BBA Recommends Alomar, Blyleven For Hall Of Fame

BBA RECOMMENDS ALOMAR, BLYLEVEN FOR HALL OF FAME

Second baseman Roberto Alomar and starting pitcher Bert Blyleven were named today as the recommended 2011 Hall of Fame class by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

Alomar, who is on the ballot for his second year, and Blyleven, looking at his fourteenth time, both finished just shy of the BBA's recommendation in 2010 at just a fraction under the 75% threshold. As was the case last year, both Alomar and Blyleven received the same amount of votes from the BBA membership in 2010, but this time it was enough to push them into the recommended status.

Both players received 117 votes out of the 154 ballots cast, resulting in a 75.97% approval rate. Again echoing the vote taken at the end of 2009, shortstop Barry Larkin was the third man in the balloting, missing selection by being named on just 70.78% of the ballots.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance's vote has no impact on the official vote taken by the Baseball Writers of America and the members of the Hall of Fame. However, the BBA has been often a predictor of awards granted by the writers, matching their selection in fourteen of the sixteen major awards in the last two postseasons combined.

The final voting results are as follows:

Roberto Alomar, 75.97%

Bert Blyleven, 75.97%

Barry Larkin, 70.78%

Jeff Bagwell, 62.34%

Edgar Martinez, 59.09%

Tim Raines, 54.55%

Mark McGwire, 44.16%

Lee Smith, 38.96%

Alan Trammell, 35.71%

Don Mattingly, 33.12%

Larry Walker, 31.17%

Fred McGriff, 27.27%

Jack Morris, 25.97%

Rafael Palmerio, 20.78%

Dale Murphy, 16.23%

Dave Parker, 12.34%

Harold Baines, 10.39%

Kevin Brown, 9.09%

John Franco, 7.14%

Tino Martinez, 5.19%

John Olerud, 5.19%

Al Leiter, 4.55%

Bret Boone, 3.90%

Juan Gonzalez, 3.90%

Marquis Grissom, 2.60%

Benito Santiago, 1.30%

Bobby Higginson, 0.65%

Charles Johnson, 0.65%

Kirk Rueter, 0.65%

Carlos Baerga, 0.00%

Raul Mondesi, 0.00%

BJ Surhoff, 0.00%

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was established in the fall of 2009 for the purpose of fostering collaboration and communication among bloggers from across baseball. The BBA has quickly grown to its current membership of 256 blogs, including some of the most prominent blogs on the internet, spanning all major league teams and various other general aspects of the game.

More information about the BBA can be found at their website, www.baseballbloggersalliance.com, or by contacting the founder and administrator of the organization, Daniel Shoptaw, at founder@baseballbloggersalliance.com.

WAR Graphs: Larry Walker v Jim Rice

Dave Cameron reminded us again yesterday that we need to spend even more time hanging out at Fangraphs. Like I needed another excuse, Fangraphs is already dominating most of my daily Internet time. I barely even have time to Facebook stalk my ex-girlfriends anymore. But Dave is right, we don't utilize WAR Graphs enough at this site and it's quite the fun tool to have around during the Hall of Fame season. I'll have my ballot posted soon but let's take a look at a simple one right now.

I should note that I am with all of those wonderful number crunching nerds who don't believe Rice deserves to have a plaque in the Hall. But he is in and a lazy measuring stick for Hall worthiness of outfielders. Here is what he looks like against Larry Walker...



I realize that WAR isn't THE perfect stat but for HOF purposes it paints a pretty nice picture for Hall of Fame purposes. Does Jim Rice deserve to be enshrined? No, but that's adorable that you even asked. However, what's done is done and if Rice eventually got in, so should Larry Walker. Still don't know what WAR is? Here, I'm not doing all of the work for you.

Epic Moments In Announcing: Bert Blyleven

Hey kids, Christmas may be in our rearview but I'm still on vacation this week. I'll be around if anything big happens like the Angels signing another 35-year-old reliever or the Yankees buying Cuba. Otherwise, my posts over the next week will be lazy, filled with videos or hastily written in response to a drunken argument I just had at a bar.

