00:00I don't know. Is it a hit or an error that people are voting for so many more guys on the ballot?
00:06And I asked you because I was surprised by your ballot that you you had, I believe, eight guys, nine, nine, nine guys on your ballot.
00:16And it was like like you went to places I didn't anticipate you would go.
00:21And I'm I'm not asking this in a like a like a I'm not sure I'm doing this right anymore.
00:26I had two guys on my ballot and I feel like I stretched for two like like I've gone on what I think was historically a Hall of Famer to get.
00:38I thought Beltran was over the line no matter how I voted ever.
00:42I think I think Utley is a guy who's over the line for me, how I think about it now.
00:47Do I have to go another half a percentage and be like the guys who I'm sitting borderline with now, like the Padroias.
00:54Felix, Felix, Jimmy Rollins, Felix.
01:01Maybe I'm too stuck in a old way of thinking and I should open this up because clearly it feels to me like, John, would you have done this ballot 10 years ago?
01:10Like, have you evolved to a place? And I wonder if so.
01:13Like, I don't know whether to give people who are doing this a hit or error.
01:16So I'm going to give a forum for hit or error here.
01:19Well, I better give it a hit since I voted for nine.
01:21But I get it. I certainly have evolved.
01:23I wouldn't have done this ballot, you know, 20 years ago or whenever I started doing ballots.
01:29You know, when I did six, I thought that was a lot one year.
01:32I probably did an average of four, you know, and there were bigger ballots than this one.
01:38This obviously was not a spectacular ballot.
01:40There was one obvious, obvious, super obvious candidate for both of us, and that was Beltran.
01:47I thought Andrew Jones was a Hall of Famer.
01:51So, you know, I'm glad those are the two that got in.
01:54Those are the two, I think, most deserving of the group.
01:57But, yeah, I'm now evolved, and I certainly grade peak.
02:04I certainly take an account position.
02:07I am a little bit easier, I think, than I had been on catcher.
02:11I think in center field we've been a little bit too tough.
02:14I'd like to see Edmund.
02:15I don't know if Edmunds, Bernie Williams, and Kenny Loft are Hall of Famers.
02:19I didn't vote for them when they were on the ballot.
02:21I might now.
02:22I don't like that 5% rule.
02:24I think that should be out, either that or don't limit it to 10.
02:29Although, if you don't limit it to 10, Morosi will vote for everybody on the ballot.
02:32So, and I love JP.
02:36So, yeah, I get it.
02:39I'm not sure if that's a hit or an error.
02:40I'm going to give an error or two.
02:44One is, to me, and I'm sorry on this, to me, Jimmy Rollins should be a Hall of Famer.
02:51I think he started with almost nothing, right?
02:54He did get over 5% at the beginning.
02:56It's evolving, and it feels like he's going in the right direction.
03:00But I'm not sure why he's 40% below Utley.
03:03You obviously think Utley's a little over, and Rollins is a little under, and 40% of people agree with you.
03:09So, I think Rollins is under.
03:12He's my toughest borderline, John.
03:13I hover over him every year because I think he was, you know, he's very similar to me.
03:19You mentioned, I think we've been tough on centerfielders.
03:21And by the way, to me, Lofton, Edmonds, and Bernie are better players than Andrew Jones.
03:29Like, I would, if you said, those four guys are on a ballot, and I had to start ranking them, the other three would get ahead.
03:34And maybe, in the way I'm thinking, I would vote for all three now.
03:37And I'll tell you a guy who, like, obviously, the analytic world hates, and he fell off the ballot quickly.
03:42To me, Jimmy Rollins is very much like Johnny Damon.
03:45Like, you had to watch it a lot, where you're like, this guy is such a winning player.
03:50Like, he just does so many good things.
03:51Then, Rollins' defense was better than Damon's defense in centerfield.
03:56But, like, their speed, a little power, and just the, hey, it's a bigot bat.
04:01I love that's who's up.
04:02Like, Johnny Damon or Jimmy Rollins.
04:04Yeah, I thought Rollins was a great defender.
04:06I know he only won, I think, three or four gold gloves.
04:08But I think he was a great defender.
04:10He was a leader of a team that won a championship and came close, certainly in 2009, against the Yankees.
04:16Was always in the playoffs in that group.
04:19And, you know, I voted for, I don't separate them.
04:24But, again, we separated Whitaker and Trammell.
04:26And, you know, I don't know if that was the right thing to do either.
04:29The other thing is, and I know we talk about evolving, and I generally like the idea that people are evolving.
04:35I don't think it looks great that Andre Jones had 7% of the vote when he started out.
04:40And, again, I'm in favor of not knocking people off less than 5% because we do have this.
04:45But I've thought Andre Jones is a Hall of Famer.
04:47So, you know, I think we look funny.
04:51We now have 78%.
04:53We've gone from 7% to 78%.
