Since voting's the thing to do ...

 

 

Hey, it's voting day. Did you know? Have you been nagged enough?

This is the day when the standard lecturing format of Facebook expands to all forms of social media. Thank goodness it's just one day.

The double-whammy for me is that the day before everyone was talking about voting of a different kind, in this case who deserves to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame from the announced candidates for the Contemporary Era. But that wasn't all, we had to whine about who wasn't included, too.

Some fans are clearly addicted to this talk and thrilled by it. It bores me stupid. It's a ploy by the Hall to keep it in the conversation, and while fans shake their fists at the writers and the establishment, the HOF laps it up. The Hall's on everyone's lips again.

I'm past the point of caring about the players up for election. Just about everyone who I truly care about -- players from my childhood or earlier -- is either in the Hall or probably has been bypassed forever. Most of the current candidates don't mean much to me.

These are the players from the Contemporary Era up for vote:

Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling.

This is what I think about those candidates: 

Put them all in. Sure, they were each great for an extended period. Nothing there that will keep me up at night.

Another thing that I think:

What an odious group of selections. Yuck. Outside of McGriff, Mattingly and Murphy, everyone has had well-documented issues. I sometimes feel sorry for fans who grew up with these guys, so many character flaws. Sure, that stuff was more hidden with the players I grew up watching, but that doesn't keep me from despising a few above and being very grateful they never played for my team (None did).

But since this is the day to vote, I'll go through a little exercise for my personal amusement, basically:

What if I could vote only 7 players in?

What if I could vote only 6 players in?

 

 

What if I could vote only 5 players in?

What if I could vote only 4 in?

 

 

What if I could vote only 3 in?

 

 

What if I could vote only 2 in?

What if I could vote only 1 in?

There you are.

But wait, you're saying, what about my REASONS???

Sorry, that's the part that bores me. Get all excited in the comments. Spike your blood pressure, get an ulcer. I don't care. I've already said my thoughts: they should all be in. It's a Hall of baseball greatness, that's all it should be.

 

Don't fall into the trap.