Who should get into the Hall of Fame?

This is supposed to be a weak class of candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I can think of a couple of deserving players.

Barry Larkin has to be the guy with the best chance of getting into the Hall. His has an impressive resume to be sure: a Most Valuable Player award, a career .295 batting average, 12 All-Star appearances playing for one team, an unusual feat in modern baseball. Larkin was such a great player that future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and his family were in distress over possibly being selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1992 baseball draft and having the talented youngster stuck behind Larkin for much of his career. Fortunately, New York Yankees fans know how that turned out. But I think Larkin, who got 62.1% of the vote in last year’s balloting, makes the leap into enshrinement this year.

Larkin shouldn’t be the only Hall of Fame candidate getting some good news this afternoon although I think he will be. I would like to see Jack Morris finally win a place in the Hall. I know the stat geeks don’t like him much, partly due to that 3.90 ERA and his supposedly lacking in the wins above replacement department. But Morris was the very definition of the big-game pitcher, tossing what some baseball observers consider one of the greatest games of all time: a 10-inning shutout of the Atlanta Braves that won the 1991 World Series for the Minnesota Twins. In 2011, Morris received 53.5% of the vote, his highest level of support so far so a jump to the 75% level is not impossible. But it would require a significant number of writers changing their minds about his candidacy, which seems unlikely.

I adore Bernie Williams and I hope he gets a respectable level of support in the balloting. But he’s not going to get anywhere near the 75% needed for election to the Hall in his first year on the ballot. Even the New York beat writers, who have a lot of affection and respect for Bernie, have publicly stated that they will not vote for him, although they would like to see him receive his well-deserved plaque in Monument Park. So would I.

Who do you think should get in? 

Thanks to Rdikeman via en.Wikipedia for the Barry Larkin photo.