Hall of Fame ballots went out this week and there is an interesting name among all the others. Darryl Kile.

Normally, a player must wait five years before becoming eligible for the Hall of Fame but baseball makes an exception for players who die during their careers. Kile is the fourth player thus affected -- the others were Lou Gehrig (who died two years after his career ended), Roberto Clemente and Thurman Munson.

The five-year waiting period is beneficial for two reasons. One, it generally prevents the awkward situation of a player coming out of retirement after he's been elected to the Hall of Fame -- which was the case with Mario Lemiux in hockey -- or having him come out of retirement and pad his resume after voters have already rejected him (I say "generally'' because Jose Rijo came out of retirement after he had already been on the ballot). Indeed, the rule was initially constructed to prevent the problem of players coming out of retirement.

Clearly, a dead player is not coming out of retirement, so voters don't need to worry about a comeback. But lifting the five-year waiting period does present the possibility of a voter being swayed by sentimental reasons.

And that doesn't apply only to players who die. The five-year waiting period provides a needed perspective on a player's career. It's only natural to feel more favorably about a player when you're caught up in the sadness of just seeing him retire. You tend to think of him as better than he really was.

Ryne Sandberg, who also is on the ballot for the first time, is an excellent example. When he retired the first time in 1994, I definitely would have voted him in without a second thought. But after he had a couple mediocre seasons when he came out of retirement (what is it about Chicago players and not being able to make up their minds?), my thoughts changed a little bit about his career.

I'll still vote for Sandberg but the point is, like a Monet painting, you see a player's career more clearly from a distance. Which is why all players, living or dead, should be subject to the waiting period.

Clearly, the Kile situation isn't a big problem. Fortunately, active players do not die very often and so far the only ones who were put into Cooperstown early -- Gehrig and Clemente -- would have made it easily anyway. And Kile isn't going to get in no matter how sad anyone feels about his death. Still, there seems to be no compelling reason to make an exception.

Will seeing Kile not get any votes next month make his family feel better about their loss in any way? No. Is there the potential for a problem in the future? Yes, even though it is slight. But better to head off a potential problem before it develops than wait until it does.