HALL OF FAME VOTING: A GLOSSARY OF TERMS


Record
A player’s Record is the compilation of his individual statistics, awards, and other universally agreed upon validations of excellence (TBD). Please note that while the undisputed details of said Record will have been thoroughly documented in literally thousands of print and online publications, you should not be afraid to distort or recalibrate their meanings as necessary. Keep in mind that even though these “facts” do not change from year to year, your interpretation of them, and, thus, your vote for a given player most likely will.



Playing Ability
For those who do not like to be constrained by the banality of the “facts” discussed above, you may consider the slightly vaguer Playing Ability. This derivative of Record frees you, the voter, to make your own adjustment to the “facts” by applying hypothetical circumstances to the career of the player in question (heretofore known as HypothetiFacts©).

To wit*: What if the player didn’t have the misfortune of playing in the American/National league? What if he wasn’t distracted at the plate by the garish uniforms and hilarious hairstyles of the 1970s? What if he wasn’t kept up all night due to forced rooming assignments with Steve Howe and/or Mickey Rivers and/or Cokie McGambler?

*This list is as flexible as your votes, which as stated in the previous entry, should vary from year to year.



Integrity
While facts and HypothetiFacts© are just super, they are not enough. It is imperative to remember that you are not merely sportswriters who arbitrarily have the power to bring some of the finest athletes on Earth quivering to their knees; you are also custodians of the game. A player with an impressive Record and outstanding Playing Ability simply cannot be recognized accordingly if he has not consistently demonstrated Integrity, which is defined as “adherence to a code of moral values.” No record-breaking base hit or milestone homerun should be acknowledged if the player does not live up to the game’s righteous standards.

Please note that the following indiscretions may be ignored: Overt racism; overt sexism; wife-beating (a form of sexism); throwing spitballs; throwing a 98mph pitch at a human being’s head; drunk driving; drunk wife-beating (another form of sexism); and charging seven bucks for a stale beer.



Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is critical to any Hall of Fame application. All the Playing Ability and Integrity in the world should not garner your vote if the player did not demonstrate graciousness in both winning and losing. However, do not make the common mistake of assuming that Sportsmanship is practiced on the field of play; quite the contrary. This criterion is actually a test of whether the player was consistently cordial in the clubhouse to you, the sportswriter. If he wasn’t, then this is your chance to make the rest of his life a living hell. Enjoy!



Character
How is Character different from Integrity? Well, if you have to ask, then maybe YOU don’t have it. Yeah, that’s what I thought.



Contributions to his Team(s)
This is what it’s all about. Baseball is a team game, and the only statistic that truly matters is Wins. Ask yourself if the player was a winner. Did he make his teammates better? Was he a leader? Did he do the “little things”? Did he possess the “intangibles”?

He did? Wonderful!

How are his numbers?