dave Concepcion- about the most notable thing this guy did was play for the Big Red Machine-career avg. below 270?...I think not..

Steve Garvey- See Bagwell's #'s and tell me why Bagwell should get in...oh..ok..neither one belongs in the hall..

Ron Guidry-Three good years does not a HOF career make..

Tommy John-The man who made Dr. Frank Jobe famous gets kudos for his longevity but..(see Ron Guidry & Vida Blue)

Al Oliver-Of all the guys listed here-the most worthy .300+ career BA & over 2700 hits..didn't get the attention he deserved because he didn't hit many home runs..Only played on one good team (81 Expos-strike shortened season) and spent the rest of his career on mediocre clubs with little media attention.In my mind he gets a plaque.

Ted Simmons-has a following yes-hall of fame?...no

Rusty Staub-"la Grande Orange" as they called him in Montreal-he was a great pinch hitter and ..oh yeah he was a great pinch hitter.

Managers:

Billy Martin-On -field antics and the love /hate relationship with Steinbrenner gave him a place in baseball history- One 100 win season and one World Series title won't get him a plaque in Cooperstown.

Executives:

Pat Gillick _The man who oversaw the building of the team that took the "World Championship banner north of the border" will get some consideration-but hmm ...no..

Marvin Miller- Interesting to see these two names together (Steinbrenner)-Miller pretty much single handedly invented baseball free agency when he ran the PA.He built the engine and Steinbrenner poured in the gas.This became the model not only for baseball-but other pro sports as well.Inevitably this changed the baseball landscape like nothing else probably ever has -by that rationale alone,love or hate it -he should be in the Hall.

George Steinbrenner- Of course-the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name is "big free agent signings"-and sitting at the helm of the most disliked team in North American Pro sports(the aforementioned being much of the reason)..but success is hard to argue with 7 world series-11 pennants -leading a group that bought the Yankees in 1973 for 8.8 million dollars the franchise is now worth(according to Forbes magazine/2009) 1.5 BILLION dollars and still managed to get taxpayers to foot the 800+ million dollar bill for the new ballpark...put him in now -get it over with........

Of the men listed, I think Simmons and John are the most deserving. But I'm not convinced that anyone will reach the 75% threshhold, except Steinbrenner.

Simmons was never the best player in the game, but he had a long career as a productive switch hitter at the game's preeminent defensive position. His career numbers (2,472 hits, 1,389 RBI, 248 HR) are comparable to those of other catchers in the HOF. And Baseball Reference lists his HOF Monitor at 124. Anything over 100 indicates a likely HOFer, so Simmons is well within that territory.

John had a great career, too. He won 288 games, which is just 12 short of the Magic Number for pitchers. Most impressively, he pitched for 26 years - only Nolan Ryan has bettered that number. Staub and Garvey have borderline HOF numbers, but the offensive standard is a bit higher for First Basemen. Concepcion has a good case, as I understand he was good with a glove.

But I can't really see any of these guys making it onto 75% of the ballots. They were all on the regular ballots for 20 years, and none of them made it there during that time - I don't see how any of their images have improved much since then.

As for Steinbrenner, I'm surprised he's on the ballot at all, much less the Veteran's Committee ballot. I must admit ignorance to the requirements here - but I thought a person had to be out of baseball for 5 seasons before becoming eligible... And since Steinbrenner just died this year, that confuses me.

If I had a vote (which I don't- surely just an oversight by the BBWAA), I'd choose Miller, Steinbrenner (something quite appropriate about them being elected together...), Al Oliver (2700+ hits AND a .300+ BA?! And he DIDN'T play in the 1930s?), and Ted Simmons (for a catcher, his offensive numbers are darn good).

I could be swayed to vote for Tommy John and/or Ron Guidry (basically, they're the inverse of each other- John was good for a LONG, LONG TIME- but he wasn't 'great' for that long... Guidry was GREAT, but didn't have much of a career, length-wise.).

Someone mentioned this somewhere else, and I think it's reasonable to suspect Dave Concepcion has a pretty good chance to get elected, because Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Frank Robinson- all Reds- are on the VC this year.

The votes will split too much to get the required 75%, even Steinbrenner who appears for the first time on any HOF ballot probably won't get it.

The guy that stands out is Tommy John with 288 career wins..although Tommy has been overlooked before. If I was voting I would put him first...but there is no clear 2nd choice.

Check this out on Steinbrenner/Martin lol

http://www.yougotschooled.com/2010/11/08/george-an...

I'd see Conception,John,and Steinbrenner getting in

George Steinbrenner will eventually be bought in, so put him in now, and get it over with, and stink up Cooperstown sooner.

...and, if he gets in, put everybody else in too.

Marvin Miller

George Steinbrenner

would be the only one's I would vote for...