Tuesday, July 14, 2009

It's The Fifth Annual Hall of Hate Vote!

So it's the All-Star Break ... no Mets baseball until Thursday (although, if you're a Met fan, you haven't really seen baseball since May, so what does it matter to you?) But that doesn't mean that baseball can't fill your lives. First, you had Monday night's glorified batting practice/swing destroyer known as the Home Run Derby. And then tonight, you have the All-Star Game from St. Louis.

But in between, why don't you flex your frustration muscles and vote in our fifth annual Hall of Hate Elections.

Here's the standard background material for the uninitiated and those who haven't been here long (which doubles as a form letter since I pretty much cut and pasted this from last season's vote):

Soon after starting this blog, I created a daily hate list...five people, places, or things that put a bee in my bonnet 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, and Tom Glavine in 2008. The balloting would usually coincide with whatever vacation time I was taking, but this season I decided to make it my very own All-Star festivity (and you don't even have to pay a couple hundred bucks to get in unlike the Home Run Derby.)

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 11:59PM on Thursday, July 23rd to cast your vote. Just as the case last season, 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 63 votes in 2008 and was a distant sixth in the voting.

John Thomson: A recent 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 dropped 54 votes in 2007 to just 22 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 partly hate, but partly a respect thing. Rollins finished in second place last season with 165 votes, just 12 away from the "winner", Tom Glavine.

Brett Myers: Hates the Mets, hits his wife. Myers' appearance on the ballot is not out of respect, but true hate. Myers finished fifth last season with 129 votes.

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 2007's voting, dropped to tenth with 24 votes last season.

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 remains on the ballot after finishing a strong third in the voting in 2008 with 162 votes.

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 finished seventh with 46 votes in '08.

Cole Hamels: Started off by lecturing Paul Lo Duca on how to celebrate home runs after about ten minutes in the league ... but makes the list with his "choke artists" rant over this past winter on WFAN. First time nominee.

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. Dropped from fifth in 2007 with 77 votes to ninth with 33 votes in 2008.

Richie Hebner: Wanted no part of the Mets, and played like it at third base. He set the standard for giving baseball fans the finger during his only season in New York. Hebner has been dropping like a stone in the voting, going from 65 to 34 to 20 votes over the past three seasons. Remains on the list because, well ... he deserves it.

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? In a weird statistical quirk, Murray has finished in 11th place for three straight seasons.

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, but avoided last place in '08 with 22 votes.

Albert Pujols: Made the ballot in 2007 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 2007's voting with 104 votes, but dropped all the way to eighth with 39 votes last season.

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. Victorino was fourth in 2008 with 156 votes.

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, because I hold final veto rights). 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
Tom Glavine- Voted in 2008

You have the power to decide who joins them. The candidates are already putting their campaigns together:



30 comments:

DyHrdMET said...

I wish I could have been around for the induction of the original group.

can I write in Fred & Jeff Wilpon?

Anonymous said...

About Jimmy Rollins, while we could give him some respect for backing up his words in 2007, the fact that his stats have been in a freefall since then HAS to bring up some questions on that season, right?

And I'm surprised that Tony LaRussa isn't on the list with the number of big name cheaters that have played for him in the past. Considering the track record of his prior teams, the fact that Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver and Adam Wainwright (he might be good but it's nowhere near the level he was in 2006) all pitched out of their minds at the same time just can't be coincidence.

Anonymous said...

My Write-in vote:

OMAR MINAYA

Beezermess

tommy_calzone said...

JERRY MANUEL

Post game laugh-fests after unacceptable losses.

Excuses of injuries.

Laughs after losses.

Responses that make no sense whatsoever.

Yuks its up with the media after every loss.

Repeatedly screwing with guys in the lineup.

Laughs after his team plays bad news bears style.

Publicly says its acceptable to play .500 ball.

Laughs after losses.

Gets a pass from the media for what I don't know.

Laughs at losses.

Says one thing then does the exact opposite.

Laughs after losses.

Publicly says this current team isn't good enough.

Laughs after losses.

Has no clue how when it comes to in game managing.

Laughs after losses.

Omar could easily be a write in as well......

Go read Adam Rubin's Sunday Daily News Article. After your done vomiting on yourself you will know why.

fink said...

glad to see victorino leading the charge towards the hall of hate- well deserved. his (hopeful) election will open up a spot on this list for jayson werth next year.

James Allen said...

Seems as though Jack Clark heard about your little Hall of Hate, M, and was making a bid for it a few weeks back. But seriously, who has even thought about Jack Clark for the last 10 or so years?

I'm going to write in Steve Phillips, I know he's in already, but as the ex-GM; he should go in again as a broadcaster. Not only is he godawful as whatever it is he's supposed to be doing on ESPN, he knocks the Mets every chance he gets, and it's not like the Mets aren't knockable, but he knocks the wrong things, like Carlos Beltran.

Also:

John Franco-
I'm sorry, this guy has always rubbed me the wrong way, from his constant, "I'm a New Yorker" posturing, to his "I'm keeping my options open" statement on national TV, to his pipeline to management (the more he denies he had anything to do with the Mets getting down on Kazmir the more I don't believe him), to his more recent unnecessary ripping of David Wright (and his lame backtracking, odd as it sounds, I'd have respected him more if he stuck to his guns, but that just goes to show what substance he's made of.) I have no desire to see or hear him ever again.

