Jim Salisbury used his “On Baseball” column in the Sunday Inquirer to share his Hall of Fame ballot. The results of the vote were released today and Rickey Henderson was elected on his first try while Jim Rice got there on his 15th. You have to love the Hall of Fame, where a player who has been out of the game doesn’t deserve to get into the Hall of Fame for 14 years, and then does the 15th. I don’t recall Rice getting any base knocks in the ’08 campaign. But that’s an argument for another day, and one that is better made by Mike Schmidt.

Anyway, Salisbury voted for Henderson and Rice. And Bert Blyleven. And Andre Dawson. And Jack Morris. And Tim Raines. And Lee Smith. Jim must be nursing a serious case of carpal tunnel after working over his ballot so feverishly.

Good thing there are over 500 voters in the BBWAA who are eligible to pass judgment on Hall of Fame worthiness. Because some of them are clueless. Or have axes to grind. Or hidden agendas. Or delusions.

How else to explain that 27 voters left Rickey Henderson off their ballot while 2 voters thought Jay Bell deserved election to Cooperstown.

Anyway, back to Jim. Because he did vote for Rickey, and he didn’t vote for Jay. But he did vote for 7 players. Imagine that Sunday in late July in Cooperstown if Jim Salisbury had his way – they’d be getting rushed off the stage by the orchestra from the Oscars.

It’s not that his ballot includes anyone blatantly undeserving of election; it’s that he includes pretty much every candidate with a decent case. Andre Dawson? 2700 hits and 1500 RBI, but a pedestrian .277 BA and a very un-Hall Worthy .323 on-base percentage. Jack Morris? Was the winningest pitcher in the 80s, but never won a Cy Young, had an ERA+ of 105 (100 is average), and would go into the Hall of Fame with the highest ERA in history at 3.90. Bert Blyleven? 5th all-time in Ks and had 287 wins, but lost 250 games, too. Tim Raines? Lots of stolen bases, but so did Vince Coleman and no one seems to be clamoring for his induction. 2600 hits is good for 70th all-time, but Bill Buckner had more hits than Raines. Every one of these players, came up short of statistical milestones that generally guarantee induction: 500 HR, 300 wins, 3,000 hits. The absence of those barriers being broken leaves their candidacy to columns of statistics and player comparisons in an effort to determine greatness.

Salisbury cast his vote for the one no doubt about it Hall of Famer on the ballot. Casting a vote for Rice as well because his run of dominance from 1977-1986 was amazing is understandable as well. Heck, throw in Blyleven while you’re at it. 287 wins and 5th all-time in strikeouts sounds like a Hall of Famer to me.

That’s a Hall of Fame ballot I could live with. Voting for 6 borderline Hall of Famers on the same ballot is another thing entirely.