re: Baseball Hall of Fame ballot out today....felt dirty looking at it..who gets in?

As a Hall watcher, this is probably the most important ballot in BBWAA history. I'm genuinely curious how they are going to treat Clemens and Bonds, who are no question about it, inner circle Hall of Famers from a performance standpoint. Any vote they do not get is a voter who literally will not vote for any "steroid" player. It is an automatic disqualification for those voters. Because there is simply no way to deny them entry based on performance.

I think Bonds and Clemens will get between 40-50% of the vote.

I also feel that our recent run of borderline candidates getting in is the old guard's last stand. The BBWAA skews older, and they hate the new sabermetrically inclined writers. I think the statistical cases for Raines and Blyleven actually hurt their candidacies, and the poor statistical case actually helped Perez and Dwason get in, and will help Morris get in.

I think Morris and Piazza get in. Maybe Biggio. But there is no way a "steroid candidate" gets in until Bonds does. He's the guy. You cannot let in a guy with a steroid taint and keep out Bonds and have any hope of legitimacy.

This is the most loaded ballot of my lifetime. Two of the greatest players who ever lived, the greatest hitting catcher in history, the second or third best leadoff hitter ever, a top 10 1st baseman, and one of the best "rate" players ever in Biggio.

Oh, and I have a better chance of getting elected to Cooperstown than Sosa.