Kuzul

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) cast their votes for players eligible for induction into Baseball's Hall of Fame before January 1, 2012. Bleacher Report baseball writers cast their votes yesterday.The premise of the vote was exact, however. All candidates that appeared on the official 2012 ballot appeared on B/R's ballot, and writers were able to select a maximum of 10 candidates. For mock induction, a player needs to appear on at least 75.0% of the total ballots cast.The following slides reveal our voting results and some comments from various B/R baseball writers about why they chose or didn't choose players for induction.Begin Slideshow

Every year there's a new Hall of Fame Ballot for the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America to choose players from to induct into the hall. The ballot is generally made up of some pretty good former major league players. Then again there are always some odd names on it ballot as well. This year is no different. Sure, you've got guys like Lee Smith, Barry Larkin, Jack Morris, Alan Trammel, Jeff Bagwell and Bernie Williams. All of them were very good players who are deserving of being in the discussion for induction into the Hall. There are also some puzzling names as well. Any player with more than 10 years of experience in Major League Baseball has the opportunity to pass through a screening committee and end up on the ballot. That's fine, those are the rules. In general, the Hall of Fame gets it right more often than they get ...

Though Kill the Umpire was a comedy film from 1950, its themes—one of which is violence towards umpires—are all too real.On Friday, Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba joined an infamous list of players who have punched, struck, spat on or otherwise battered or assaulted umpires during or immediately following a professional baseball game.Torrealba joins a list of All-Stars and ne'er-do-wells who have committed the cardinal sin of displaying violent conduct against a sports official.Unfortunately, the list of guilty MLB players and coaches is a lengthy one. From Babe Ruth to Roberto Alomar, Jose Offerman and beyond, many professional baseball players have abhorrently used unjustifiable physical force against an umpire. If the list was expanded to include all sports at all levels, it regrettably might take years to finish reading.First off, let's be very clear. What Torrealba did when he struck home plate umpire Dario Rivero Jr. during the eighth inning of ...

Willie Mays was in the on-deck circle at the Polo Grounds. Bobby Thomson was the batter with Whitey Lockman on first and Clint Hartung on third. The New York Giants trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-2 with one out. Mays started to pray. ''Please don't let it be me. Don't make me come to bat now, God.'' In 1951, Willie Mays was a 20-year-old rookie. Later, Willie prayed that he would be the one who would bat or have to make a great defensive play. Willie Mays was responsible for the fact that he was waiting on deck that day because without the play he made on Aug. 15, the Giants would not have tied the Dodgers for the pennant. The Giants were hosting the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. The teams were tied 1-1 in Brooklyn's half of the eighth inning. With one out, Billy Cox, a fairly fast runner ...

The New York Yankees are in World Series contention every season, but the organization is constantly dealing with unusual, downright freaky injuries to its key contributors.Just in the past decade, position players and pitchers alike have been lost for extended periods of time due to unexpected ailments.Luckily, the Yankees are always financially capable of filling voids as quickly as they open.However, even if you have no mercy for the team, perhaps you can show some compassion for these individuals.Begin Slideshow

Bad calls happen.They're a part of every sport, every game, and every day fans of some team out there are complaining about a bad call that altered a game that their team inevitably lost. It's not the team's fault, it's the umps, or the refs.Some fans have even concocted ludicrous conspiracy theories among officials, that work in either the favor of a hated rival or to the detriment of one's favorite team. Bad calls do happen, but they usually even out over the course of most seasons or, even, games.However, there are some exceptions.Some calls over the years were so egregiously bad that they linger on—etched in the memories of the fans, whose teams were victimized by the errant call.Baseball, with its long history and 162-game regular season, allows for more opportunities for missed calls than any other major sport. A truly bad call isn't just bad because it's an obvious wrong call.The ...

With the Cubs attempting to make their way back into contention, many are calling for a culture change in Chicago. But what is Chicago Cubs culture, precisely?The Cubs are an old team, old enough to have its own legends and mystique. But it is time to separate fact from fiction. Here are three pervasive myths about the Chicago Cubs and their fans.Begin Slideshow

Picture this: It's the spring of 1973, Harvard's accepting Bill Gates, the 77th annual Boston Marathon is in full stride and the Boston Red Sox are inadvertently making history.Just an ordinary spring in Bean Town, right? Wrong.When Boston hosted its rival the New York Yankees on the cold, historic opening day, Red Sox legendary pitcher Luis Tiant faced Ron Blomberg and walked him with the bases juiced. It should have been just another inconsequential statistic en route to Boston's 15-5 thumping.Instead, it was a walk that changed the American League—and more importantly, the game of baseball.When Blomberg approached the plate as the No. 6 hitter in the Yankees lineup, he did so as the major league's first designated hitter; and that groundbreaking at-bat has created a ripple effect in the controversial mainstream of what baseball is supposed to be.Just like any appreciable debate, the law of the DH has its ...

Matt Kemp is giving Los Angeles Dodgers fans something to applaud in the final five games of the season. Kemp is on an historical mission to capture the first Triple Crown since 1967 and to become the fifth constituent of baseball's 40-homer/40-steals club. The Dodgers center fielder’s 37 home runs are tied for first place in the National League with Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals. In addition, Kemp leads the NL in RBIs with 119, which happens to be six more than the next closest hitter to him. The statistical category that may possibly halt Kemp’s Triple Crown pursuit is batting average; as he is three points behind co-leaders Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and Jose Reyes of the New York Mets. Kemp’s quest to join Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano in the 40-40 club will have to witness the Dodger slugger knocking ...

Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander has had, by all accounts, a remarkable season. With the Triple Crown of American League pitching all but sewn up, Verlander has virtually guaranteed to  himself the AL Cy Young Award in a landslide. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most outstanding pitcher in the American League this season. But is he the Most Valuable Player? Furthermore, should a starting pitcher even be considered for the MVP, much less find himself in position to win it? And how, if at all, would those arguments change if baseball had a more legitimate counterbalance to the Cy Young, a Most Outstanding Hitter award?  Don't Know Much About History  Verlander’s candidacy has rekindled the decades-long debate about pitchers as MVPs. As the argument for him goes, Verlander is the sort of dominant pitcher who stops losing streaks cold in their tracks.His 24 wins, or at ...