Amen. That is all.

(Watching the "pundits" on MLB Network tonight [it's new, I'm giving the channel a chance], I about threw my remote through the TV when they discussed "steroids" from no point of any knowledge and baseball from the back of a 1977 Topps card.)

Selig and the owners have won. The vast majority of the media and the fans have accepted putting all the blame on a handful of players. The stupidity of accepting this big lie is almost beyond belief. But alas this is America.

My fav during a stretch (ok, stretch was my real first favorite but he made it in the hall. And I got to meet him at spring training in '08 and show him my baseball pix with my jersey #44 that I wore because of him. He seemed to really like that) was Terry Whitfield. Remember him? Funky stance and always hussled and smiled a lot.

I had a girlfriend in college who lived in Millbrae and while visiting her folks once (her dad, Mr. Silacci was in "the mob" by the way but that's a story for another time)her dad told me that Terry lived "just up the hill." While he had never met Terry he had seen him running all the time and felt like he knew him so we should go over to his house (seems impossible now that we really would do this but who was I to say no to Mr. Mob?). Anyway, Terry answered the door and welcomed us in. He was sweating like a hog. He had been taking "swings" in his living with a fan like thing that went on the end of the bat for resistance. He showed me a custome weight vest he had made for himself that he put on to run up a big hill near his house and told me the story about how it was so steep that fire trucks couldn't get up it so they had to build a fire station at the top of it "just in case." He was already my fav but after letting us into his house and seeing how hard he worked, I was hoping he'd have a long and HOF career. Terry, where are you now?

Bobby Bonds would be my miss. Unfortunately, didn't see any really Hall-worthy after him until the Humm-Baby era, and as you noted, both Will the Thrill and Matty fizzled eventually, despite initial good starts (Top 10 picks overall, both of them). And nobody except Bonds between then and now, with Lincecum (no pressure! :^) and Posey my big hopes now (well, not really big hopes, just starting embers, but bigger than anyone else we've drafted). I would put Bumgarner close to joining the list.

Robby Thompson was a favorite it mine. I loved the way he fielded and was such a gamer.

Nobody should mention Candy Maldonado and his slide-dive adventures in RF.

On first-time ballots not being 100%, as a baseball fan, I almost hope that no one gets 100%. Because really, if Ruth didn't get 100%, who should?
Ruth not only was the most dominant bat in his era, he also has an asterisk for pitching a near-perfect game.
I leave the door open for a player to eventually prove himself to be the greatest in baseball. What does he have to do? Pitch every fifth game, and swing the bat in the other four. Then win at least five Cy Youngs and five batting titles. Hit the career benchmarks for Hall no-brainers - 300 wins, 300 home runs.
If someone does that, then yes, 100% first-ballot Hall of Famer, because they will then be the greatest ever.