January 5th, 2016 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka With only one day remaining before the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) announce their 2016 Hall of Fame inductees who will be enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York this summer, it’s time once again for the ThinkBlueLA writers to reveal their selections for the 2016 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Hall of Fame. And while the IBWAA may not have the prestige or clout that the 80-year-old BBWAA enjoys, many of today’s top internet writers and bloggers are among the IBWAA’s 300+ voting members.
Although the IBWAA uses the same Hall of Fame ballot used by the BBWAA, there have already been three former players not induced into the sacred Halls of Cooperstown by the BBWAA that have been inducted into the IBWAA’s cyber Hall of Fame – Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines. As such, you will not find their names among this year’s IBWAA inductees, whereas you might on Wednesday’s BBWAA selections.
Because ThinkBlueLA staff writer Robb Anderson has been uber busy working with several young prospects in the Dominican Republic and in Mexico this winter, we do not have his 2016 IBWAA Hall of Fame selections. Additionally, Opinion of Kingman’s Performance blogger Evan Bladh, who occasionally submits guest pieces here on ThinkBlueLA, has also been out of the country on a job assignment and did not submit his IBWAA Hall of Fame selections to us. We do, however, have selections from ThinkBlueLA’s minor league expert and Dodgers historian Harold Uhlman and from your’s truly.
Whether it’s the BBWAA or the IBWAA, if Ken Griffey Jr. isn’t a first ballot Hall of Famer, there is something seriously wrong with both organizations. (Photo credit – Lois P. Nicholson)
Before announcing our respective IBWAA selections, I wish to point out that unlike the BBWAA which limits their voting members to 10 selections each, the IBWAA allows its members 15 selections each. That being said, neither Harold nor Ron utilized all 15 selections and both, in fact, are opposed to having more than 10 selections each.
Here are Harold’s and Ron’s 2016 IBWAA Hall of Fame selections listed alphabetically:
Harold Uhlman
- Ken Griffey Jr.
- Trevor Hoffman
- Jeff Kent
- Edgar Martinez
- Fred McGriff
- Mike Mussina
- Gary Sheffield
- Lee Smith
- Alan Trammel
- Larry Walker
Ron Cervenka
- Nomar Garciaparra
- Ken Griffey, Jr.
- Trevor Hoffman
- Jeff Kent
- Edgar Martinez
- Fred McGriff
- Mike Mussina
- Curt Schilling
- Lee Smith
- Alan Trammell
Posted in 
Kent, Trammel, Lee Smith. Sold!
My “guess” – it could be a year that only Griffey gets in. Possibly Martinez but I think it will be a lean year compared to the past 2. Anxiously awaiting the results.
On a different/similar subject – do you think the Hall voters will ease up on their not voting for PED suspected players like Bonds and Clemens? Not this year but somewhere in the next 4-5.
“…do you think the Hall voters will ease up on their not voting for PED suspected players”
See tomorrow’s blog article.
I understand according to MLB Network many more have revealed they have voted for Bonds and Clemens.
I was deep in the DR but I always forget to put in my ballot on time. I have to say that my picks would have differed greatly as I don’t believe in judging the morals of players when looking at their careers. PEDs were much more widely used than we will ever know and I don’t believe in judging careers based upon murky information when many other were using too. It was just part of the era. So without further ado. . .
Ken Griffey, Jr
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Trevor Hoffman
None of the rest in my opinion deserve to be in the Hall so I would have ended my voting there.
And my final pick is Pete Rose (write in). Hahaha! Just to throw my last torch into the dumpster. He was the best hitter the game has ever had and no one can say that he didn’t give his all when he played. Everything that came after should not take away from his career. For godsake, Ty Cobb is in the Hall and he was a real gem of a human being from all accounts.
I believe that although Rose is banned from baseball, his name should be placed on the HoF ballet.