Friday, August 01, 2008

Your Fourth Annual Hall of Hate Vote

Hey, Aaron Heilman's implosion got ya' down? Don't despair because it's that time boys and girls. It's time for Metstradamus to go on vacation, which means it's time for you to take out your frustrations by voting for the next member of the Metstradamus Hall of Hate!

Some background for the unfamiliar (which eerily looks like the exact same thing typed last season ... which is why your blogger needs a vacation: He's burnt out.) Soon after starting this blog, I created a daily hate list...five people, places, or things that put a burr in my saddle for that particular calendar day. Mostly baseball players, but many times I would go off the board. From there, due to overwhelming positive response, it evolved into a more permanent and lasting "Hall of Hate", of which the original 25 members were chosen by me, here. It was meant to be a list that encompassed the biggest "enemies" in Mets history, the ones who the mere mention of their names makes one want to drink a bottle of ipecac just so you can puke all over your dog.

Not being enough to satiate the appetite of you, the hating fan, I opened balloting up for additional members, and so far you have voted in five candidates (most of them deserving) in 2005, and then to three more in 2006 to join the original 25, along with two more in 2007. The balloting would coincide with whatever vacation time I was taking.

Well it's that time once again. Metstradamus leaves you for a much deserved and much needed vacation ... but leaves you with a fun procedure to undertake for the next eight days. You, the people, get to vote on the next members of the Hall of Hate via the poll in the sidebar.

Here's the deal, you get one vote per computer. Amongst the list, you can vote for multiple candidates ... anyone you feel deserve induction (so you can check off as many boxes you want, but you can only click "vote" once). You have until 5:59PM on Sunday, August 10th to cast your vote. Later that night the winner will be announced on New York Baseball Digest with Mike Silva (exciting!) This will be the first year that only the top vote-getter gains induction into the Hall of Hate, so fill out your ballot with the utmost of care.

Here now are your candidates for the Hall of Hate:

Pete Rose: Picked a fight with a man half his size because his team was getting it's Big Red Tails kicked in during the 1973 NLCS. Received 76 votes in 2007 and was sixth in the voting.

John Thomson: A new nominee for his recent trashing of Paul Lo Duca as a reason for not signing with the Mets. Also, pitched like a wet dishrag in his prior stint for the Mets in 2002. Thomson was ninth with 54 votes last year.

Jimmy Rollins: His debut on the Hall of Hate ballot, basically for bragging about his team ... and then backing it up. Rollins proclaimed his team "the team to beat", and then getting key hit after key hit to knock the Mets out of the playoffs. Rollins' appearance on the ballot is a respect thing.

Brett Myers: Hates the Mets, hits his wife. Myers' appearance on the ballot is not out of respect, but true hate.

Jeff Torborg: Managed the 1993 Mets, who exposed him as a managing fraud. (Also managed the 2003 World Champion Marlins, but only during the beginning of that season when they stunk.) Received 55 votes and was eighth in last year's voting.

Guillermo Mota: Was on the list in the past for transgressions against Mike Piazza. After shaking off Paul Lo Duca en route to giving up a series-changing double to Scott Spiezio, getting busted for a banned substance, and for basically dubbing 2007 as his own personal year of suck, he re-appears on the ballot.

Mel Rojas: Was traded to the Mets as part of the Turk Wendell deal. The reason it's called the Turk Wendell deal is because Rojas was about as useful as a band-aid on a gunshot wound. Rojas gave up a home run to Paul O'Neill in 1997 that finally landed in 2002. Rojas' greatest transgression was his final act as a Met, which was bringing back Bobby Bonilla in a trade. Rojas garnered 65 votes and finished seventh in the 2006 balloting.

Joe Torre: From "Clueless Joe" as a Met, to a hall of famer (and Roger Clemens apologist) as a Yankee. And now gets ready to stick it to the Mets with the help of Manny Ramirez as a Dodger. Was fifth in 2007 with 77 votes.

Richie Hebner: Wanted no part of the Mets, and played like it at third base. If I'm correct, he set the standard for giving baseball fans the finger. Received 34 votes in 2007 and was tenth in the voting (down from 65 votes in '06).

Eddie Murray: The first baseman of the worst team money could buy, the 1993 Mets. Is it really a compliment when you're the leader of misfits? Eddie was 11th in last year's voting with 29 votes (after being 11th the previous year with 30 votes).

Tony Fernandez: Was successful at every major league stop he made, except Shea Stadium, where he had maybe three hits in half a season, and blamed gallstones. Tony received 18 votes in 2007 and finished last in the voting.

