Piazza deserves to be a hall of famer in his first year of eligability.

You can use statistics to argue anything – with Piazza people should just use their memory.

And I may be the only one with this opinion but I believe Davidoff just went way out of his way to justify the real reason he didn’t vote for Piazza…which is he believes he doesn’t deserve to get into the HOF on the first vote/eligible year. Especially since he goes on to say he’ll probably be voting for him next year.

That’s twice this week Davidoff went way out of his way to explain his thought process and twice this week – IMO – he failed to do so.

the guy should use stats, but he is using them wrong. piazza is a first ballot guy, no question.

Oh good luck with that around here….
99% of the arguments (and Bannings) around here are due to that practice!

But think of how many HOF voters don’t bother to explain themselves, and may well be engaging in a reasoning process even less defensible than Davidoff’s. At least he makes himself accountable — as he did when responding to critics of his article on Dickey, by the way. Yet a lot of people here start questioning his motivations and attacking his good faith.

And what sportswriter doesn’t want attention paid to his writing? The guy is required to put out copy, even if it’s a slow news day.

A lot of the arguments here against Davidoff’s conclusions seem persuasive. What I don’t understand is the vitriol and assaults on character. Attack the reasoning, not the reasoner.

And if someone who used PEDs gets exposed simply throw them out and strip them of the honor?

I can make a fair and decent argument to support that by stating if 90% of the league was using at the time you can hardly call it cheating, more like keeping up with the joneses…
And if there were not really any rules specifically banning them (debatable as the using a foreign substance for advantage could be extended to include PEDs) it’s difficult to say they broke any rules since they did not specifically exist at the time.

Guys who got caught after rules and testing were in place would be banned from the ballot and a seperate wing in the Hall for guys from that era could be made with a big plaque that read “Players inducted here all played in the Steroid Era before testing was done!”

Difficult to say a guy broke a rule that didn’t exist…But that said…

I just don’t see how Piazza gets a no after that?

I would vote for Edgar and I don’t think Trammell is the worst HoF argument. I get what he is trying to do with Lofton, but Lofton doesn’t sniff the HoF until/unless Raines does. Not together.

All you had to do to prove Davidoff is an idiot and doesnt deserve a vote was to mention that he chose Kenny Lofton over Mike Piazza….Which is retarded….Lofton was a hell of a player but not even in the same atmosphere as Mike Piazza

Why not just develop the threshold for inclusion and get rid of the BBWAA and all their flaws altogether?”

You’re being facetious, aren’t you?

“And I think the best way to determine a Hall of Fame ballot is without emotions.”
“This marks my seventh year as a Hall of Fame voter, and I’d rank this ballot as my most fun. Not heart-wrenching. Not sleep-losing. Not difficult. Fun.”

Admitting to having fun means Davidoff had emotions during this ballot…so by twisting his own words and using my weird logic, I can prove that Ken himself basically said he did not vote in the best way possible. Lol.

Biggio LEFT the catcher position after almost 500 games behind the dish. His numbers as a catcher only further prove just how hard it is to maintain offensive excellence while playing the position.

483 Games, 24HR, 153RBI .272 average, .710 OPS 104OPS+ was Biggio’s career behind the plate. He’s a shoe in for the hall I am sure – but that should only further show people just how impressive Piazza’s #s are

Davidoff himself claims that he has no care in the world towards the usage of PEDs… and that was literally the ONLY argument against Mike Piazza. And it was an allegation, nothing was proven…

Besides my other little quibbles with him, like what might be a good debate over Fred McGriff… Here’s something I find interesting.

“I’m not a big “magic numbers” guy, particularly not with hits or home runs; to me, you’re best defined by how you match up against your contemporaries.” This taken from his argument for Biggio…and it is well known and proven that Piazza is one of the top catchers in history. Top 5 for sure, I’d debate him up to top 2, even.

I feel like this whole piece screams hypocrisy, and kudos to you Jessep, for tackling it. Damn good case.

This taken from an article using JAWs on the MLB section of SI.

As stated you need to have seen them play; maybe he was watching Yankees run during 90′s and didn’t have time for Mets and just read the next day’s box score? Just saying.

Wow, 1st taking shot at RA, class person, then at next possible Met’s HOF inductee.
Shame on you KD.