Baseball Hall of Fame Voting

Last Wednesday, Andre Dawson was voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame after being eligible for multiple years. Once a player retires, he has to wait five years to become eligible for induction. To gain admission, a player must receive votes from 75 percent of the sportswriters who are chosen to vote. A player is eligible for fifteen years after he retires. It took Dawson nine years (after he became eligible) to be voted in, even though his career statistics probably should have made him a Hall of Famer much sooner.
The issue I have with Hall of Fame voting is the voters' tendency not to vote in a player in his first year of eligibility, no matter how good they are. Some of the greatest players in the history of the game, including Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio, did not make it on their first try. This year, Roberto Alomar did not make it in his first year of eligibility, even though he is one of the top 5 second basemen of all time. The issue I have is why wait to put a player in? If they are deserving, why do voters make them wait 2, 3 or even 10 years? Once a player retires, his statistics aren't going to change. If he is voted in next year, then he was deserving to be voted in this year too.