Albert Pujols: Made the ballot last year not-so-subtle digging into Tom Glavine after Game 1 of the NLCS, combined with being on the trainers table receiving "treatment" during the ninth inning of the 2007 All-Star Game, possibly costing the Mets a shot at home field advantage in the '07 World Series. Pujols was 4th in last year's voting with 104 votes. And speaking of Glavine:

Tom Glavine: Had a decent Mets career before derailing during the last three weeks, and certainly the last day ... compounded by his "disappointing not devastating" comment afterwards. But let's not forget his start as a Met, a 4,397-2 loss to the Cubs on Opening Day of 2003 ... a day so cold and so dreary that I, of all people, left in the sixth inning. I personally wouldn't vote for Glavine but there's enough of you that still hold a grudge that he needs to be on the list. I don't blame you.

Shane Victorino: General pain in the ass, has shared Brett Myers' disdain for the Mets in the past while taunting the Mets by standing on home plate after scoring and clapping in the general direction of the Mets dugout ... yet somehow escapes criticism from the national baseball media because he's a "gamer" and because he's not Jose Reyes.

And as always, you may write in a vote here in the comments section. If someone gets enough write-in votes, then yes, I'll put him in (unless it's an obvious attempt by a rogue group of Yankee fans that want to experiment and see if they can get somebody like Tom Seaver or Gary Carter on the list just by creating computer systems that will write the same name hundreds of times. So don't even bother). And in terms of write-ins, if you write in a vote please make it easy for this old man and put the name in bold or something like that. (But please, before you come out with a comment like "Where's Bobby Bonilla" or "What about Chipper Jones", please refer to the original induction list along with the additions via fan balloting below).

Your Hall of Hate members:

Mike Scioscia-Charter Member
Jeff Kent-Charter Member
Robby Alomar-Charter Member
Rey Ordonez-Charter Member
Larry Jones-Charter Member
Bobby Bonilla-Charter Member
Vince Coleman-Charter Member
Ken Griffey Jr.-Charter Member
Roger Clemens-Charter Member
Mike Hampton-Charter Member
Mike Scott-Charter Member
John Tudor-Charter Member
David Wells-Charter Member
Armando Benitez-Charter Member
John Rocker-Charter Member

Donne Wall-Charter Member
Mike Stanton-Charter Member
Mike DeJean-Charter Member
Brian Jordan-Charter Member
Eddie Perez-Charter Member
Pat Burrell-Charter Member
Terry Pendleton-Charter Member
Jose Vizciano-Charter Member
Pedro Guerrero-Charter Member
Juan Gonzalez-Charter Member
Whitey Herzog-Charter Member
Art Howe-Charter Member
Dallas Green-Charter Member
Al Harazin-Charter Member
The 1993 Home Uniforms-Charter Member
Kenny Rogers-Voted in 2005
Derek Jeter-Voted in 2005
Mo Vaughn-Voted in 2005
Joe Randa-Voted in 2005
M. Donald Grant-Voted in 2005
Mike Francesa- Voted in 2006
Jim Duquette- Voted in 2006
Steve Phillips- Voted in 2006

Dick Young- Voted in 2007
Braden Looper- Voted in 2007

You have the power to decide who joins them. Remember, your vote counts. And back to remind you for this recruiting campaign:

20 comments:

I.M. Forme said...

This is one of my absolute favorite features of the metsosphere, nay the interwebs. Hooray!! Aside from certain vote for Glavine and a write-in for Aaron Heilman, I will need time to mull this over and let prudence, judgment and rage be my guide. I hope everyone chooses wisely and we don't make Tommy Toothless wait to be inducted. He wouldn't be devastated if he's not a first ballot Hall of Hater, but cmon, think of all he's done for us!

Anonymous said...

I would like to write in the Philly Fanatic. I mean really, what the F is that thing supposed to be. It looks like a walking booger. The sight of it makes me want to kick puppies, and that bugs me because I like puppies.

Anonymous said...

Yep ... I need to write in Heilman too. And Kaz Matsui while I'm at it. Why? He's good now. How good? I don't know ... it's REALLY early on a Saturday and I haven't had coffee yet.

Anonymous said...

Steve Phillips. You know why.

And also for spending the entire 2nd half of last season on Baseball Tonight predicting that the Mets wouldn't make the playoffs - and being right about something for once

Anonymous said...

and is LoDuca wearing a Nutty Buddy? Or is his teenage girlfriend checking him out?

