Are baseball writers the 'gate keepers' of the game?

Question

Does baseball need 'gate keepers'? Are the fans 'gate keepers'? Are you happy with hall of fame voting? Are you happy with MVP and other post-season award voting?

Answer 1

The writers THINK they are the keepers of the game

Answer 2

They are the primary gatekeepers of the Hall Of Fame, and I think they do a pretty good job of it. They usher in a weak (albeit defensible) selection every now and then, but the BBWAA has never really bombed one. (The old incarnation of the Veterans Committee, OTOH, did a job ranging from adequate down to abysmal. The new VC is still a cypher, since it has not yet inducted anyone -- we don't yet know what its "standard" might be, besides "not good enough", which doesn't inform us very well.)

The writers do tend to botch at least one of the six player awards every year, usually either the MVP by voting for drama over value (or invoking that idiotic "gotta be from a playoff team" concept), or the Cy Young by automatically going with the starter or two who got 20+ W's on the year. But, as with the Hall, while they sometimes miss the best choice, the ones they do end up with are at least defensible (even if disappointing).

The Gold Gloves, however, are not voted on by the writers. Blame the managers and coaches, along with Rawlings for refusing ever to consider modifying the election method, for any GG travesties.

Answer 3

The majority of awards voting is a joke, and we're in trouble if the writers are truly the gatekeepers of the game. For every Peter Gammons, there are ten who will vote for a Hall of Famer because the player was nice to him or his memory is extremely selective, and those who will some reason to vote against a guy. I mean, what possible reason could anyone have for not inducting Tom Seaver or Cal Ripken with 100% of the vote?

I trust only those writers who are open to using what they've seen combined with stats and the opinion of others, guys like Gammons or Neyer. But it's frightening to think of someone like Hatguy (I hope someone gets that reference) being a gatekeeper. I'd trust the fans before clowns like him.

CM - Good point about the Gold Gloves. I'm still not as high as you are on the writers, but I guess the good usually override the bad.