I base it on the fact there's far too many voters that are far removed from the game, too many old men stuck to "the old days" and hung up on PEDs and no format of narrowing the field so that backlogs don't exist - one thing I like about the NFL is that they go through stages of reducing candidates. You have far too many candidates that voters are allowed to choose from, with no minimum amount of votes and it leads to backlogs because Joe Daily News is going to vote for Rocco Baldelli because he used to give him a good quote when he was a beat writer. I also think the whole setup of a term limit and the Veterans Committee is dumb - the VC is good because they correct errors sometimes, but those wouldn't exist if the original formula were simpler. I also think that classes arise from the process that are far too small - years when one person get in are useless, imo. Why does every single eligible candidate need to go to vote? Does Placido Polanco need to be on the final ballot next year? Derek Lowe or Kevin Youkilis? Travis Hafner or Darren Oliver? Cause those guys will get a vote or two, 100 voters will only vote for 3 guys, 200 that won't vote for Clemens or Bonds due to "integrity of the game" and we will end up with Mariano Rivera and maybe Edgar Martinez. It's idiotic. Even if you want to keep that many voters, narrow the field down through some kind of committee.
In curiosity, which league does have the worst process? I like the way the NFL does it; I like the way NBA does it - quick eligibility, screening committee, minimum number of votes, etc. I have no information on NHL, so I retract the "I do know" portion of my post.
There's a lot to unpack here, but I'll try.
The voting for the BBHoF has improved in a lot of ways. Is it perfect? No. But nothing of this sort is. As far as old writers voting for players, they've been taking away the votes of older guys who have not covered MLB in 15 (I think) years. So that's weeding out the old men who are stuck in the olden days. Every year, new blood gets brought in and eventually the PED issue won't be an issue at all.
But, and this is not my opinion, I can understand voters not wanting to vote for a player who has failed a PED test. That's just a difference of opinion and does not make Cooperstown voting "dumb".
As far as having players on the ballot that don't meet your standards, what's the harm? When has a mediocre player slipped into Cooperstown? Who cares if Youkilis or Polanco or Hafner get a vote or two? With a large voting body, and more checks and balances, there is less chance for a player to slip into Cooperstown than for one to slip into Canton. There are 48 voters for Canton, if you have a Hall of Famer that you want inducted you have to make a presentation. A majority of those 48 can be swayed by a really strong presentation. Joe Namath a Hall of Famer? Based on what? He won one game in 1969 and he banged Ann Margaret?
And what about city reps that have a hair across their ass about a particular player? Ron Borges is the New England representative and he has made a living off hating the Patriots. You think that he should be the steward that shepherds in the Pat reps to Canton? Brady is a no-brainer. Belichick is a no-brainer. But what about the other players that need a good presentation to get immortalized? Do you trust Ron Borges to do his due diligence to properly research and to properly present any one who isn't a slam dunk?
And talk about cronyism. The Veteran's Committee has nothing on these 48 backscratchers. In a MMQB a bunch of years ago, Peter King talked about it. I mean, he made it sound like a fun little club of "you vote for my guy and I'll vote for yours" but the reality is a lot worse than King intended. Meeting in the proverbial smokey back room to decide who is and who isn't worthy without any oversight? How is that better than some sort of accountability that baseball writers have to face?
It seems to me that you don't have a problem with HOW the BBHoF votes, but WHO they vote for. Which is fine, but the BBHoF system isn't completely broken.
If people actually gave a shit about the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there would be tons and tons of articles written about the way that people are inducted into Canton. However no one cares, but people do care about Coopestown. That's why there are arguments and articles written about it every January, despite the fact that baseball lags behind football in popularity.