Cal Ripken Jr.: In. Tony Gwynn: In. Mark McGwire: Not in. And to some members of the Baseball Writers Association of America — the body responsible for electing players to the National Baseball Hall of Fame — that’s priceless.

Veteran sportswriter and Cedar Grove resident Maury Allen was one of those who voted against McGwire. In an interview shortly after the Hall announced its newest members, he offered NJ Jewish News an insider’s look at the procedure for enshrining — or excluding — the game’s elite.

This year, a record 545 ballots were cast by eligible BBWAA members. “You have to be a traveling baseball writer for 10 years and only newspaper writers vote,” said Allen, who used to ply his typewriter for the New York Post. Employees of weekly newspapers, magazines, or television are ineligible, regardless of their expertise, which, he suggested, might be a bit unfair.

Although officially retired, Allen retains voting privileges. “You’re in for life,” he said, “but I can’t pass it on to my heirs, unlike my furniture.”

Current requirements for entry into the Hall state that a player must have at least 10 seasons in the major leagues and be retired for at least five years to be considered for election. The rules have changed since the first elections in 1936 (the Hall officially opened in 1939), and there have been exceptions; the waiting period was waived for Roberto Clemente, a perennial star for the Pittsburgh Pirates who died in a 1972 plane crash delivering humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Managua, Nicaragua.

Six members of a BBWAA screening committee prepare the ballot, which includes first-time candidates or those who were selected on at least 5 percent of the ballots from the preceding election. The ballots are mailed out the first week of December, and voters may choose as many as 10 candidates. Or none at all. And no write-ins, thank you. If a candidate receives at least 75 percent of the vote, he’s in.

This time around, Allen, author of more than 35 books on sports, voted for Ripken and Gwynn, as well as Rich “Goose” Gossage, Andrew Dawson, Tommy John, and Don Mattingly. And — like more than 75 percent for his brother writers — he did not vote for Mark McGwire, who broke the single season record for home runs in 1998, which was in turn broken by Barry Bonds. Despite McGwire’s career total of 583 homers, Allen said he believes the red-headed slugger doomed his chances with his poor performance before the March 2005 House Government Reform Committee hearings on steroid use in baseball. “I think that was the key thing. Once the [story] broke, I think his whole career was suspicious from that day on. He was getting some sort of chemical aid to his performance, and that, I think, violated the traditional ethics of baseball. Whether or not it was illegal…it was clearly immoral.”

In a seemingly inconsistent move, Allen also voted for Jose Canseco, who has not only admitted using steroids himself but accused other players, including McGwire, a former teammate with the Oakland Athletics, of imbibing. “The reason I voted for Canseco was that I thought he opened up the steroid thing better than any guy, and I think it was a tremendous contribution to the dignity of baseball.”

(Bonds has also been the target of steroid-use allegations, and many sports pundits believe McGwire’s situation is a portent of what awaits when Bonds eventually becomes eligible for Hall of Fame consideration.)

Allen calls election into the Hall of Fame “a subjective honor. If it was an objective honor, they wouldn’t have a vote,” and that inclusion would be based solely on superior statistics. “The ballot arrives along with a booklet of information about all of the eligible players,” he said, “but strictly as it relates to their play on the field.”

Allen calls himself “a strict constructionist” when it comes to voting. “If the guy’s name, like Ripken or Gwynn, doesn’t jump off the page, then my tendency is not to support [him]. I think the Hall of Fame is for that very, very unique special performer in the game.”

He noted that despite their excellent credentials, neither of this year’s winners received unanimous support. No one ever has. This year, two ballots were returned with no selections at all, and Allen said that as many as 40 writers a year fail to send them back. It’s something he just can’t figure out. “It’s probably the easiest ballot that exists. It even comes with a stamped, return envelope, but people still make mistakes on it. People miss a name, skip a name, it gets lost in the mail, you forget to fill it out, your wife tears it up…. There’s all kinds of crazy reasons.”

Like Ripken and Gwynn, Sandy Koufax was elected on his first year of eligibility in 1972, which was also Allen’s first year as a voting BBWAA member. Allen claims the selection was “controversial because he had six overwhelming years and six less-than-average years.” He also admits the fact that Koufax was a fellow Jew (as well as a fellow Brooklynite) might have influenced him — just a little. “I probably tilted more toward him that I might have [otherwise].”

“I’m a hard voter,” said Allen, “because I think it’s such an incredible honor that we who are assigned to do it should do so with a lot of thought and a lot of conscience.”