P.S. I was bartending last night and I have to say that the HR derby was one of the most boring thing I've ever seen in my life, and my customers pretty much agreed. (Unfortunately, there was nothing else to watch.) The format they use drag it out to such a ludicrous length, and there is zero drama. And they take soooo many pitches. And yay! Someone hit a HR off an old guy lobbing it in at 40 mph! Horay! And Chris Berman said "back" 1,473,908 times! Like the NBA dunk competion, MLB has built up another non-event to ridiculous proportions. For as down as I am at the actual All-Star Game, at least it's still a baseball game.

Anonymous said...

I've been a Mets fan since Day 1 1962.

My Hall of Hate begins with Pete Rose. My loathing of him dates from 1963, when he beat Ron Hunt for Rookie of the Year. (Granted, Rose deserved it, but he was then, and shall remain forever, a dirty, bullying, lying bad guy who, in addition to his well-documented crimes and sins, selfishly kept playing long after his skills had vanished. May he never be elected to Cooperstown!)

My second entry has to be (write in) Larry Bowa. Just for all-round, decades-long obnoxiousness. Any time I hear his name floated as a possible managerial candidate for the Mets, I have to suppress a gag reflex.

No Hall of Hate can be legitimate without these two clowns.

Metstradamus said...

"Can I write in Fred & Jeff Wilpon?"

I believe you just did.

Metstradamus said...

Tommy,

We play a game here at night where we try to decipher what he's talking about in his post game news conferences. And I thought it was common knowledge that Snoop laughs when he has no clue what the answer is or he can't come up with a proverb fast enough.

Metstradamus said...

James, Jack Clark would have been a good one. I saw the article and was livid. But I forgot about it much like I forgot about Jack Clark himself. There's always next season.

And at least the slam dunk contest requires a little creativity and shows off some skill. The HR derby is batting practice with gold baseballs.

Metstradamus said...

And the write-in count goes as such:

Fred Wilpon-1
Jeff Wilpon-1
Tony LaRussa-1
Omar Minaya-1
Jerry Manuel-1
John Franco-1
Larry Bowa-1
Jack Clark-1 (I'm writing him in, screw it.)

Anonymous said...

I second the votes for Wilpon, Wilpon, Minaya, and Manuel and want to write in Razor Shines.

kjs said...

Can I vote for how much I hate the fans doing the wave while Santana is pitching in a 1-1 game?

Anonymous said...

Omar Minaya - Someone has to take the blame for this awful team.

Anonymous said...

I know he used to be the color guy on WWOR Met games but Tim McCarver and his awful sidekick Joe Buck get my write in vote!

Grammarian@mindspring.com said...

How about Timo Perez?

Anonymous said...

OMAR MINAYA

Anonymous said...

I would also like to vote for OMAR MINAYA

Anonymous said...

Omar "Knucklehead" Minaya

schneck said...

I wanted to vote for the wave, but I see that's been done so I second that. I know it is gone (hopefully for good) but if we can consider non-players how about 'Sweet Caroline' or, for that matter, Neil Diamond.

I'm starting to smell a debut of Pedro Martinez on next year's ballot.

G-Fafif said...

I am stunned Pete Rose is not yet in the Hall of Hate. Did Fay Vincent ban him from this one, too?

Anonymous said...

write in- pedro. enjoy that 5 ERA phillies... i hope he comes to citi so that he will get booed out of the stadium in the 2nd after giving up 8 runs.

Sassdawg. said...

Would like to write in

The Philly Phanatic
I hate that guy, really really hate that guy

Metstra:

I'm with you on

Jack Clark

Coop said it best when she said that before there was Brave Hate, Before there was Philly Hate, there was Cardinal Hate, now that was hate

Anonymous said...

Look, I'm sorry I'm old, but the list simply has to have Jimmy Qualls. And how about Kenny Rogers?

MetFanMac said...

I'm writing in:

Willie Randolph
Joel Pineiro
Bronson Arroyo
The wave
Joe Morgan (just because)

Metstradamus said...

Updated write-in count:

Omar Minaya-6
Jerry Manuel-2
The Wave-2
Fred Wilpon-2
Jeff Wilpon-2
Tony LaRussa-1
John Franco-1
Larry Bowa-1
Jack Clark-1
Razor Shines-1
Tim McCarver-1
Joe Buck-1
Timo Perez-1
Heath Bell-1
Pedro Martinez-1

Anonymous said...

SCOTT BORAS

Enough said....

tommy_calzone said...

hmmm

I've been voting for years and just realized last night while watching the allstar game that there is no Molina on the list.

Surprised considering he slammed the window shut on our sole chance to win this decade.

You know seeing how we only get one shot a decade and all.

Damus - I hope it is a drinking game you play in regards to manuel or at least bong hits.

CharlieH said...

Write-in:

BERNIE MADOFF!

Anonymous said...

my write-ins would have to be:

WALLACE MATTHEWS

PAT GILLICK

two notorious met haters. time for them to receive their dues