Andre Dawson elected to Hall of Fame, Mattingly not close

Andre Dawson was the only player selected to the Hall of Fame for 2010, while Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar missed the cut by less than 10 votes.

Interestingly enough, I actually fought for Dawson to make the Hall in a class project at Quinnipiac. I guess my case was pretty convincing.

I'm quite surprised Blyleven and Alomar missed out. I didn't see Blyleven pitch, but I saw Alomar and I always thought he was a Hall of Famer. Yankee notables who missed out are Don Mattingly, of course, and Tim Raines. Here are the full results (via LoHud):

Name – Votes – Pct.
Andre Dawson — 420 — 77.9%
Bert Blyleven – 400 – 74.2%
Roberto Alomar – 397 — 73.7%
Jack Morris – 282 – 52.3%
Barry Larkin – 278 – 51.6%
Lee Smith – 255 – 47.3%
Edgar Martinez – 195 — 36.2%
Tim Raines – 164 – 30.4%
Mark McGwire – 128 — 23.7%
Alan Trammell — 121 – 22.4%
Fred McGriff — 116 – 21.5%
Don Mattingly — 87 – 16.1%
Dave Parker – 82 – 15.2%
Dale Murphy — 63 – 11.7%
Harold Baines — 33 – 6.1%
Andres Galarraga – 22 – 4.1%
Robin Ventura — 7 – 1.3%
Ellis Burks — 2 – 0.4%
Eric Karros — 2 — 0.4%
Kevin Appier — 1 – 0.2%
Pat Hentgen — 1 – 0.2%
David Segui — 1 – 0.2%
Mike Jackson — 0 – 0.0%
Ray Lankford — 0 – 0.0%
Shane Reynolds — 0 – 0.0%
Todd Zeile — 0 — 0.0%

Hall honors Henderson, Rice

Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were welcomed into the Hall of Fame today. Henderson was a sure fit for the hall, receiving 94.8% of the votes - his first time on the ballot. On the other hand, Rice squeaked in with 76.4% - his last time on the ballot.

I understand Rice's case for the hall, but only if they include Andre Dawson too. Dawson hit 56 more homers and had 140 more runs batted in than Rice. You might say that Dawson also played five more years than Rice, but in my opinion, that is another positive for Dawson! Longevity was one of Rice's weaknesses, and led to his retirement. Dawson also had speed and defense elements in his game (318 stolen bases and 8 Gold Gloves) - elements that Rice lacked. The bright side is that Dawson was next on the list of top vote-getters securing 67%, and still potentially has nine more years on the ballot.

Unfortunately for our remaining Yankees on the ballot, Tommy John (31.7%) and Don Mattingly (11.9%) failed to earn the HoF status from the voters yet again.