The 5-year waiting period is stupid, too. What is the point of making Greg Maddux wait another 4 years?

I am not sure, but I remember asking this question a long time ago and someone responding to me that there were some concerns about people retiring, being voted in, and then un-retiring.
If this is the rationale, maybe players could sign some sort of contract for inclusion on the ballot that would prevent them from coming back once their name is included? {although this might have meant that Rickey Henderson never got in because he would never have signed such a waiver.}
Also, I think there should be some way to throw out voters. Anyone who didn’t vote for Rickey Henderson should be ineligible to vote. I think there were some people who did not vote for TEd Williams, or Babe Ruth, or Willie Mays on their first ballots, too. These actions should completely disqualify you from ever voting again – you have obviously not got the temperament to put aside your petty, sniveling grievances in order to objectively judge someone’s accomplishment at sport.
I think, to this date, Tom Seaver has the record for the highest voting percentage on his first ballot. Seaver was an all time wonder, to be sure. But anyone who thinks that he was somehow “more deserving” than Mays, or Ruth, or Williams, or Aaron, needs to have their head checked. It’s like that idiot George King who didn’t include Pedro Martinez on his MVP ballot in 1999 because pitchers were not all-around players – a year after he had included two pitchers on his MVP ballot. Using votes like this to shore up petty grievances …
{catching myself ranting, stopping now…}
Very well played with the tag, by the way.
Good luck, Bert!