Alomar and Blyleven Welcome to Cooperstown!

Congrats to Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven, both deserving of enshrinement in the Hall of Fame!

Bert Blyleven gets in on his last try with 79.7% of the vote and after not getting in last year because of reasons like "nobody should ever be unanimous" and mythical idea of a "first ballot hall of famer", Roberto Alomar gets in on his second try with 90% of the vote.

I don't have a vote (yet) but here is my make-believe Hall of Fame ballot and here is how all of the voting went down:

Name Votes Pct. Roberto Alomar 523 90.00% Bert Blyleven 463 79.70% Barry Larkin 361 62.10% Jack Morris 311 53.50% Lee Smith 263 45.30% Jeff Bagwell 242 41.70% Tim Raines 218 37.50% Edgar Martinez 191 32.90% Alan Trammell 141 24.30% Larry Walker 118 20.30% Mark McGwire 115 19.80% Fred McGriff 104 17.90% Dave Parker 89 15.30% Don Mattingly 79 13.60% Dale Murphy 73 12.60% Rafael Palmeiro 64 11.00% Juan Gonzalez 30 5.20% Harold Baines 28 4.80% John Franco 27 4.60% Kevin Brown 12 2.10% Tino Martinez 6 1.00% Marquis Grissom 4 0.70% Al Leiter 4 0.70% John Olerud 4 0.70% B.J. Surhoff 2 0.30% Bret Boone 1 0.20% Benito Santiago 1 0.20% Carlos Baerga 0 0.00% Lenny Harris 0 0.00% Bobby Higginson 0 0.00% Charles Johnson 0 0.00% Raul Mondesi 0 0.00% Kirk Rueter 0 0.00%

Some thoughts:

• Barry Larkin should get in next year in what will be a very weak ballot, at least considering who the voters are going for. 
• Jack Morris' chances of getting in are on very thin ice.  He barely improved this year (up only 1.2%), only has 3 more years left on the ballot and faces very tough competition in the future with the ballots in 2013 and 2014 looking stacked.  If Morris is going to get in, his best, and maybe only chance, is next year on a weak ballot before Bonds, Clemens, Mussina, Glavine, Maddux, Piazza, Biggio, Sosa and Frank Thomas enter in '13 and '14.
• Kevin Brown, WTF!   I can't really complain too much because I didn't vote for the guy, but there is a very strong argument for his inclusion and for him to not get another chance (having received less than the 5% benchmark to stay on the ballot) is very disappointing.
• I would have obviously liked to see Bagwell make it as I think he's arguably the most qualified on the list, but a 41.70% showing isn't the worst thing.  It doesn't mean that he's likely to get in, but he has a chance, and that's all I can ask for...
• Because the players who are actually linked to steroids have NO SHOT.  McGwire has lost votes each year, Palmeiro only received 11% and Kevin Brown fell off the ballot.   The Hall of Fame voters are clearly drawing a line in the sand that steroids are not welcome in Cooperstown.  I used to think that Bonds and Clemens would get in, and maybe they will, but it's looking more and more like they won't.  
• Poor Tim Raines.  As the steroid sluggers pop up on the ballots in the upcoming years there is a chance people turn their attention (or votes) towards the speedster, but 37.5% isn't too promising.