TOWER GROVE — This past weekend, Newsday baseball columnist Ken Davidoff wrote that he’s changed his mind about Mark McGwire. For the first time, Davidoff wrote, he will be voting for the former St. Louis Cardinals slugger on the Hall of Fame ballot, and it has nothing to do with McGwire emerging from the wilderness as a hitting coach.

McGwire has Alex Rodriguez to thank, Davidoff explains.

You can make your choices below on a ballot recreated as a poll. The poll is limited to 10 selections, however, just like the real ballot — hence, this being a 10@10, with you providing the 10.

Andres "Big Cat" Galarraga is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

There are 26 names on this year’s ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2010, and while there are plenty of intriguing players — Roberto Alomar, Edgar Martinez, Andres Galarraga and, hanging in there, Andre Dawson and Dale Murphy — none eclipse McGwire as an polarizing player. McGwire has received less than a fourth of the vote in his previous appearances on the ballot. That’s enough to stay on the ballot, but he must triple his votes to gain election. (A player must receive 75 percent of the vote to be inducted.) One voter’s change isn’t going to catapult McGwire into Cooperstown, but Davidoff articulates a possible sea change in the constituency. He describes how Rodriguez has helped put an era in context, just as Derek Jeter did when he said not everyone was using. Davidoff writes that players who weren’t using didn’t seem bothered by it at the time — not enough to speak out publicly — so the era has to be judged by the numbers it produced, just as gambling, racism and other scarlet letters tainted previous decades in baseball. Those decades had their Hall of Famers built on spurious numbers, why not this one?

And then, let’s not forget, there’s the fact that McGwire — someday, some time, somewhere — is supposed to talk publicly.

Ballots went out to eligible voters (BBWAA voters who have at least 10 consecutive years of membership) this past week, and they are due Dec. 31. General manager John Mozeliak said this past week that he has been unable to triangulate a press conference with McGwire, as the club had pledged to do after announcing him as the hitting coach for 2010. After initially entertaining a conference call to introduce McGwire to the media, the club now seems interested in having a more traditional press conference where McGwire will meet with the media. The goal is still to have it as soon as possible, Mozeliak said, which means it could come before ballots are due — and one wonders if it could swing some votes.

Other than McGwire, the most intriguing election with local interest is quickly approaching as manager Whitey Herzog is up for a vote of the Veterans Committee. Herzog is one of the finalists for enshrinement, and that vote will be held this weekend. The announcement is set for next Monday.

Harold Baines is back on the ballot, with another DH, Edgar Martinez, joining him for the first time.

Several players with Cardinals connections are on the writers’ Hall of Fame ballot, several for the first time like outfielder Ray Lankford and Todd Zeile. Lee Smith and McGwire return to the ballot. Galarraga, who won a Comeback Player of the Year award the season after he was with the Cardinals, has an interesting resume. He is one of a few players to have a career triple crown, having won a batting title (1993), a home-run crown (1996) and led the league in RBIs (1996, ‘97). Those totals were sweetened by the Mile High effect, sure, but I can tell you there were few original Rockies as beloved as the Big Cat. Alomar arguably has the best Cooperstown case of any of the first timers.

Edgar Martinez will get a lot of run in the coming weeks as the best candidate for a DH Hall of Famer — the AL’s DH award is named for him after all — and yet there on the same ballot sits Harold Baines still looking for that elusive 75-percent vote that catapults him into the Hall for what he did as an OF and DH.

Fred McGriff and Murphy are both achingly close to cherished milestones. McGriff hit 493 home runs, coming seven shy of that celebrated 500-HR Club. Murphy had 398.

There are 26 names on the ballot. And that is recreated below for you to get your clicks. As mentioned above, per the same rules that the writers follow, you can vote on 10 or fewer. If you think only one is worthy, vote one. If you think seven are, vote seven. If you think 11 are, vote for your top 10. It will be a little laboratory here to see how many players get 75 percent of your votes. And, for those of you who think the lede of the blog tends to dictate the results of the poll, notice how I haven’t once mentioned two-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove winner and owner of 18 career grand slams (not including a playoff grand-slam single) … Robin Ventura.

The ballot. Click away:

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As mentioned, the writers’ ballots are due Dec. 31. The results will be announced Jan. 6, and the induction will take place in Cooperstown, N.Y., in late July.

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