Maddux, Glavine, Thomas were all HOF worthy. Biggio never struck me as a HOF level player. Bagwell and Piazza are in the group with Bonds, Clemens, McGwire etc..as steroid tainted candidates.
The reason the Baseball writers vote is that by being with the teams, they saw more baseball than anyone else. That’s not the case anymore.
The only change the HOF should make is to allow other people a vote. The beat writer for the Brewers does not see more baseball than, say, Greg Amsinger on the MLB network (example).
Make that change, keep everything else the same IMO.
Imagine letting a Hawk Harrelson vote. His only criteria is if the guy played for the White Sox. Way too many homers in the electronic media.
Nice post.
I would also add, re “Biggio never struck me as a HOF level player.”
3000 hits to my mind is HOF. Yet I think Biggio goes with your next comment:
“Bagwell and Piazza are in the group with Bonds, Clemens, McGwire etc..as steroid tainted candidates.”
Biggio’s in it too.