2017 Hall of Fame Ballot

zitothebrave

Connoisseur of Minors
I'm only gonna look at the top 15 in WAR as I see no way JD Drew, Posada, Maggs, Cameron or Vazquez gets in. Only Wakefield has a decent position.

First up you have 3 first years, Vlad, Pudge, and Manny. Then I'm going by % of votes for the rest of the list.

Bagwell, Raines, Hoffman, Schilling, CLemens, Bonds, Ed Mart, Mussina, Lee Smith, McGriff, Kent, Walker, Sheffield, Wagner, Sosa

if I was a writer, my ballot would be.

Bonds, Clemens, Mussina, Schilling, Bagwell, Walker, Raines, Pudge, Vlad

I'd probably hold off on 10. Manny is close but his pair of suspension and his inability to defend sucks. I don't think Hoffman or Wagner, or Smith are not hall of famers to me. THey're talented closers, but we can't have 4 or 5 closers per generation getting in. Ed Mart falls just behind my list.
 
Hoffman and Wagner are 2 of the best closers of all time. I think the point of the HOF is to recognise players who were dominant for their generation.

Vlad would get my vote due to his dominance.

I'm out on bonds clemens and manny for the way they handled their issues.

Edgar Martinez would get my vote. While the typical DH can't field, the DH is a position in the game so I don't think we can fault the player
 
Were I fortunate enough to have a vote again, I would happily post these 10:

Pudge, Bagwell, Clemens, Raines, McGriff, Kent, Guerrero, Hoffman, Bonds, Sheffield
 
For the actual Hall, anybody known or even suspected of having used PED's has zero chance. That includes Clemens, Pudge, Bonds, Sosa, Sheffield. Unfortunate, as we all know, Clemens and Bonds especially were on track without the extra pick-me-ups.

As for those with realistic chances:

For somebody like Mussina, he'd have to wait a while. He'd be pegged as similar to Don Sutton (who actually surpassed the mythical 300 win threshold). The perception of being on a lot of very good teams but never being the the absolute best on his team or among the best in his league. Crime Dog seems to lack support, possibly another victim of the '96 collapse and being replaced by Big Cat affected his numbers.

The doors are now open to closers. With Rollie Finger and Bruce Sutter in, there should be support for Lee Smith. Hoffman could see getting in relatively soon with possibly decent vote total for Wagner too.

Could see Raines and Bagwell being selected this time around.
 
IF you aren't worried about PEDs I think you have to include Manny.

Difference between Bonds and Clemens vs. Manny is Manny was suspended. BOnds and Clemens have reasonable doubt. SUre they were brought up heavily but without any official sanction from MLB, voters are just being sanctimonious. Especially considering it was Bud Selig's MLB that created the environment that effectively forced stars like Clemens and Bonds to take Steroids because others were.
 
Difference between Bonds and Clemens vs. Manny is Manny was suspended. BOnds and Clemens have reasonable doubt. SUre they were brought up heavily but without any official sanction from MLB, voters are just being sanctimonious. Especially considering it was Bud Selig's MLB that created the environment that effectively forced stars like Clemens and Bonds to take Steroids because others were.

Let's be honest. MLB encouraged steroid use behind closed doors. The homerun chase and the infused offense brought the sport back from the black eye of the 94 strike. They only reacted because the media caught on and it started to give the sport another black eye.
 
Posada has a chance. A catcher and many rings for him, and he's a Yankee. Drew, Maggs, Cameron, Javy I don't see. Wakefield I could see also, but no idea if he can make it to the second year.

Smith will get in by committee, not by ballot.
 
Difference between Bonds and Clemens vs. Manny is Manny was suspended. BOnds and Clemens have reasonable doubt. SUre they were brought up heavily but without any official sanction from MLB, voters are just being sanctimonious. Especially considering it was Bud Selig's MLB that created the environment that effectively forced stars like Clemens and Bonds to take Steroids because others were.

MLB and a lot of baseball writers are totally hypocritical about the steroids era. MLB turned a blind eye to it after the fallout from the strike and WS cancellation. Baseball writers got caught up in the McGwire-Sosa HR chase. Bonds's record got far less attention, simply because nobody liked him. Then after congressional testimony (like the U.S. government didn't have far more pressing issues than juiced up baseball players?), writers all piled on en masse as if they'd known all along.
 
For the actual Hall, anybody known or even suspected of having used PED's has zero chance. That includes Clemens, Pudge, Bonds, Sosa, Sheffield. Unfortunate, as we all know, Clemens and Bonds especially were on track without the extra pick-me-ups.

As for those with realistic chances:

For somebody like Mussina, he'd have to wait a while. He'd be pegged as similar to Don Sutton (who actually surpassed the mythical 300 win threshold). The perception of being on a lot of very good teams but never being the the absolute best on his team or among the best in his league. Crime Dog seems to lack support, possibly another victim of the '96 collapse and being replaced by Big Cat affected his numbers.

The doors are now open to closers. With Rollie Finger and Bruce Sutter in, there should be support for Lee Smith. Hoffman could see getting in relatively soon with possibly decent vote total for Wagner too.

Could see Raines and Bagwell being selected this time around.

I'd say Hoffman is a lock to get in pretty soon, especially after MLB named the NL reliever of the year award after him.
 
Wakefield? That's a joke.

Albert Belle would get one of my votes. Dude was a beast.

His 162 game average is 40 homers and 130 RBI. Those are Bondsian type numbers.
 
Back
Top