There’s nothing that’s more of a beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder thing than filling out the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame ballot.
Few things are more subjective, draw more ire or make people happier than when you check or don’t check a box of someone you think or don’t think is deserving of a Hall of Fame vote.
And for those who think it’s easy to fill one out, it’s not. It’s a great honor but also something that those who fill one out take very seriously — at least I hope so. There’s nothing I look forward to receiving in the mail more in November than a ballot. There’s nothing I agonize over more in December than filling it out. But it’s an agony I look forward to and something that I dreamed about when I first starting covering the Texas Rangers for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2007.
As for this year’s ballot, for me at least the first eight picks were pretty easy. I believe Mariano Rivera and Roy Halladay have first ballot Hall of Fame careers, so that took care of two of my spots. After agonizing over the Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens decision last year and deciding I’m in the Hall-worthy camp that took care of two more votes.
I can’t stand Curt Schilling the person. Wouldn’t want to ever talk to him. Wouldn’t want my kid to talk to him. But I think he had a Hall of Fame career, just like I did last year. That made five votes pretty easy.
Mike Mussina was consistent and consistently good for some mediocre Baltimore teams and won at least 15 games 11 times. He was an outstanding defensive pitcher and closed his career with a 20-win season in 2008. His ERA is better than Andy Pettitte’s and he had more wins. I know a lot of people don’t care about how many wins a guy has, but I do. Again it’s a subjective thing but just like last year, I voted for Mussina.
Larry Walker was an outstanding all-around baseball player. I get that he played 10 seasons for the Colorado Rockies and that helped his offensive numbers, but he won an MVP award and finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting four times. He also won seven Gold Gloves and is just outside the top 50 in WAR for position players. And I looked at Todd Helton this year. He was a really solid player for Colorado and has better offensive numbers than some Hall of Famers. But if you want to look at a player who really benefited from playing at Coors Field, check out his splits. Yikes.
I also believe just like last year that Edgar Martinez is a Hall of Famer. I get that he was a designated hitter for most of his career but, man, could he hit. I can see the argument against him, but in my opinion he’s a Hall of Famer, so I checked the box. For those who don’t, that’s cool too. I’m not here to judge. I’m here to vote. And he was a lot better player than Harold Baines was.
That got me to eight. I’m a believer in voting for 10 guys if I think 10 guys had Hall of Fame careers. I considered six guys for my last two spots so I would have been comfortable voting for 14 when I started to whittle it down. Those five were Andruw Jones, Fred McGriff, Scott Rolen, Gary Sheffield and Billy Wagner. Last year I had McGriff and Wagner as my 11th and 12th picks.
This year after looking at everything I decided on Fred McGriff and Gary Sheffield for my final two spots. That’s not a knock on Wagner but more of me taking a deeper look at Sheffield. Eight teams, 22 years and one thing never changed. He could hit. Six times he finished in the top 10 in MVP voting and that was spread out of 13 years, which speaks to how consistently good he was. Is he going to get in the Hall of Fame? Not the way the votes have gone for him the first five years of eligibility. But to me he’s worthy of it, so he got my vote.
I really think McGriff’s bid is hurt by the teams he played on. When you’re doing your best work in Tampa Bay, Toronto, Atlanta and San Diego it’s often hard to get noticed. But 493 homers and 1,550 RBI and a decade of being really good got me to vote for him. I know it’s his last year on the ballot and he only received 23 percent of the votes last year. But it’s not a throw-away vote for me. It’s a Hall of Fame vote.
Is this a perfect ballot? I’m sure most will disagree, and I’m fine with that. The buddies I grew up with tried to convince me that Michael Young deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. And for some voters, I’m sure that’ll be the case. It’s just not the case for me.
But before you beat up this Hall of Fame voter, just know I’ve already done that myself. But I’m good with the way this one turned out.
