I don't think it's true that you can't vote if you no longer work for a newspaper. Drew Olson hasn't worked for a paper for a few years, and I believe he still gets a vote. IIRC, he said he had a gold BBWAA card that gives him lifetime voting privileges that he got after working the basbeall beat for a newspaper for 10 years.

I don't know why that conflicts with what Bodley said. Maybe the BBWAA took his vote away once he started working for MLB.com

Once a BBWAA puts in 10 years, he has HOF voting privileges for life. But only active members (ie, those still writing for a newspaper) are eligible to be selected to vote on postseason awards (MVP, CYA, etc).

Isn't he still a voter? Didn't Chass somehow convince Bodley to vote for Morris?

Bodley's official ballot.

1-Rickey
2-Rice
3-Morris

Yes...Murray Chass talked Bodley into putting Morris on.

and don't forget that there are voters who never wrote one word about baseball in their lives - editors/photographers and their ilk

along with guys who have been writing mostly about other sports for years and years and don't actually follow baseball at all, just know a few names

I don't think it's true that you can't vote if you no longer work for a newspaper. Drew Olson hasn't worked for a paper for a few years, and I believe he still gets a vote. IIRC, he said he had a gold BBWAA card that gives him lifetime voting privileges that he got after working the basbeall beat for a newspaper for 10 years.

I don't know why that conflicts with what Bodley said. Maybe the BBWAA took his vote away once he started working for MLB.com.

Bodley said he can't vote for postseason awards. I'm not sure that's exactly true, but based on how they dole out voting assignments for those awards, he may no longer be a realistic candidate to get a vote.

He should still have his HoF vote.

I realize MLB.com has full editorial discretion, but still having MLB.com writers vote for MVP, CY Young, etc. is just asking for trouble. I actually thought there was something about BBWAA not recognizing MLB.com writers, but I'm likely mistaken.

I actually thought there was something about BBWAA not recognizing MLB.com writers, but I'm likely mistaken.

Sean...My records (HA!) show no mention of MLB.com votes before 2005. Now they might have voted and not announced it, but I'm pretty sure they weren't recognized at that time.

The neo-monolith MLB.com.Harold.Network.Reynolds refused to release their block of HOF voters UNTIL after the 2:00 announcement. They posted at 2:15 and screwed up my final Fill/Partial gizmatic system!

I actually thought there was something about BBWAA not recognizing MLB.com writers, but I'm likely mistaken.

Even if they are allowed, as seems the case, the voting pool is so large that the MLB.com writers wouldn't have that much weight. Which is a lot better than the NFL where a hand-picked 36-person committee seems to have many of the flaws of baseball's old Veterans Committee.

Huh?

I thought only the beat writers got to vote for postseason awards. 2 for each team. The vast majority of the BBWAA already doesn't get to vote for the postseason awards and since Bodley doesn't cover a specific team (does he?) I'd have thought he hasn't voted in those awards in ages.

I thought only the beat writers got to vote for postseason awards. 2 for each team. The vast majority of the BBWAA already doesn't get to vote for the postseason awards and since Bodley doesn't cover a specific team (does he?) I'd have thought he hasn't voted in those awards in ages.

True, but I'm not sure that every award is covered by a different writer from each city (particularly as some papers prohibit voting), so the BBWAA may go to other members from national outlets still covering the game. They probably don't go to mlb.com, however.

True, but I'm not sure that every award is covered by a different writer from each city (particularly as some papers prohibit voting),

Fair enough although papers prohibiting writers is a new phenomenon. But anyway, only 60 people vote for the MVP ... and I think it's the same 60 who vote for CYA and RoY; 539 voted for the HoF.

Of course judging from this hilaripus page, maybe the newspaper industry is in even worse shape than I thought. :-)

Anyway, I couldn't find any info about awards voting qualifications on their awful website (no surprise) ... and I even checked the BBWAA constitution (though it might have been in there).

But anyway, only 60 people vote for the MVP ... and I think it's the same 60 who vote for CYA and RoY.

That was never my understanding. I always thought it was separate voters for each award, or at least as much as possible.