Since you didn't ask... DDGP's 10 choices for the 2011 Baseball HOF

The Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) announced this week its candidates from which the Baseball Writers of America Association (BBWAA) will select for the 2011 Cooperstown class. Other mouthpieces with slightly more credibility than the Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) pop off and offer their unsolicited opinions. Here are our choices:

• Roberto Alomar
• Bert Blyleven
• Jeff Bagwell
• John "Generalissimo" Franco
• Juan Gonzalez
• Barry Larkin
• Edgar Martinez
• Tim "Rock" Raines
• Lee Smith
• Larry Walker

The DDGP made its case for Marinez' selection. This year's HOF is packed with so many worthy candidates that a BBWAA voter would find it challenging to give one "favorite son" first timer -- Charles Johnson (Florida and Colorado), Al Leiter (Florida and New York), Tino Martinez (New York and Seattle before the latter foolishly traded Tino to the Yankees for a handful of beans), John Olerud (Toronto and Seattle), B.J. Surhoff (Milwaukee and Baltimore) -- their moment and consideration.

This year's ballot is chockful of first-time nominees who could find themselves enshrined in Cooperstown. The 1991 Rookie of the Year (ROY) and 1994 Most Valuable Player (MVP), Bagwell (.297 career average, 2,214 hits, 449 HR, 1,529 RBI, .408 SlG .547 OBP) represented one half Houston's "Killer Bs" that brought the World Series to the Astrodome. Four-time All-Star Franco proved to one of the consistent relief pitchers during the 1980s and 1990s (90-87, 2.89 ERA, 424 saves). Two-time MVP Juan Gonzalez made three All-Star appearances and won six silver slugger awards (.295, 388 doubles, 434 HR, 1,404 RBI, .561 SLG). 1997 MVP Larry Walker (.313, 383 HR, 1,311 RBI, .400 OBP, .565 SLG, .986 fielding percentage) made five All-Star rosters and snagged seven Gold Glove awards.

Two ballot sophomore -- Alomar (2.724 hits, .300, .984 fielding percentage) and 1995 National League MVP Larkin (.295, 2,340 hits, 379 stolen bases, eight Silver Slugger Awards, .975 fielding percentage) -- were, respectively, one of the standout second basemen and shortstops in 1990s. Seven-time All-Star Raines (.294, 2,605 hits, 1,571 runs scored, 808 stolen bases) is overdue. Blyleven (287-250, 3.31 ERA, 3.701 strikeouts, 1.198 WHIP) and Smith (478 saves, 3.03 ERA, three-time league Rolaids Relief Man of the Year) are long overdue.

The observant reader noted that we did not include Rafael Palmeiro in our list. Our omission was not inadvertent. The three-time All-Star boasted incredible, HOF-worthy credentials during his two-decade career: .288, .371 OBP, .515 SLG, 3,020 hits, 585 doubles, 1,835 RBIs. Admission to the select circle of Major League Baseball (MLB) sluggers -- Henry Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray -- who hit 3,000-hit, 500-home club should guarantee HOF admission. (Incidentally and more important, thankfully, Barry Bonds came up short with 2,935 hits.) But, alas, MLB suspended Palmeiro for 10 days after the first baseman tested positive for steroids in 2005. Palmeiro had spent the prior off-season testifying before Congress that he had never used steroids - and admonished those who used performance-enhancing drugs. When a positive drug test said otherwise in 2005, Palmeiro maintained that he inadvertently ingested a supplement that contained steroids.

As Palmeiro hasn't expanded upon his answer in 2005, we don't know if the player's positive test was an aberration in an otherwise stellar career. Pitcher Andy Pettite admitted using human growth hormones (HGH) to recover from an elbow injury during the 2002 season. Alex Rodriguez confessed to using steroids from 2001 to 2003 -- a span that includes 569 hits, 208 homers and 305 RBIs if you take A-Rod at his word. Mark McGwire apologized for ingesting steroids "off and on" for a decade during his 17-year career.

Until Palmeiro comes clean, we can't assess his career stats -- and whether he is HOF worthy.

