This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on Dec. 3, 2004.

By Nick Tavares

The official ballot for nomination into Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2005 was released this week, and I couldn't wait to weigh in on who will, won't and should get in.

Wade Boggs seems like a safe bet, with 3,010 hits and five batting titles to his name. Ryne Sandberg, the premier second baseman for over a decade, also looks like he'll finally get his due in the Hall this time around.

Darryl Strawberry and Willie McGee appear on the ballot for the first time, and while both were All-Stars and quality players, both had careers that fell short of immortality, so they're out.

There are several names on the ballot that will disappear after this year, including the likes of Mark Langston, Tom Candiotti, Tony Phillips and Otis Nixon. All solid major leaguers, but that won't be enough to crack this club.

But the rest of the ballot is wide open, and there are several names deserving nomination. Hall of Fame voters can choose up to 10 players in a given year. I found eight on this year's ballot of 27 that I felt should be in.

Bert Blyleven is the first to get a nod from me. Blyleven's record was 287-250 in 22 years in the majors, and those 22 years have caused some to point and say that he merely hung around and was never dominant.

However, Blyleven was a dominant starter from 1970 right up until 1989, when he won 17 games for the California Angels, and afterwards was still a capable pitcher.

He walked one batter every 3.80 innings in his career, compared with Nolan Ryan's ratio of one walk every 2.47 innings.

Blyleven could pitch in the clutch, too. He was part of two World Series winners, the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1987 Minnesota Twins, and his World Series ERA was 2.35.

Andre Dawson is next. In 21 seasons with the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox and Marlins, the Hawk picked up 2,771 hits and 438 home runs. The 1977 Rookie of the Year and 1987 MVP (both in the National League) was, in his prime, the best outfielder of the 1980s. He racked up nine Gold Gloves for les Expos and the Cubbies in that time, hitting 319 homers by 1989.

Dawson was still a top-notch outfielder until 1992, by which point the years of playing on Montreal's artificial turf had caught up with him.

Even in the twilight of his career, with the Sox and Marlins, Dawson was still a threat at the plate, hitting 38 homers in limited action.

Next up on my ballot is Jim Rice. If Hall of Fame candidates are to be based on who were nominated ahead of them, then Rice should be an automatic.

Take Tony Perez for comparison purposes. Perez, elected in 2000, finished his career with 379 home runs and 1,652 RBIs, along with 2,732 hits.

Rice finished with 389 homers, 1451 RBIs and 2,452 hits. But Rice's career was also cut short by injuries, and his numbers are only reflective of 16 seasons. Perez had the benefit of playing 23 seasons, hanging around long past his best days to pad his statistics.

Rice earned the 1978 MVP and averaged 33 home runs a year in his prime, while Perez's average over the best 10 years of his career was 28.

Perez also had the benefit of being caught in the middle of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine, hitting behind players like Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, George Foster and Ken Griffey, Sr. Rice got to hit with Carl Yastrzemski and Fred Lynn for six years, but after that he was the featured bat until the end of his career.

Does all this suggest that Perez isn't a worthy Hall of Famer? No, but if his career was worthy of enshrinement, then Rice's must be considered.

Bruce Sutter and Rich "Goose" Gossage, two pioneers of the closer position, follow. These two pitchers were dominating late-inning stoppers in the 1970s and 80s, an era before Dennis Eckersley brought the one-inning save into vogue.

The Goose saved 55 games in consecutive seasons for the Pirates and Yankees in 1977 and 1978, totaling 267.1 innings in the process. To compare, Eric Gagne saved 52 and 55 games from 2002-03, but had to pitch only 164.2 to get there.

Sutter averaged exactly 100 innings a season over the prime of his career, with 300 career saves to boot. While Sutter pitched only 12 seasons, it was arm troubles that did him in.

The Hall seems to push aside short-term greatness in favor of long-term goodness.

Players like Perez and Don Sutton both benefited from longevity but were never the best player on their team, while Sutter and Rice were absolutely dominant for a shorter period of time. If one group is to be honored, then the other should not be ignored out of hand.

On that note, we wind up my ballot with Jack Morris. In the 1980s and early 90s, there was no better big-game pitcher alive than Morris. He carried the '84 Tigers and '91 Twins to World Series trophies, the latter of which included an amazing 10-inning shutout performance in Game 7 for the clincher.

Morris won 20 games three times in his career, including a 21-win campaign for Toronto in 1992, another championship year. He averaged 17.3 wins a year in his prime, and his 254-186 record puts him in a class with Hall members Bob Gibson and Bob Feller.

So there you have it. All I need is a membership to the Baseball Writers Association of America, followed by 10 years tenure, and this column will really mean something.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. E-mail him at ntavares@s-t.com.

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on December 3, 2004.