The 2010 Hall of Fame vote is notable for one thing beyond Andre Dawson's selection - the anger that some writers are expressing to their colleagues who did not vote as they deemed appropriate.

For example, Ken Rosenthal rips in to his colleagues for the snub of Roberto Alomar:

Our membership is too bloated, too riddled with voters who do not take the process seriously enough to educate themselves properly.

Oh, we usually get it right, and we’ll surely get it right next year with Alomar, who fell short by only eight votes. But the eligibility requirements for voters need to be tightened before worse mistakes are made. ...

Buster Olney is more measured:

And now I'm convinced that the baseball writers shouldn't be involved in the selection of Hall of Famers at all -- a belief I've written about before, a belief reinforced by the most recent round of voting.

First and foremost, it's a clear conflict of interest. As a writer, I should be reporting on the news and not making it. It's Journalism 101 (I assume, since I was a history major). It's not my place, as a reporter, to determine whether Andre Dawson is inducted into the Hall of Fame, no more than it would be for a Capitol Hill reporter to cast a vote on health-care legislation while reporting on it. ...

But really, the most important reason why the writers should not be voting is that it has become increasingly evident that the voters, as a group, don't really have a clear understanding of what the standards for the Hall of Fame are, particularly in this time, as the ballot gains more and more players touched by the steroids issue.

And can you blame them? Their colleagues include:

Writers like Jay Mariotti, who treat their vote like a weapon and juvenilely taunt anyone who questions their judgment.

Writers like Lisa Olson, who has never voted for anybody for the Hall of Fame - even though she has a ballot.

Writers like Pedro Gomez, who voted for Jay Bell last year - but against Tim Raines.

Writers like Bill Conlin, whose capacity for rational evaluation of baseball has long since escaped them - if they ever possessed it.

Speaking of odd thinking, one of the reasons Peter Gammons cited in voting for Andre Dawson was, "teammates named kids after him."

Okey doke. Let's get that plague done pronto. With a Red Sox cap.

In the end, it's an imperfect system that toys with outstanding ballplayers like Alomar, Ron Santo (Veterans Committee now), Bert Blyleven and Dawson. While I don't expect it to change (all of this controversy is good for business, after all), it would be nice if voters took their votes seriously.