Are we howling in the woods? Probably. It's park privilege.

Second verse, same as the first: Elect Gar-ed to the Baseball Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) will release the names of Major League Baseball players eligible for Cooperstown immortality. Again, the Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) makes the case for at least 75 percent of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voters to elect Seattle Mariner Edgar "Gar-Ed" Martinez for induction next July.

Although he played primarily as a designated hitter, Marinez put out offense-driven statistics that deserve due consideration. In 18 seasons -- some cut short with injuries -- Martinez cranked out 2,247 hits in 7,213 at-bats for a .312 career batting average. Martinez belted 514 doubles and 309 home runs, and drove in 1,261 runs. His average, on-base (.418) and slugging (.515) percentages exceed those of indisputable first-time HOF selections Ernie "Mr. Cub" Banks (.274, .330, .500), Reggie "Mr. October" Jackson (.262., .356, .4900 and "Captain" Carl Yastrzemski (.285, .379., 462).

Martinez continues to face the designated-hitter bias and bashing of so-called baseball authorities including sportscaster Bob "Mr. Know-It-All" Costas. But other -- and larger -- obstacles loom. First, because the BBWAA selected only one ballplayer -- a very deserving Andre "Hawk" Dawson -- to the HOF for 2010, the next ballot is cluttered with overlooked candidates who will garner more votes this time around. These individuals include: Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven (in his 14th year of eligibility), Barry Larkn, Tim "Rock" Raines and Lee Smith. The 2011 rookie crop of HOF candidates includes those likely to earn HOF selection sometime in the next 15 years -- sooner if not later (Jeff Bagwell, John "Generalissimo" Franco, Julio Franco, Larry Walker). Another group includes those players whose candidacies will receive serious consideration (Kevin Brown, Marquis Grissom, Tino Martinez, John Olerud, Benito Santiago, B.J. Surhoff). Yet another group will receive votes but not enough to remain on the 2012 ballot (Carlos Baerga, Bret Boone, Raúl Mondesi, José Offerman, Rey Sanchez).

And then there's the 180-pound -- probably more now -- proverbial elephant in the living room (aka, Rafael Palmero) with whom voters likely share conflicting emotions. Does the BBWAA place more weight on the HOF stats (.288, 3,020 hits, 569 home runs, 1,385 runs batted in) than the positive test for steroids in Palmeiro's last season? We'll know in January.

Edgar received votes from 36 percent of the BBWAA this year. Martinez now must compete with a large pool of contenders and hope to receive the compulsory five percent of votes to stay on the 2012 ballot.

Last year we likened Martinez to a chocolate lab at the Genesee Dog Park. The HOF needs more chocolate labs than pit bulls.

Things would been less complicated if the BBWAA listened to us last year and voted Martinez in the 2010 HOF.

Thirty-six percent of baseball writers can't be wrong

Cooperstown will have to wait another year.

The Baseball Writers Association of American (BWAA) selected the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) Class of 2010 today. The Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) fell short in assisting in the media campaign to secure former Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez his rightful -- and hopefully, eventual -- place in Cooperstown. Of those eligible to vote, 36.2 percent of the BWAA members supported Edgar's first HOF candidacy.

A nominee has 15 tries at the HOF... provided that he garners at least five percent of the support of BWAA writers the prior year. Edgar boasts a solid foundation upon which to build his candidacy. The sportswriters voted him ahead of Tim "Rock" Raines (30.4 percent), Mark McGwire (23.7 percent), Alan Trammell (22.4 percent), Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff (21.4 percent), and Don "Donnie Baseball" Mattingly (16.1 percent).

Of the talking heads who disputed to Edgar's nomination, NBC and Baseball Network anchor Bob Costas' opposition seems the most surprising. For one who professes to know all, Costas is dead wrong in his assessment of Edgar as nothing more than an overrated and glorified pinch hitter. In a DDGP analogy, Costas is the mouthy pooch that incessantly yaps at the other canines... and then runs tail-between-the-legs to the gate when an exasperated bigger dog barks back. Stick a sock in it, Mr. Know-it-All. We liked you better when you were a quirky late-night, talk show host.

