Keith Law tallying HOF votes

Raines - He's another pretty strong candidate.  In 23 seasons he had a total of 2 full seasons where his OPS+ was below average.  He was an unbelievably skilled player who at one time or another in his career led the league in batting average, on base percentage, doubles, stolen bases, runs and runs created.  No, he never hit 20 home runs and he ended his career shy of the 3000 hit mark, yet I'm pretty confident that if the prime of his career would have been in Boston, Chicago or New York that he would be a first ballot hall of famer without question.

McGwire - He was no doubt using performance enhancers, but many of his drugs were both legal and accepted by MLB at the time.  Furthermore, let's not force him to go through a filtering process that we haven't used for past HOFers (and believe me, there are already many PED users in the hall).  The guy put up a career 162 OPS+, with a career .394 OBP.  Usually near the top of the league in runs, runs created, home runs and just about anything else that has the word "run" in it, I think McGwire should be in the hall.

The Rest
Gossage - I'd probably vote for him on a good day if I were in a good mood, but it would be a close call.  It's hard to vote for a reliever, but considering how unhittable he was from 1975-1985, I'd consider voting for him.  Really, still not absolutely convinced that he belongs though.

Dawson - I realize that he was an extremely popular player, but that's not a reason to win a vote.  He just isn't hall of fame quality in my opinion.  He was slightly above average offensively, and above average defensively.  Was he great in either category?  No.  Did he have a period in his career when he was great in either category?  Not really.  Does that combination of above average skills make him a good player?  Most definitely.  Does it make him a hall of famer?  No.  Just for fun, do a comparison of his 1987 MVP season with Tim Raines 1987 season and tell me if you think Dawson deserved the MVP simply because his team was better.

Rice
When I look at Rice's career I see four very good years (1977-1979 and 1986), but the rest of his career is average or slightly above average for a DH/OF guy.  The fact of the matter is that there are already nine LFers in the hall of fame (Musial, Kiner, Stargell, Williams, et. al.), and Rice doesn't come close to their level IMO.  This is a guy who was great at Fenway, and terrible elsewhere.  As a left fielder he only had a .789 career OPS on the road.  That's not a good stat, and definitely not HoF worthy.

Tommy John is an interesting case, and I've heard the ridiculous arguments that Morris should be in the hall, but outside of the ones I've already mentioned, nobody else even comes close to getting my vote.