According to what?

Say this guy gave Surhoff and Tito token votes but as a result had to leave off other guys such as Alomar and his preference of Morris/Byleven. And say 9 other people did something similar leaving the same two guys off the ballot, and as a result both Alomar and Byleven/Morris missed the 75% threshold by less than ten votes.

If people are going to just be giving their votes away becuase they promised them to children, then at least give them all an extra vote so it can’t adversely affect the people that actually deserve to be in there.

Who on earth (appearntly other than this goof) is dumb enough to promise a high school kid a FREAKING HALL OF FAME VOTE!

Kudos to the man for following through on the promise, but seriously, who does that? And honestly, if he promised Surhoff a HOF vote while still in high school, I’d love to know what kind of outrageous promises he’s made to his children through the last serveral years that he now feels morally obligated to follow through on.

You probably remember that Surhoff was the first pick of the 1985 draft out of North Carolina. Well, my buddy Chardon Jimmy has a brother who pitched for Ohio U around that time, and he once got to face Surhoff. Needless to say, it did not go well. Surhoff crushed a home run that, according to Jimmy, was still going up when it was last seen. It was a monster homer, the sort of brush with greatness that nobody in the family ever forgets. Whenever Surhoff would show up on television for the next two decades, Jimmy would call his brother and say: “Um, Surhoff is up. I was just thinking: Hey, you faced him. What would you throw him here?”

I chose Tino because he was at the heart of a 4-time world championship team.

As for Alomar, I did not vote for him last year and seriously considered changing my vote for him. I expect him to get in on this election, so I won’t have a chance to vote for him next year, but I’m fine with that.

It is a nice little story he gives there. And make no mistake, Surhoff is a great guy. I have lived between Baltimore and DC for over 20 years and his charity work (especially with autism) is beyond reproach. I just wish Stanton had put a little more thought into the other votes he made.

PART I
In 1976, I was just out of college and working my first job at the Port Chester (NY) Daily Item, covering a Babe Ruth 13-year-old tournament. The starting pitcher for the team from Rye was supposed to be their star, a big kid named Rich Surhoff, whose father Dick had played for the NY Knicks in the 1950s. Surhoff did, in fact, make it t the major leagues, spending nine games with the Philadelphia Phillies. But that day, the pitcher’s younger brother was the one who caught my attention. He was only 12 years old and playing with the older kids, playing shortstop. On consecutive plays, I saw him range behind third base to the left field line and throw out a runner, then range the other way all the way behind first to catch a tricky pop that eluded a teammate.
After that game, I told BJ I thought that someday, I’d be watching him in the major leagues. For the next few years, I watched BJ become a local star at Rye HS, covering his games occasionally. And I remember telling him then that someday, I’d be voting for him for the Hall of Fame. Surhoff, went on to a career at UNC, became the No. 1 pick of the draft, played on our first Olympic baseball team. He had a very good (though not great) career for 18 years in MLB. And then there he was on my ballot (I’ve been a BBWAA member since 1985 and have had a Hall of Fame vote since ’95). So I remembered that promise (though I honestly can’t say if BJ does) and checked the box.
PART 3
The reaction to that astounds me. I expected people who didn’t know the story to question that vote. But the sheer level of nastiness, the anger, amazes me. I really didn’t think BJ would get elected. I’d be surprised if he got another vote besides mine. And I’m fine with that. BJ was a very good player and a good guy (check out the work he’s done for autism, sparked by his autistic son). He earned the fulfillment of that 35-year-old promise. And who, exactly did that hurt? If voting for BJ cost someone who deserved entry, I wouldn’t have done it. And if the rules said that everybody who got one vote got in, then I definitely wouldn’t have done it. But it didn’t.