As they said in A Little Night Music, "Maybe next year."

Meanwhile, congratulations to Andre "Hawk" Dawson, the only former player who garnered the necessary 75 percent of the BBWA to earn a place in Cooperstown. If class were the sole criterion to the Hall, you would be a first-ballot selection.

Time to turn in your HOF ballot

The Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) makes its final plea for 2009. We strongly encourage voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BWWAA) to elect former Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez to the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF).

We don't know what odds Vegas or Atlantic City place on Edgar's selection. There's undoubtedly a cabal of sportswriters who are loathe to select the first HOF designated hitter. We can only hope that progressive-minded BWWAA members will prevail.

Once more, here are our choices... if the DDGP had a voice in the HOF selection process:

• Roberto Alomar;
• Bert Blyleven;
• Andre Dawson;
• Barry Larkin;
• Edgar Martinez;
• Don Mattingly;
• Fred McGriff;
• Tim Raines;
• Lee Smith;
• Jack Morris.

Here's to hoping that the HOF Class of 2010 includes Edgar. The guy had too much class to ever spit in an umpire's face.

The world will know all on January 6.

If you don't vote for Edgar for the Baseball HOF, this dog will eat your iPhone

Our friends -- voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) -- have less than two weeks to return their ballots to the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). As ballots postmarked by December 31, 2009 will determine the HOF's Class of 2010, the Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) will continue to press the case to select former Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez.

We at the DDGP have argued Edgar's case by presenting the facts and figures that support our hero's enshrinement in Cooperstown Now, we're taking a page from the National Lampoon (c. 1973): teeth-baring intimidation.

Since you didn't ask... DDGP's 10 choices for the Baseball HOF

As the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voters mull the résumés of the candidates for the Hall of Fame’s (HOF) Class of 2010, the Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) has selected the 10 nominees we consider Cooperstown worthy. No, the DDGP doesn’t have a vote… but neither do most of the mouthpieces on sports-talk radio.

• Roberto Alomar
• Bert Blyleven
• Andre Dawson
• Barry Larkin
• Edgar Martinez
• Don Mattingly
• Fred McGriff
• Jack Morris
• Tim "Rock" Raines
• Lee Arthur Smith

The DDGP has made its case for Seattle Mariners All-Star Edgar Martinez. Roberto Alomar (2,724 hits, .300, .984 fielding percentage) and Barry Larkin (.295, eight Silver Slugger awards, 1995 Most Valuable Player) were, respectively, among the standout second basemen and shortstops of the 1990s. Tim “Rock” Raines’ statistics (2,605 hits, .294, 808 stolen bases) surprised us.

Bert Blyleven (287-250 record, 3.31 ERA, 3,701 Ks), Andre Dawson (2,774 hits, 438 HR, 1,591 RBI), and Lee Smith (478 saves, 3.03 ERA, three-time league Rolaids Relief Man of the Year) are overdue. Fred McGriff (2,490 hits,493 HR, .509 slugging percentage) and Jack Morris (254-186, 2,478 Ks, ratio of 5.8 Ks in nine innings) rank as the “best of the rest.”

Don Mattingly (2,153 hits, .307, 1985 MVP, nine Gold Gloves in 14 lumbago-afflicted seasons) won the coin toss over Harold Baines (2,866 hits, 384 HR, .465 slugging percentage in 22 seasons). The Internet perpetuates the theory -- one that Mattingly vehemently denies -- that Donnie Baseball injured his back while engaged in “clubhouse horseplay” with Yankee teammate Bob Shirley in 1987. The account was in question, but the chronic injury was real. One year later, Shirley was back on the line with Laverne at Shotz Brewery.

We considered Mark McGwire, the steroid allegations notwithstanding. Major League Baseball began testing all players for steroids in the 2004 season, three years after McGwire retired. Counter the career homers (583) and slugging percentage (.588) against 1,167 hits and .263 in average I6 seasons. Putting it in a GGDP context, if McGwire were a dog denizen he'd be the large unruly canine that plays too rough with the other hounds. The park "parents" would glare holes through him before his owner tethered him for five minutes, released him for an hour, and finally loaded him in the Tahoe SUV. Mattingly is more akin to the Weimaraner that plays hard, gets injured in the frolic, and makes an unplanned trip to Animal Critical Care and Emergency Services (ACCES) in Lake City.

