Hall of fame week, Dickerson
On Wednesday, the results of this year's Hall of Fame voting will be announced. No one was elected after last year's voting; Craig Biggio came the closest with 68.2 percent.
This year, someone certainly will, as Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine join the ballot. The debate will continue regarding players linked to steroids, like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who should be no-brainers but the writers' aversion to putting them in the Hall of Fame.
If you're interested in the Hall of Fame electoral process, I encourage you to read Jay Jaffe's pieces on the subject. Jaffe, who writes for Sports Illustrated, created JAWS, a metric that compares players on the current ballot with players at their position who are already in the Hall of Fame. Here is this year's list of write-ups.
This year, debate surfaced regarding the limit of 10 players on the ballot. Some writers have struggled to include Maddux, Glavine, Mike Mussina, Mike Piazza and others with other candidates they also find deserving. The New York Times' Tyler Kepner writes about this conundrum.
Many writers have released their ballots already, if you want to get a sneak peek at the voting. Baseball Think Factory has tracked those publicly released, and you can read some explanations here and here and here.
I also encourage this read, by ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, about the effect steroid rumors have on eligible candidates.
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The Pirates signed outfielder Chris Dickerson to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, the team announced this morning. Dickerson, 31, spent 2013 with the Baltimore Orioles organization. He hit .238/.266/.400 in 109 major league plate appearances across 56 games.
In 37 games with Class AAA Norfolk, the left-handed Dickerson hit .243 with a .350 on-base percentage.
Dickerson has played more left field than right, but he can play both corners.
The Cincinnati Reds drafted Dickerson in 2003, and he debuted with them in 2008. He also played for the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees. His best season was his rookie year, when he hit .304 with a .413 on-base percentage and six homers in 122 plate appearances.