Levine: Let's Get Perspective On Ken Griffey Jr. Hall Of Fame Vote
By Bruce Levine--
(CBS) Let's not start a criminal investigation into the three BBWAA writers who didn't vote for Ken Griffey Jr. right away in the Hall of Fame balloting that was revealed Wednesday.
The fact that Griffey's one of the top players to ever roam an outfield or swing a bat is undeniable. He was the closest thing to Willie Mays that has ever come along, and his body of work and the sheer effortless power and grace of his game was always pure magic to watch.
There's no argument here if you want to call him the best all-around player in history. I had the pleasure of watching Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente play many games. Griffey's right there with all four giants of the game. You think he's better? OK, the metrics and eye test are with you if you say Griffey's the best ever.
The data is surely in support of Griffey, and the voters concurred by giving him almost 100 percent vote approval. The 99.3 percent total average Griffey received is the highest percentage of votes in the history of the Hall's ballot counting. The first Hall of Fame class was voted on in 1936. Ty Cobb -- who hit .367 lifetime and had 4,191 hits -- received 98.23 percent of the 222 votes cast. That means Cobb was left off of four writers' ballots.
Babe Ruth was voted in with Cobb in that first class. A legend of the game, The Bambino slugged .690 with a .474 on-base percentage lifetime -- for us number people, the highest OPS and OPS+ in history. Ruth was left off of 11 of the 226 writers' ballots in that glorious first time Hall of Fame election and induction.
The writers who left Griffey off of their ballots have the right and reason to do just that. That's the same right that the 23 writers had in 1979 when they left Mays off of their ballots and no different than the 28 writers who said no to voting for Joe DiMaggio in 1955.
Let's take it a step further. DiMaggio was considered by most observers of that era to be the best all-around player of the first half of the 20th century. Joltin' Joe missed getting the 75 percent of the writers to vote for his Hall of Fame entry twice -- really! He missed getting the vote twice. DiMaggio received only 44 percent of the vote in 1953 and 69 percent in 1954.
A rule change in 1955 declared you must be retired five years to be eligible to be voted on for induction. DiMaggio moved to the top of that 1955 list. We all know that Griffey was a lock first-ballot Hall of Fame player. If one of those three writers wanted to give one of his 10 votes to another deserving player because he knew Griffey was a lock, so be it. If the steroids era that Griffey played in caused a voter to pause and not to vote, that's his or her right.
I'm a member of the BBWAA. As a writer in the association, you must be a member for 10 years covering MLB in order to vote for the Hall of Fame. All of the writers I have observed in my 35 years covering the game take this honor of voting for the best players' entry into the Hall of Fame very seriously.
Griffey's ascension into this group of elite players is enhanced, not tarnished, by his confirmation. The democratic process worked once again.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
