Edgar takes strike one

The votes are in. Edgar Martinez missed his 1st-of-15 chances to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Edgar gathered 36.2 percent of the votes in his first year on the ballot. To be voted in a player needs to receive 75 percent of the votes.

In a related news story, Mariners beat writer Geoff Baker is taking some heat from Mariner fans. If you get a chance, head over to The Seattle Times Mariners Blog. Baker posts his reasoning for not voting Edgar Martinez into the Hall of Fame. Although I disagree with his decision and reasons for voting the way he did, I do respect the decision he made.

It would be very easy for him to go the easy route and vote the town's darling child into the hall. But in his own mind, Baker didn't feel Edgar was deserving of a first-ballot vote. He's definitely hearing about it now, though. Commenters are coming out of the woodwork to give him a piece of their mind.

I find the issue to be very intriguing as a blogger and given my career is closely aligned with the media. The decision to post how he voted for the Hall of Fame was not something Baker had to do. He is trying to be as open as possible with his readers, knowing full well a complete backlash among the townspeople was imminent. To Baker, his journalistic integrity and the need to be transparent with the readers of his blog were of such importance he was willing to share not only how he voted but why he voted that way.

Regardless of what you think about Edgar, it is going to take him some time to get in. All that is proven by the fact that the M's beat writer for the only newspaper in town didn't even give him the nod. It'll happen eventually (I think), but it'll take some patience and some convincing that a player who didn't play in the field and didn't necessarily put together the statistics that writers believe are needed for consideration to get into the hall.

Good luck next year, Edgar!