Tim ‘Rock Raines, Jeff Bagwell, and Ivan Rodriguez make the Hall of Fame

So the Hall of Fame is an interesting topic, to me. Interesting because it perplexes me, bores me, fascinates me, confuses me, leaves me fence-sitting, and wondering how much I care all in the same. So it’s interesting.

Today, Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell, and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez all were voted into the Hall of Fame. Bagwell garnered the highest percentage of the vote at 86.2%. Then came Raines at 86% flat, with Rodriguez at 76%.

Trevor Hoffman narrowly missed the cut at 74%. Other notables were Vlad Guerrero came in at 71.7%. It is notable that Barry Bonds (53.8%) and Roger Clemens (54.1%) gained steam.

I’m happy about this. I feel like today was a good day for the Baseball Hall. Rock Raines was just cool as Hell as a player. Bagwell and Pudge are deserving. We’ll put our seal of approval on this year’s batch.

And then the ceremony takes place in the dead of summer when it’s hot as the fifth ring of Hell in Cooperstown and no one really pays attention to the speeches or anything. But that’s alright. That’s just how the baseball Hall of Fame is.

Next year, look for Jim Thome and Chipper Jones as the locks with Hoffman and Guerrero sneaking in.