Last week I posted a video showing off Bert Blyleven's acting chops and I'll continue my Blyleven video Hall of Fame campaign with this classic clip of him doing color commentary. That color was blue and the language is NSFW. So enjoy this epic moment in announcing while you try to figure out why his 90.1 WAR DOESN'T deserve to be in the Hall of Fame...



1. Pulls of the name "Bert" - check
2. Rocks an awesome beard - check
3. Over 90 career WAR - check
4. Nickname "The Frying Dutchman" is also a Simpsons restaurant - check
5. Threw a no-hitter - check
6. Doesn't mind dropping the f bomb on air - check
7. Circle me, Bert - check
8. Played for the Angels - check

Yep, the only way I could like Blyleven anymore was if he drank during telecasts and sexually harassed production assistants Mad Men style.

If one video wasn't enough for you, some wise person turned to xtranormal to recreate that magical moment in Twins broadcast history...



If I've somehow missed your favorite Bert Blyleven video, please make me even lazier and send me a link to it. Extra credit if there's profanity included.

Rangers Take a Chance on Webb

After missing out on Cliff Lee and declining to answer Jose Canseco's phone calls, the Texas Rangers agreed to a one-year contract with 2006 NL Cy Young winner Brandon Webb. The deal is full of incentives for the former Diamondbacks right-hander, who was Cy runner-up to Jake Peavy in 2007 and Tim Lincecum in 2008, then pitched opening day for Arizona in 2009, but never again.

If Webb stays healthy and earns a spot in an already-solid Texas rotation, it could prevent the defending AL champions from moving closer Neftali Perez or set up man Alexi Ogando out of a strong bullpen. Of course, if Webb doesn't stay healthy not only will his Penguin Clause not kick in, the Rangers may have to ask Canseco to reprise his role as Terrible Pitcher at the 2006 GBL All-Star Game.

Merry Christmas From Off Base

I'll be spending my day tomorrow driving from New Orleans to Atlanta. And while that might sound like more fun than hanging out with your crazy sister-in-law Suse, let me remind you that I won't be able to drink while driving. Legally. So I'd like to take this time to wish all of our Santa-cult followers a Merry Xmas. If I wasn't so busy doing everything at the very last minute, I could have made an Off Base Christmas list or an Angels list. *hint, Adrian Beltre and NOT Scott Podsednik* But I don't have the time, so enjoy this glorious video of Alison Brie singing the sexiest version of "Santa Baby" followed by collection of dogs wearing Christmas hats...



On to dogs in hats!!

Dave Niehaus Celebrated In Rap Form

Legendary Mariners' announcer Dave Niehaus passed away last month at age 75. And finally, there is a tribute worthy of his greatness. That's right, Seattle native, white rapper Macklemore spit out some phat lyrics yo. That's what the kids are saying now, right? Macklemore actually does a pretty good job with the song. He's no Cracker Jack but, come on, the Jack just owns the baseball rap scene.



Niehaus coined the famous phrases "My, oh my!" and "Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it is grand salami time!" The latter of which is rivaled only by Derwood's RBI Baseball call of "Dip the pickle in the cream cheese and stick it in the toaster, that's a stand up single!"

Steve Balboni Fan Club Formed

Offbasepercentage would like to announce the forming of the first of many fan clubs: The Steve Balboni Fan Club.

$4 membership includes:

* A Balboni Ground Outs in 1987 lithograph
* One piece of specially-marked Balboni Bologna™
* A personal birthday voice mail message from Balboni himself, or Balboni impersonator/former high school classmate Danny Mitchell
* A copy of Balboni's auto-biography Don't Look Back, Just Go To First If It's Ball 4




Email mtd or derwoodmorris @offbasepercentage.com to join

Bert Blyleven's Acting Chops

It's Hall of Fame season and this should finally be the year that Bert Blyleven and his 90.1 WAR get elected. But for those still unconverted, looking at you Jon Heyman, may I present Bert Blyleven's acting skills for your consideration.



If the acting doesn't win you over, look at that magnificent beard. If that's not HOF worthy, I don't know what is.