My Ballot:

Ron Santo
Dick Allen

Really Close:

Joe Gordon
Sparky Lyle
Luis Tiant
Wes Ferrell

Here are Minnie Minoso's numbers. The key one is the age number. He started his major league career at age 28 due to the colour bar. If he'd come up at age 23 in 1946, he'd have ended up with close to 3000 hits and a .400 career OBP and a 134 or so OPS+.

Did you know that Minnie is the only player to have been a baseball professional player in seven ( yes, seven ) different decades. Think about that!...

latin baseball community feels strongly that Luis Tiant and Tony Oliva belong with the inmortals...

Mike, I think you changed my mind. When I look closer at his stats and realize the age he started at, the more seems a HOF. So...

My Ballot:

Ron Santo
Dick Allen
Minnie Minoso

Really Close:

Joe Gordon
Sparky Lyle
Luis Tiant
Wes Ferrell

I am voting for Gil Hodges; if there has ever been a player that should be the HOF it should Gil Hodges;

He has 2 World Series Rings as a player and 1 as manager of the 69 Mets.

Let's put Hodges and Torre in at the same time. They have the same case. Neither was quite a Hall of Fame player, but both had (are having) an extremely memorable and successful run as manager on the world's biggest stage.

Magpie back in the house.

Santo and Minoso for sure. And I'm a big Joe Gordon fan.

Jim Kaat is really close. Just not sure.

Definitely not sold on Dick Allen. I'm old enough to remember all the trouble he was at the centre of.

I think Joe Torre will go, and he's much better qualified than Gil Hodges. The sad fact is that Hodges died very young; otherwise his managing career would surely have been much better than six losing seasons out of nine and a .467 winning percentage.

Torre's resume is actually looking more and more like Casey Stengel's. A pretty good player (Torre was better); a decent, run of the mill NL manager at several stops; a Master of the Universe and Certified Genius in the Bronx.

Casey gave better Quote, though.

Yeah, I know all about Dick Allen's shenanigans. Heckuva hitter, though. It is a fact that none of his teams won, and if you wanted to make the "negative intangibles" case, there'd be plenty of ammunition.

First of all Allen's numbers are just insane, especially at his peak, but there are just too many negatives there. On the other hand he was really famous (or infamous?) and this is the Hall of FAME.

Anyway I go with:

Santo (a crime if he doesn't make it this time)
Boyer (look closely, almost no negatives, maybe too brief a career)
Wes Ferrell (probably the best AL pitcher not in other than Blyleven)

My Ballot

Mickey Lolich
Minnie Minoso

Torre had a career .297 EqA and played 904 games at catcher. I'm no expert in Hall of Fame standards, but I'm surprised Torre hasn't received more credit for his playing career.

Torre's main competition for the "best catcher of the 60s" would probably be Bill Freehan. Torre was a significantly better hitter; Freehan was much better defensively, and they ended up with comparable career lengths (although Torre spent more time at 3b and 1b total over his career than as a catcher). Freehan is a marginal Hall of Famer, but out, and I think, on balance that that is where Torre is as a player. If he'd played a couple of more seasons, I might feel differently about it.

I do think that Torre should go in easily for his combined efforts as a player and manager, but this is just the player's ballot.

smoky joe. a cornerstone legend of the game. 3rd best career e.r.a.
youngest man to win 30 games. one in five starts a shutout. arm trouble at peak of his pitching career. finished as a hurler at 25. but not really finished at all. remarkable comeback as an outfielder. top ten in a.l. hitting in 1918. .366 in 1920. his career
has never been duplicated (babe could have still pitched). as for his "short" career, his pitching (8 yrs.) and everyday portions (5yrs.), should be looked at as a mosaic of his overriding baseball skills. smoky joe wood is the Vermeer of baseball. in these disappointing times (jason, etc.) don't we need a man of his courage, determination and indomitable spirit in the hall of fame?

My ballot :

Dick Allen
Jim Kaat
Ron Santo
Wes Ferrell
Tony Oliva

Minoso I would have normally included, but there is some new evidence regarding his true age that has thrown some doubt on exactly how long he was barred by the color line. Once that's cleared up, I'd still expect to put him in, but unfortunately I feel I'd need to wait.

I would also vote for, and would consider strongly, Gordon, Lyle, Marion, Torre, Wood, Pinson, and Tiant.

http://www.nlbpa.com/minoso__orestes_-_minnie.html
COMN for Minoso's Negro League bio. He was an All-Star Negro League third baseman/leadoff hitter in 1947/1948, and was called up to the big-leagues by the Indians in 1949. The Indians had Keltner at third, coming off a great season, with Al Rosen itching to pass him. The Indians had Dale Mitchell and Larry Doby, who were very good in the outfield, and Bob Kennedy, who was not so good. They gave Minoso 7 games in the outfield. He did not hit well and they sent him down to the PCL Padres for 2 seasons.

It is certainly arguable whether the colour bar cost him 3 or 4 years. He'd have been pretty close to Enos Slaughter, which makes him close to the line.