[Above My Pay Grade]

I think Dawson and Rice both belong in the Hall of Fame. They are probably in the bottom 10 or 15% of Hall of Famers, but somebody has to be the worst player to get in. Dawson had a great combination of power and speed, was a class act, hit 438 homers stole over 300 bases and won, I believe 8 gold gloves in centerfield.

Alomar will get in next year. For some reason a lot of writers are first ballot snobs, who believe the first ballot is only for the elite among Hall of Famers. That, along with the spitting incident kept him out last year, but he’ll get over 90% next year.

[Huck]

For me, I think if there's any doubt, the answer should be no. Rice and Dawson simply don't deserve to be in the Hall. But then, to me, neither did Kirby Puckett.

To me, the Hall should be for no-doubters. For example, Randy Johnson. He clearly belongs. Greg Maddux clearly belongs. The problem nowadays with hitters of course is the PED issue. Set that aside for the sake of argument, and it's clear who belongs and who doesn't. Dawson? Gimme a break. Why not elect Al Oliver, then? Or Dave Parker? The Hall is supposed to be for the elites. As for Alomar, he's probably the best 2nd baseman since Joe Morgan. He belongs in the Hall.

[BluesDuke]

. . . but somebody has to be the worst player to get in.

You could choose from among all those players strong-armed in when Frankie Frisch and Bill Terry ran the Veterans Committee and seem to have made it their mission in life to get as many of their St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants cronies into Cooperstown as they could get away with . . .