. . . and there's my cue. Here is my yearly copy/paste of why guys like these get votes. And how, one time, it backfired. "Every year, a player is bound to get what is called a "courtesy vote" for the Hall of Fame. This courtesy vote is pretty much an "agreement" by a writer or broadcaster who got to be pretty good friends with a player over the years. When the player then retired, the two of them, knowing full well that the player was not Hall of Fame material but only Hall of Very Good Material, came to an agreement that the writer/broadcaster friend of his would cast a vote for the player so he'd be able to tell his grandchildren that yes, he was given a vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame. It happens all time. In fact, I could probably come to a pretty good guess of who voted for Luis Gonzalez, for example. Luckily, the voters in these cases do their homework now so they don't have a repeat of the Wes Ferrell induction of 1984. It was through the veteran's committee vote, but it still worked out in exactly the same way. Here's the story in case you don't know it: "Rick Ferrell was a pretty good catcher form 1929 through 1947, a pretty good farm system director and general manager for Detroit, and, by all accounts, a pretty good guy. Rick played eighteen years (admittedly in eight of these he didn't catch 100 games in a season). He hit .281 lifetime, with twenty-eight career homers. His brother Wes had hit .280 lifetime, with twenty-eight homer. Of course, Wes was a pitcher. While he was still eligible in the writers' balloting, Rick got one vote in 1956, another in 1958, and a third in 1960. For years, reporters covering the Committee on Veterans would tell tales of how its memeber, old sportswriters, players, and executives, would cast 'courtesy votes' for old buddies, knowing full well that these guys would never actually get elected. It was a nice, folksy touch. You know: Hey, Smiley, you didn't get in, but look, I voted for you, old pal, old sport. Everybody was happy but nobody got hurt. Then in 1984, it happened. Apparently everyone case a courtesy vote for Rick Ferrell. Bingo--he's a Hall of Famer." --from The Big Show. Olbermann and Patrick, 1997.