Or is that Charlie Sheen?

Anonymous said...

Write In Votes:

Joe Buck

Willie Randolph

Sassdawg. said...

Phillie Phanatic
Joe Buck
Tim McCarver

Sassdawg. said...

Oh and is it too late to vote in

Larry "Put one in his neck" Anderson.

Call it retaliation for hating on Jose.

katherine said...

This is great! I didn't discover blogs til September of last year, so I missed all the previous votes.

But I have to chide you, Metstradamus. It is a travesty, a TRAVESTY, I say, that Pete Rose is not on the original list. You needed to respect your elders more in coming up with your Hall of Hate list.

"I thought it was the ball" pales in comparison to the Pete Rose/Buddy Harrelson fight . Mike Piazza was a big, tall, strong guy who owned Clemens at the plate. Buddy Harrelson was a sweet, adorable skinny little guy, and the attack by Rose will live in infamy. You can't imagine how enraged Mets fans were by that. I think maybe it is frowned upon to include links in comments? But this Hall of Hate voting is sort of a special circumstance. Below are two different photos of l'Affaire Rose-Harrelson. The first photo also proves that Pete Rose could have portrayed the Geico Caveman with absolutely no makeup effects whatsoever. I could not find one single video anywhere of the fight. If anyone knows of one, will you let me know?

I was VERY VERY YOUNG, probably wearing diapers, hahaha, when this all happened. But to this day I have a conditioned response when I see Pete Rose - I clench my fists and jaws and my heart races.

All you Mets fans over the age of 40 - we've got to band together to teach the young'uns their history!

http://www.grandstandsports.com/sport5.aspx?itemid=6665

http://cgi.ebay.com/PETE-ROSE-VS-BUD-HARRELSON-FAMOUS-FIGHT-PHOTO-_W0QQitemZ110269889098QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0807121578r5867#ebayphotohosting


If Pete Rose were not on the list, I would vote for Tom Glavine.

MetFanMac said...

Write-in: Kaz Matsui.

Why oh why does Hebner consistently score so low? (He's last place now) FAFIF put him in one of their inner Circles of Met Hell.

Unknown said...

Katherine:

I was at the game in 1973.(cut the last two periods of school that afternoon) It remains one of my fondest memories of my youth as the left field denizens of Shea pelted Rose with every conceivable object they could get their hands on. Cups, wadded newspaper, scorecards, cans, food, you name it, all showered Rose as he took his position after the fight, prompting an aging Willie Mays and Yogi Berra to implore the fans to stop. The public address announcer intoned that the Mets were in danger of forfeiting the game. It stopped, but the chant continued throughout the game...."Rose blows, Rose blows, Rose blows". The next day you could not get a ticket in left field. Everyone wanted to heckle Rose. God I'm going to miss that dump on Roosevelt Ave.

I'm disappointed that Steve Phillips is not a candidate.

Michael Leggett said...

Jeffy Wilpon:
Joe Buck;
Tim Mc Carvar(Jeter, Jeter, Jeter);

Who TF is running the Mets? Is Omar suddenly constipated, or did Jeffy fill him with Immodium AD?

Anonymous said...

Write ins:
Kaz Matsui
Aaron Heilman
Scott Spiezio
Rick Peterson

Metstradamus said...

Katherine,

You can vote for both Rose and Glavine. For what it's worth, Rose has been on this ballot since its inception, and still hasn't gotten in. So it's just like real life.

And re:Steve Phillips ...

He gained induction in '06. He's on the original list.

Sarah D. Bunting said...

Write-in: Juan Samuel. Uch.

Anonymous said...

joe buck, tim mccarver, joe morgan, jon miller

I.M. Forme said...

cmon people, stop voting for recent Phillies--they haven't earned s***. As Metstradamus said "Rollins' appearance on the ballot is a respect thing." Have some respect for history, not the Phillies.

One other idea, by the way, would be to induct Steve Philips as GM and then as a "broadcaster." That way, he could get stature commensurate with his infamy.

Anonymous said...

Steve Phillips is SOOOO bad he should be inducted twice!!


Phillie Phanatic
Joe Buck
FOX/ESPN
Kaz Matsui

katherine said...

Re the Hall of Hate: There was a New York Times article last week about the emotion of VENGEANCE. A psychologist studied vengeance and found out that the people who felt it most strongly were "women, older people, the poor and residents of high-crime areas", so, that would basically be Mets fans, right?

Sassdawg. said...

Oooh I hate Scott Spezio and his red chin pubes