04:55Everybody's mind's changed.
04:57I think social media, it's too much.
04:59You know, it's too much.
05:01People are too easily influenced by what they read.
05:04I don't think you have to be as, I don't want to say stubborn, but as set as Rob Parker is.
05:10He votes for a guy, and he's going to always vote for him.
05:12He doesn't vote for a guy, he's never going to vote for him.
05:14In a way, that's admirable, though.
05:16You know, he knows what he likes.
05:19He's a small-haul guy.
05:21And I think it works out that there are big-haul guys like JP and there are small-haul like Rob.
05:25And I think ultimately we get most of the guys in who should get in.
05:29I think it's a shame we didn't put Dave Parker in.
05:31It's a shame we didn't put Fred McGriff in.
05:34There are other guys that I think we should have put in.
05:37Mattingly, many.
05:39You know, there's many.
05:40And I'm glad we have a veterans committee.
05:42I did think Kent was a Hall of Famer, although he wasn't my first choice on that ballot.
05:47So I think they do the right thing.
05:48But it looks weird to me that somebody had 7% of the vote five years after he's retired.
05:54And now he's got 78.
05:56And again, I thought Andrew Jones was a Hall of Famer.
05:58And now I kind of think, I didn't vote for Bernie and Edmund.
06:03I think they're both Hall of Famers.
06:04And I wouldn't object to Kenny Lofton either.
06:07So I don't know.
06:08Why are we tough on center field?
06:09That's the most romantic, mystical position that there is, right?
06:14John, in some way, I've covered the sport since the mid-'80s.
06:17So that's 40 years.
06:18In those 40 years, the only two center fielders I covered, Kirby Puckett and Ken Griffey,
06:22were the only two who got in until yesterday, two more.
06:25And so I'm with you.
06:26I think that there was something almost mythical about, like, Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.
06:31It's literally a song.
06:32And Griffey.
06:33And we, like, made that the thing.
06:36And maybe we really – and by the way, that includes me.
06:38Like, I notice how fallible my ballot could be when I'm like, you know what?
06:44Was I – should I have calmed down?
06:46And Jim Edmonds is a – he's not Ken Griffey, but he's a Hall of Famer.
06:50Bernie Williams.
06:50Bernie Williams.
06:51You know what?
06:51I didn't vote for Bernie.
06:52Bernie, look at his playoff.
06:56Beltran, to me, was a Hall of Famer anyway, but the playoff certainly helps.
07:01I think Bernie, same thing.
07:02His bulk numbers in the playoffs are spectacular.
07:06I saw somebody on MLB, I don't remember, so I'm not going to say that Bernie was the best player on these teams.
07:12That's not true.
07:13Hopefully we didn't forget Derek Jeter.
07:15He was the best player, right?
07:16I mean, you were there, right?
07:17You were there every game.
07:18Derek Jeter is the best player.
07:20But just because you're the second best player on the greatest dynasty ever.
07:24Well, look at this way, John.
07:25Look at how many Braves who couldn't beat the Yankees.
07:27That's what I was just going to say.
07:29Like, all these Braves are getting in.
07:31They have better PR than the Yankees.
07:32Yeah, what are the Yankees?
07:33I always hear there's Yankee bias.
07:35Yes.
07:36There's no Yankee bias.
07:38Jeter, that's so ridiculous.
07:39Jeter, Pazara, and Torrey, right?
07:42Well, are we going to count Tim Raines, right?
07:45And does Andrew Jones?
07:46No, Andrew Jones is after.
07:47He was after, and Tim Raines was, Hall of Fame case is from mainly Expos.
07:53Two and a half, then.
07:54We got two and a half.
07:55I think the Braves had about seven, right?
07:58Yeah.
07:58Yeah, the Sheralds got in, right?
07:59I know GMs get in.
08:02I don't know.
08:02Ultimately, I think Cashman gets in.
08:04Right.
08:04At the point in the, you know, like when his career is over.
08:07How many GMs actually get into the Hall of Fame?
08:10Not a lot.
08:11Not a lot.
08:11Pat Gillick.
08:12Thank you, John.
08:12Thank you, John.
08:12Thank you, John.
08:12Thank you, John.
08:12Thank you, John.
08:12Thank you, John.
08:12Thank you, John.
08:12Thank you, John.
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08:13Thank you, John.
08:13Thank you, John.
08:14Thank you, John.
08:14Thank you, John.
08:15Thank you, John.
08:15Thank you, John.
08:15Thank you, John.
08:15Thank you, John.
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08:16Thank you, John.
08:16Thank you, John.
08:17Thank you, John.
08:17Thank you, John.
08:18Thank you, John.
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08:18Thank you, John.
08:18Thank you, John.
08:19Thank you, John.
08:20Thank you, John.
08:20Thank you, John.
08:20Thank you, John.
08:21Thank you, John.
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