My meaningless ballot

Once a year, I am invited to reacquaint myself with musty old statistics and cast my vote for nominees to the baseball Hall of Fame. Jack O'Connell, secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, sends a ballot each December. This one, I believe, is my 20th.

The ballot always stirs me to revisit moments of a long-ago past. Baseball consumed a big part my life for decades, but eventually the corruption and venality of big-time sport — and big-time media — became overwhelming. My attention to major league baseball (indeed, any corporate sporting event) has dwindled to almost nothing. My workplace, my hangout, my playground eight months of every year, used to be the press box of major-league ballparks from coast to coast. Now, I haven't been inside a major-league stadium in 12 years. Is beer still $1.75?

One season, two or three years ago, I watched exactly two-thirds of an inning of televised major league baseball. I don't remember why I did that. Last season, I watched only the World Series (no regular season, no playoffs), because Jim Leyland used to be a friend and drinking buddy before we gave up the sauce.

Even though he now works in the ethical black hole that is the Ilitch organization, Jim is a straight arrow. He will not be tainted by association with the chiselers and liars.

My greatest curiosity in this year's Hall of Fame balloting is Mark McGwire's total. Will he draw enough votes (5%) to stay on the ballot? Does the integrity of the game have meaning? I cannot mark his name, nor that of Canseco. Same for Sosa and Bonds, if their names should ever appear on my ballot.

In years like this, I feel my vote is largely meaningless. Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were first-time locks, so there went 20% of my possible votes. That left only eight spots for the other worthy nominees. (Click on the picture to see my votes.) I hope Jim Rice will eventually be elected, but I don't believe it will happen this year. Murray Chass of the NY Times analyzed Hall of Fame balloting and noted when first-time nominees are elected, few other nominees have a chance.

So, I fear, Rice will come up a loser again this year. So will Andre Dawson, Goose Gossage and Lee Smith. So will Steve Garvey — for the 15th and last time, and that's a shame. Garvey will go into voting limbo for five years, then will be eligible for consideration by the committee that votes on old-timers. To get into Cooperstown, he'll have to buy a ticket.

Update — No surprises at the top of the voting. Gwynn and Ripken Jr. are among the giants of the game, and men of character, too. I'm sorry to see that support for Jim Rice has not grown, and that fine pitchers like Orel Hersheiser and Bret Saberhagen did not draw enough support to stay in the hunt. I'm not sorry to see Canseco gone. But the number of votes for McGwire surprised me. How sad that Don Mattingly and Dave Parker and Dale Murphy drew fewer than half the votes of a player who stained the game so indelibly.