NEW YORK _ The Baseball Hall of Fame careers of Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax left an indelible impression and standard for what enshrinement in Cooperstown demands: Inarguable greatness.
It was simple for me as a first-time voter in 1989 when Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench appeared on the ballot. It did not require a deep dive into their statistics to know they were worthy of the Hall.
Ballots submitted by voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America contain an average of eight players each year. The maximum is 10. "Small Hall" voters rarely go beyond two or three and that is upsetting to the fans who may view the Hall as a given for their favorite players.
