Mets (McLean) vs Blue Jays (Gausman): 6/30/26, 7:07pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Well, it happened. June 30, 15 games under .500.

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Luke Weaver	11	0	15	0	0	26
Joey Gerber	0	0	0	0	9	9
Huascar Brazobán	0	18	10	0	0	28
Devin Williams	12	0	14	0	0	26
Cionel Pérez	0	21	0	9	0	30
Brooks Raley	17	0	0	0	0	17
Austin Warren	25	0	0	0	30	55
A.J. Minter	0	0	22	0	0	22

 

[Cowtipper]

Kevin Gausman is one of those secret weapons that really doesn't get the fanfare that he should. He averages more than a strikeout per inning for his career, doesn't allow a lot of hits or walks, and has quietly compiled his way past 2,000 career Ks ... still an impressive milestone in any era. He's a free-agent after this season and is the sort of guy I actually might endorse giving a look at. He kind of reminds me of Andy Benes, who also compiled his way to 2,000 Ks without anyone really noticing. He didn't even make the HOF ballot. 

[ashie62]

Gausman has given up 15 earned runs in his last 26 innings 

Very Kodai Senga like

[MFS62]

1 hour ago, Cowtipper said:

 He kind of reminds me of Andy Benes, who also compiled his way to 2,000 Ks without anyone really noticing. He didn't even make the HOF ballot. 

He was in the majors for 14 years.  Anyone with ten or more years is eligible be on the ballot. That doesn't mean he got many votes. But I'm sure if you checked, he was on it.

Later

[Edgy MD]

The rule about anyone with 10 or more years automatically qualifying for the ballot is no longer in effect.  They now winnow many such players from the ballot before the BBWAA gets a crack at it.

It was a good rule and should have remained.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I wasn't aware that the rule was removed. Is there no longer a minimum amount of time required?

[Cowtipper]

10 years doesn't automatically put you on the ballot. You have to play at least 10 years to be considered, but it doesn't automatically put you on the ballot. Players with 10 years are vetted before they make the final list. Per Wikipedia, the following players were also eligible the years Benes was (2008), but didn't make it: Luis Alicea, Alex Arias, Mike Benjamin, Dennis Cook, Delino DeShields, Darrin Fletcher, Rich Garcés, Chris Haney, Dave Hollins, Bobby J. Jones, Tom Lampkin, Darren Lewis, Mike Magnante, Dave Mlicki, Mike Morgan, Hipólito Pichardo, Armando Reynoso, Henry Rodríguez, Lee Stevens, Greg Swindell, Mike Trombley, John Valentin, Randy Velarde, Ed Vosberg, and Mark Wohlers. You could've knocked me over with a feather when I learned Mike Magnante, Hipolito Pichardo and Ed Vosberg even made it to ten years. 

[MFS62]

Dave Mlicki will always have a place in our hearts.

Didn't know the rule had changed. Thanks

Later

[Edgy MD]

35 minutes ago, Benjamin Grimm said:

I wasn't aware that the rule was removed. Is there no longer a minimum amount of time required?

Ten years is still necessary, but in the past, ten years (mostly) automatically qualified you for the ballot.  They'd take a guy or two off that was lucky enough to cruise along for 10 years as a backup catcher or mopup reliever, but they were committed to erring on the side of inclusiveness, and the voters did the winnowing.

Now a small group winnows out 10-year guys like Andy Benes, and even though Benes went 14 years, made an All-Star team, and got some down-ballot Cy Young support, he didn't get his chance to face the electorate.

I think that's too bad.  Such candidacies are (or should be) part of the story.  More importantly, their absence makes the ballot smaller, and voters even more miserly with their votes, and more serious and credible candidacies are disappearing from the ballot after one year before anybody has given them a good look.

 

[Cowtipper]

They've been screening people since the 1960s. The rule didn't change recently. 

The Hall's own rules-history page marks a screening committee as starting in 1962, then being formalized in 1968 specifically to cap ballots at 40 names. Before that — basically all of 1936 through the early '60s — there was no curation step at all beyond whatever the bare eligibility rules happened to be that year, and those were even looser than today's: no waiting period after retirement from 1936-45, a one-year wait from 1946-53, and the five-year wait everyone knows today wasn't installed until 1954. So for roughly a quarter-century, "played 10 years, now retired" really was close to automatic — helped along by the fact that the league was still young enough that the pool of guys who'd actually compiled a decade-long career and retired was small.

Source: Claude.ai

[Edgy MD]

The 1994 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot had 39 names on it.

The 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, despite an expanded player pool, had 26 names on it.