If ours were a real ballot, only two or three of our 10 selections would crack the 75 percent votes needed for HOF election. We hope that Edgar Martinez is one of them.

Put Gar-ed where he belongs: in the Hall of Fame

Of the 15 rookies appearing on the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) ballot, no candidate will receive greater scrutiny than former Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez. A thumbs-up from 75 percent of the ballots cast by Writers Association of America (BBWAA) writers means enshrinement in Cooperstown, and the Mariners organization is pulling out all stops to make the case for Edgar.

Leaving no stone unturned, the Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) -- an unlikely source of baseball blogging -- will leap in the fray When all is said and done, we at the DDGP can say that we've done our small part in advocating Edgar's rightful place in Cooperstown.

Some will tune out our message. Hard-headed fundamentalists can't get past the fact that Edgar spent much of his career as a designated hitter (DH). Get over yourselves and your 20th century values. The polar icecap is melting, cars run on electricity and the Big City Slider Station cooks five mini-burgers in five minutes.

Major League Baseball (MLB) threw down the gauntlet in 1973 when the American League implemented the full-time designated hitter. BBWAA scribes shouldn't penalize Edgar because the Mariners organization determined that he would best serve the ball club at DH. HOFers Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and Eddie Murray (never cared much of his movies) spent portions of their careers at DH. The old-school prejudice against DHs resembles one of two decades ago when voters contemplated the candidacies of relief pitchers like Rollie Fingers ("the guy doesn't pitch nine innings"). Try and stop Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman from entering the HOF ranks -- lest you want a 98-mph baseball whizzing past your left earlobe.

Others devalue Edgar's career statistics (7, 213 at bats, 2,247 hits, 309 home runs), which they allege don't much the totals posted by Cal Ripken (11,511 at bats), George Brett (3.154 hits), or Willie Mays (660 HRs). But consider this: With one or two thousand less ABs, Edgar collected more career HRs than HOFs Robin Yount (251), Brooks Robinson (268), or Ryne Sandberg (282). Edgar's 2,247 career hits outnumber those of HOFers Johnny Bench (2,048), Willie McCovey (2,211), and Duke Snider (2,216).

You can't dismiss that Edgar wielded a wicked bat. Consider that his career average (.312), slugging percentage (.515) and on-base percentage (.418) blow away those of HOFs Ernie Banks (.274, .500, .330), (Reggie Jackson (.262, .490, .356), and Carl Yastrzemski (.285, .462, .379).

Forget the most inane argument that Edgar never played in the World Series. Neither did HOFs Ernie Banks, Rod Carew, or Gaylord Perry. Meanwhile, reviled former Mariners third baseman Scott Spiezio has two World Series rings. What's your point, caller?

Finally, there are the intangibles: Edgar is a solid citizen and helluva of a great guy. You never heard his name associated with steroid use, barroom brawls or Madonna. If Edgar were a canine, he'd be a Labrador retriever: smart, affable and loyal. He'd be welcome any time at the Genesse off-leash area, and the best-behaved dog at the park.

Ken Griffey Jr. is a given for Cooperstown (1997 Most Valuable Player (MVP), 1992 All Star Game MVP, 10-time Gold Glove and seven-time Silver Slugger winner, 630 home runs). Ichiro Suzuki is a lock for the HOF (2001 Rookie of the Year and MVP, 2007 All-Star Game MVP, 2,030 hits in nine seasons, nine-straight seasons of 200 hits, nine-time Gold Glove winner). Edgar belongs in the HOF with his former battery mates.

As Archie Bunker would say, "Case closed, meathead."

Compare Edgar's lifetime stats to those in the HOF:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_batting.shtml

Check out Edgar's future home:

http://community.baseballhall.org/Page.aspx?pid=329