For me, I thought Edgar Martinez WAS dominant; he was absolutely one of the most feared hitters of his time.

Jim Caple posted a great HoF article here; one of the few pro Morris pieces i’ve seen out there. He says it like it is; he covered Morris, and holds to this day the opinions of those in the game at the time who “valued him highly.”

My ballot: Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, McGwire, Raines, Bagwell, Piazza, mostly for your reasons above. Sosa: I can’t deny his production. Piazza: I actually was looking for a reason not to include him, but the stats won me over.

others: Biggio is most notably absent, but when it came right down to it, I don’t think I ever viewed him as a top 5 player in the league. Seemed like more of an accumulator. Edgar was similar: I thought he was an extremely good hitter, but maybe he is hurt by playing in Griffey’s shadow. He seemed like a good complementary piece. Trammell is kind of the anti-Piazza, I felt like he was a top player and wanted to vote for him, but the stats just didn’t back it up. I also think there is a little bit of voter bias here: I saw trammell when I was a kid, and he had a real positive effect on me that continues to this day, and Biggio was the opposite. He played his career while I was older, and I viewed him as good, not great. Murphy had the peak years, but just not enough of them. As for Morris and Schilling, I’d put Schilling in before Morris, but both failed due to their competition. That doesn’t seem fair, but it is honest at least. They just didn’t seem of the caliber of the other guys on the list.

My 2 cents; I think the Hall is a museum, and If i’m going to the museum of professional baseball then players who took steroids and succeeded are no less a big a part of the game than the pitchers who pitched in 1968, nor those who played on greenies all those years, nor those who hit in the .430s during the deadball era. But that’s not what most of the BBWAA writers think, so we’ll be having this argument for the next decade.

Campinella; probably #4 for me ever. MLB’s Prime 9 ranked him 4th as well, behind (in order) Bench, Berra, Piazza. Campinella was ahead of Rodriguez, Fisk and a few others guys. I’m a bit too young to have seen him play, but a 3-time MVP says enough for me. I wouldn’t be too upset if someone argued that he was #1 or #2; he was a great player.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten less strict about who I will let in to the HOF. I think it is because all the players being voted on now I actually saw them all play and I have a connection to them.

As for PED’s in the HOF I would think sooner or later you are going to have to put some of them in, it all was sadly part of the game and almost everyone was complicit in it to some degree, although you may disagree. Also Clemens was never legally guilty of anything which complicates the issue.

Roy Campanella is missing from your list of great hitting catchers. Not to take anything away from Piazza for hitting or Berra, Bench, or I-Rod but there is a good chance that Campy might have been the best all around catcher ever or his name should be in the discussion. His playing time was short; he just barely meets the eligibility requirements of 10 seasons for the HOF, he didn’t come up until the year after Jackie Robinson and a car crash left him partial paralyze.

I wish I was old enough to see him play both my father and aunt say they never saw a better all around catcher. His defense was second to none and he did get 3 MVP’s.