Hall mark only sends very best

The ballot will be going back in today's mail, with votes for newcomers Dennis Eckersley and Paul Molitor, plus returnees Jim Rice, Ryne Sandberg, and Bert Blyleven. Toughest omissions are Bruce Sutter, Rich Gossage, Steve Garvey, Jack Morris, and Alan Trammell. Worthy candidates also include Andre Dawson, Lee Smith, and Dave Concepcion (Ryan always votes for Cincy's flashy shortstop).

Hall voting is, without question, the greatest privilege and responsibility that comes with a 10-year membership in the Baseball Writers Association. A ticket to Cooperstown is the highest honor in baseball and those who vote need to be serious and thorough.

For the last 15 years I have "farmed out" my vote to a friend in Washington who knew more about baseball than almost anyone I know. Mike Openlander grew up in St. Louis, worked for the FBI, and eventually became the best and perhaps most legendary bar manager in the District. He always kept the Baseball Encyclopedia behind the bar, but hardly needed it for reference. Mike just knew. Beginning in 1988, I would mail my ballot to Mike and he would gather friends and spend a December evening debating the pros and cons of every candidate. Serious stuff. Mike would get back to me with his findings. My vote remained independent of the committee, but I valued the input.

Mike died last spring, less than 10 days after attending the Sox-Orioles series during the first weekend of the season. His ashes were spread at Camden Yards and his blood flows through my fingertips as I submit this year's ballot, with all of its debatable logic.

Eckersley and Molitor are two of the 15 players appearing on the ballot for the first time and they will walk hand-in-hand into Cooperstown this summer.

What can we say about Eck that hasn't been said? He was a 20-game winner who became a league MVP as a closer. He pitched 24 seasons and for a time held the record for most games pitched in big league history. His ERA in 1990 was 0.61. Here's my favorite stat: in 1990 he walked four batters in 73 1/3 innings. That was after walking three guys in 57 2/3 innings in the world championship season of 1989. That's seven walks in 131 innings. That's less than one walk for every two complete games. He was an MVP of the American League Championship Series. And he was the all-time stand-up guy. There were no excuses with the Eck. Simply the best.

Molitor? I was in Milwaukee when the kid made his debut with the Brewers in a weekend sweep of the Orioles in 1978. Manager George Bamberger had faith in the unknown kid who eventually amassed 3,319 hits with a .306 career average and 504 stolen bases. He was an offensive machine. He was MVP of the 1993 World Series and hit .357 in 42 ALCS at-bats. He had a 39-game hitting streak. He hit homers, triples and doubles. He can book a hotel in Cooperstown now.

That brings us to Rice, who is on the ballot for the 10th time, but has failed to get the 75 percent vote total needed for induction. He's not going to make it, folks. Rice's best year with the voters was 2001 when he appeared on 57.9 percent of ballots. His low total was 1999 when he made only 29.4 percent of ballots. The discreprancy is rooted in ballot competition. Rice's low total came in the year in which George Brett, Nolan Ryan, and Robin Yount first came up for admission. But in the last four years he's been in the steady 51-58 percent category. There's been a lot said about scribes taking out their wrath on Jim Ed because he was not a good interview. Let's hope not. A candidate's willingness to talk to reporters should have nothing to do with his Hall worthiness. Independent of his churlish personality, the fact remains that Rice's window of greatness -- dominant as it was -- is relatively short. Plus, he was average defensively and did not hit much in the postseason. He remains a borderline candidate.

Sandberg, another candidate who won't be elected, also gets my vote. Sandberg compares favorably with other Hall of Fame second basemen. He can go one-on-one with Joe Morgan (who belongs) and he's better than Bill Mazeroski (who doesn't). Must be a Cub thing. I voted for Ron Santo for the same reasons (match him up with Brooks Robinson some time), but he never made it and was tossed from the ballot after the 15-year limit.

Blyleven is a tough call. He won 287 games, while pitching for a lot of bad teams. He ranks fifth on the all-time strikeout list and if you saw him you remember that he could dominate with his curveball. He was a better pitcher than Don Sutton and Phil Niekro, who made the Hall on the strength of winning 300. I've given Bert the benefit of the doubt for the extra 13 wins.

Sutter is a tough omission because he was so dominant in his time and his split-fingered fastball revolutionized baseball and changed the way the game is managed (not for the better). When he was on, he was unhittable. His numbers are far better than those of Gossage, but we remember Goose pitching in more big games. Smith? Big Lee piled up the saves, but so did Jeff Reardon. When the day is done, none of these short relievers is a Hall of Famer.

Dawson is a player who definitely deserves a long look. He was an MVP and hit 438 homers. But Dave Parker was a more dominating player and Garvey was Mr. Postseason and they don't get a sniff. Dawson is more of a longevity guy. He fails the Potter Stewart "I-know-it-when-I-see-it" test.

Morris and Trammell suffer from the Detroit Diss. Lou Whitaker, probably a better player than Mazeroski, didn't get enough votes to stay on the ballot a couple of years ago and Morris and Trammell should have much higher vote totals than they have been getting.

There. Who's Hall-worthy? Who's not? It's all we have to keep us going in these endless hours of waiting for A-Rod.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is dshaughnessy@globe.com.