Diamond: Cooperstown ballots are not so secret anymore
From Jared Diamond at the Wall Street Journal on January 12, 2017:
Baseball’s corner of the internet is not happy with Randy Miller, a veteran journalist who has covered more than 2,000 games. The reason: He doesn’t think that Tim Raines merits induction into the sport’s Hall of Fame.
Miller, now a New York Yankees beat writer for NJ Advance Media, is one of the more than 400 baseball writers eligible to vote on candidates for the Hall, and counts himself part of a growing movement that favors increased transparency in the annual election. So even though this year’s results won’t be released until next Wednesday, he unveiled his ballot online last week, contributing to an informal and public exit poll that offers an early glimpse at who will comprise the Hall’s Class of 2017.
The absence of a vote for Raines, one of this year’s favorites for induction, brought a furious response. One person on Twitter called it “downright nauseating.” Another wondered if Miller had “ever seen a baseball game in his life.” A third wrote that picking closers Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner over Raines “should be punishable by death.”
Read the full article here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/cooperstowns-not-so-secret-secret-ballot-1484222801?mod=e2tw
Originally published: January 12, 2017. Last Updated: January 12, 2017.