I think Vlad will do very well in the anonymous vote and get the bump he needs. He is perceived as a clean player and he hits a lot of traditional stat marks that those voters tend to love. He won't be penalized by those voters for his unimpressive WAR totals or that he was a defensive liability. If I went, I'd be happy to see him as he was one of my favorite non-Astros players growing up. He'd be like a little bonus.
"Welcome to the 2017 BBWAA Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Enjoy these highlight reels from 2018 first ballot inductees Chipper Jones and Jim Thome."
I wish this had happened sooner; pretty sure every former Medal of Freedom recipient is in the Hall of Fame...
Type the following into google: chronicle article bagwell scott miller Generally, you can get to some of the subscription content via a search.
Here's a guy who finally gets it: "Miller said that in each of the previous six years, he submitted his ballot "having just thought and thought about Bagwell." He "became more and more uncomfortable withholding a vote from him just BASED ON SUSPICION WITHOUT ANY SMOKING-GUN EVIDENCE OR CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE."
Well, better late than never. At least a few seem to realize the McCarthyistic nature of not voting for Baggy based on your "gut". Still a few holdouts, but at this point they don't matter.
I kinda pisses me off that Vlad will be a first year hall of famer and it took bags 7 tries. Bags was a better player than Vlad. It's ridiculous.
A big part of it, frankly, is timing. If this were Bagwell's first year, I think he'd be tracking at, or above, Vlad (see Pudge). The (ongoing) voter purge & the softening around PEDs has greased the skids tremendously.