I've dated this post ahead so it will stay at the top of the page until the Hall of Fame selections are announced at 2pm on Tuesday, January 6, 2004.

Returning Candidates

I've listed each candidate with their % of the vote in 2003 in parentheses. 75% needed for election. I've also included links to my previous columns, since I've looked in depth at the cases for nearly all these guys before. (I'm adding links as I go).

1. Bruce Sutter (53.63%) - OUT. See here and here for my reasons.
2. Jim Rice (52.22%) - OUT, I guess. See here and here for my initial takes on Rice, and here for more. I view Rice as being just about on the bubble, along with Keith Hernandez and Dick Allen, and I go back and forth on all three.
3. Andre Dawson (50.00%) - OUT. See here.
4. Ryne Sandberg (49.19%) - IN. See here.
5. Lee Smith (42.34%) - OUT. See here.
6. Rich Gossage (42.14%) - IN. See here and here
7. Bert Blyleven (29.23%) - IN. See here.
8. Steve Garvey (27.82%) - OUT. See here.
9. Jim Kaat (26.21) - OUT. See here.
10. Tommy John (23.39%) - OUT. See here.
11. Jack Morris (22.78%) - OUT. See here.
12. Alan Trammell (14.11%) - OUT, I think; I haven't looked real closely at this one. But Whitaker was robbed.
13. Don Mattingly (13.71%) - OUT. See here.
14. Dale Murphy (11.69%) - OUT. See here and here.
15. Dave Concepcion (11.09%) - OUT. See here.
16. Dave Parker (10.28%) - OUT. See here and here. (Also, Michael Wolverton dissents from my take on Parker).
17. Fernando Valenzuela (6.25%) - OUT. But I do wax nostalgic about Fernandomania here.
18. Keith Hernandez (6.05%) - OUT. See here.