Players only become eligible 5 years after retiring. Voting is by the Baseball Writers Association of America Rule 5 states that: Voting shall be based on - player's record
- playing ability
- integrity
- sportsmanship
- character
- contributions to team/s on which played
There is no limit to the number of candidates and any candidate receiving 75% of votes cast is elected. For the purposes of this Annalisa we imagine a Baseball Writer (BW) who has narrowed down his choice as being to vote for Barry Bonds or Guy Other, or both, or neither. BW's rule is that he will vote for a candidate who scores .75 on his Annalisa. While it is not a competition between them BW rates Bonds higher on Record and Ability, lower on Sportsmanship and Character, equal in Team Contribution - and, crucially much lower on Integrity, where he has severe doubts and therefore puts him at only .5 Initially BW gives 30% weight to both Record and Ability and 10% to the other 4 criteria. Then, on reflection, he decides that Integrity is much more important than the other 3 at 10% and indeed the most important characteristic of all. So he ups it to 30%, with Record and Ability reduced to 20% each Initially (Slide 1 in gallery) Barry rates higher then Guy, and both exceed his .75 threshold so he would vote for both. But after Integrity is given much great weight (Slide 2 in gallery), not only are the rankings reversed but Barry no longer meets the .75 threshold so BW votes only for Guy Other. Weightings as well as  Ratings matter!
download alt file here
|
