Ozzie and Everyone Else

by David Fleitz
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Ozzie Smith, newest member of the Hall of Fame.

Now that Ozzie Smith has been elected to the Hall of Fame, let's take our annual look at the vote totals of all the guys who didn't make it.

Here are the voting totals for the last four years. It takes 75 percent of the votes to gain election. 
                   1999         2000         2001       2002
  Ozzie Smith       ne           ne           ne        91.7%
  Gary Carter      33.8%        49.7%        64.9%      72.7
  Jim Rice         29.4         51.5         57.9       55.1
  Bruce Sutter     24.3         38.5         47.6       50.4
  Andre Dawson      ne           ne           ne        45.3
  Goose Gossage     ne          33.2         44.3       43.0
  Steve Garvey     30.2         32.0         34.2       28.4
  Tommy John       18.7         27.0         28.4       26.9
  Bert Blyleven    14.1         17.4         23.5       26.3
  Jim Kaat         20.1         25.0         27.0       23.1
  Jack Morris       ne          22.2         19.6       20.6 
  Don Mattingly     ne           ne          28.2       20.3
  Luis Tiant       10.7         17.2         12.2       18.0
  Alan Trammell     ne           ne           ne        15.7 
  Dale Murphy      19.3         23.3         18.1       14.8
  Dave Parker      16.1         20.8         16.3       14.0

        ne = not yet eligible


Rising: Gary Carter.  Carter will definitely get in next year; he fell only 11 votes short this time.  Like I've said before, his career was similar to that of Carlton Fisk, although Fisk lasted longer.

Gaining, but still behind: No one, really.  I was surprised to see that Jim Rice fell off in the voting; perhaps some of the people who would have voted for Rice cast their ballots for Andre Dawson instead.  Dawson had an impressive debut, and I don't think anybody has ever gained 45 percent his first year and failed to get in eventually.

Stagnating: Almost everybody else, especially the relief pitchers.  Gossage and Sutter failed to make much progress.  They may be splitting the votes between them.  Next year, all-time saves leader Lee Smith joins the ballot, and then Dennis Eckersley the year after, so Sutter and Gossage may not get in for a while. I think they'll both make it, but it may take a while.  As for the others, I'll bet that everyone on the list above from Garvey on down will have to wait for the Veterans Committee to put them in the Hall.

Falling: Mattingly, who started with 28 percent last year, fell to 20 percent this year.

Disappointing: Alan Trammell.  I'm a Tiger fan, and I hoped that Trammell would make a better showing.  He probably suffered in comparison to Smith this year, but perhaps his vote total will rise now that Smith is off the ballot.  There won't be any more top-flight shortstops entering the voting until 2007, when Cal Ripken becomes eligible.