These players belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame

With major league baseball's hall of fame voting for 2015 due out soon, there's a few first time nominees who are likely to earn enough votes to get inducted – such as pitcher Randy Johnson - three other former players also deserve to be enshrined - Alan Trammell, Lee Smith, and Tim Raines.

Shortstop Alan Trammell played 20 years with the Detroit Tigers, and the six time all-star’s offensive and defensive numbers match up well with Larkin's. In 20 years Trammell hit .285 with 185 home runs, 1,003 RBI's, 236 stolen bases, and had a .977 fielding percentage. He also batted .333 in postseason games. Larkin played 19 years with the Reds, compiling a .295 batting average, 198 home runs, 960 RBI's, 379 stolen bases, and a .975 fielding percentage while hitting .338 in the postseason.

Relief pitcher Lee Smith, a seven time All Star, ranks third in major league history with 478 saves, behind only legends Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. Smith led the National League in saves in four seasons, and his career ERA of 3.03 compares well with Hall of Fame relievers Bruce Sutter's 2.83 and Rollie Fingers' 2.90.

Outfielder Tim Raines, also a seven time All Star selection, ranks fifth in baseball history with 808 stolen bases, but he also had a career batting average of .294 and an on base percentage of .385. He was a player who set the table for his teams, which included the Expos, White Sox, and Yankees, among others.

Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame is certain to be getting a lot of attention in the upcoming months and years. A number of outstanding former players will be listed on voters' ballots; some will certainly be inducted in their first year of eligibility.

An intriguing storyline involves four former players who all almost certainly would have been inducted in their first year - if they hadn't been implicated in the steroid investigation. For Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens, it doesn't look good at this point.

Votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame

With major league baseball's hall of fame voting for 2015 due out soon, there's a few first time nominees who are likely to earn enough votes to get inducted – such as pitcher Randy Johnson - three other former players also deserve to be enshrined - Alan Trammell, Lee Smith, and Tim Raines.

Shortstop Alan Trammell played 20 years with the Detroit Tigers, and the six time all-star’s offensive and defensive numbers match up well with Larkin's. In 20 years Trammell hit .285 with 185 home runs, 1,003 RBI's, 236 stolen bases, and had a .977 fielding percentage. He also batted .333 in postseason games. Larkin played 19 years with the Reds, compiling a .295 batting average, 198 home runs, 960 RBI's, 379 stolen bases, and a .975 fielding percentage while hitting .338 in the postseason.

Relief pitcher Lee Smith, a seven time All Star, ranks third in major league history with 478 saves, behind only legends Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. Smith led the National League in saves in four seasons, and his career ERA of 3.03 compares well with Hall of Fame relievers Bruce Sutter's 2.83 and Rollie Fingers' 2.90.

Outfielder Tim Raines, also a seven time All Star selection, ranks fifth in baseball history with 808 stolen bases, but he also had a career batting average of .294 and an on base percentage of .385. He was a player who set the table for his teams, which included the Expos, White Sox, and Yankees, among others.

Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame is certain to be getting a lot of attention in the upcoming months and years. A number of outstanding former players will be listed on voters' ballots; some will certainly be inducted in their first year of eligibility.

An intriguing storyline involves four former players who all almost certainly would have been inducted in their first year - if they hadn't been implicated in the steroid investigation. For Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens, it doesn't look good at this point.

Why does Major League Baseball even bother playing the All Star Game?

Major League Baseball's All Star Game has become nothing more than a silly exhibition game at this point. It's almost as a bad as the NFL's Pro Bowl.

Some of the players don't seem to approach the game as a competition. Just a different generation, perhaps. People and culture change, so maybe today's players just don't feel the same type of emotion about the All Star games as those 40, 50, and 60 years ago.

Then there's the money factor. Today's players earn so much in salary that the extra dollars that they collect from winning the All Star Game is almost insignificant. Why expend the energy and risk getting injured for a small amount of money? Forty years ago, those extra bucks could mean something to a player.

Inter-league play that began in 1997 has also diluted the excitement surrounding the All Star Game, as well as the World Series. It used to be that fans would see players from the American and National Leagues compete against each other only in the World Series and the All Star Game, so the midsummer classic had more drama and intrigue. Now that we've seen mixing of the leagues, the All Star Game has lost some of its luster. Even the Yankees-Mets rivalry isn't as intense anymore. Back in the early 1980's George Steinbrenner put a halt to the annual New York Mayors Trophy game between the two teams because it was so upsetting for him to have the Yankees lose to the Mets. Today, it's just another series against another team. Ho-hum.

The All Star game began feeling more like an exhibition in 1997 when pitcher Randy Johnson let a pitch fly over Larry Walker's head, just as entertainment, since Walker had previously expressed his fear in standing in the batter's box against the hard throwing lefty.

Major league's baseball's All Star Game accelerated its downward slide due to two incidents in 2002. Outfielder Tori Hunter made a sensational catch on a fly ball hit by Barry Bonds, robbing Bonds of a home run. Bonds picked up Hunter on his way off the field, with the two laughing. That display enforced the idea that the players weren't taking the game as seriously.

Then when Bud Selig ended the game in a tie, due to both sides running out of pitchers, the All Star game was seen as somewhat of a farce. Managers Joe Torre and Bob Brenly felt it was more important to get everyone on their rosters into the game - meaning winning the game was on the back burner.

Selig's lame attempt to instill some competition into the All Star game by declaring the winning league would have home field advantage in the World Series hasn't had much of an effect. Why would a player from a last place team even care about that? And, what if he was traded by the July 31 deadline to a team in the other league that had a shot at the postseason? Where would his allegiance be then?

Inter-league play has become meaningless and should be ended. For the All-Star game, give the players on the winning team a ton of money, like $300,000 each. Players on the losing team would only get $15,000. That would make them compete and take it seriously. Maybe then it would again become the Midsummer Classic.

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