Vote makes for ten-sion
A couple tough calls due to restrictive Hall of Fame rules
Because peace reigns on earth and the meek have inherited it, what the world needs right now is one more howl at the moon from a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America about how difficult his or her Baseball Hall of Fame ballot was to fill out.
Happy to oblige. There is a valid reason why a growing number of baseball scribes resort to this annual caterwaul about what should be the most enjoyable and honorable function he or she can perform each year.
It’s the ridiculous Rule of 10.
Being forced to stick to an arbitrary cap of 10 on how many boxes a voter can check off forces contortions of logic that don’t need to be made.
It helps these days to have a dedicated ballot tracker sharing his data on Twitter, @NotMrTibbs, who provides a running count on ballots made public by writers, as well as voting results from years past. I am curious to see how others have voted, sure, but that doesn’t influence me. What’s of practical use is to see how the overall vote is trending.
I choose to use that data to help me winnow my ballot. If that sounds as if I’m both gaming the system and my ballot, that’s exactly what it feels like — sad, but true.
The first nine picks on my ballot were relatively easy, with seven holdovers from last year.
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were the two easiest. They are far and away the best player and best pitcher on the ballot. I hope each gets in as soon as possible and that when it happens, I get a new letter from Joe Morgan about the result.
Manny Ramirez gets plenty of deserved grief for his positive PED tests. But just as I did last year and plan to until further notice, I’ll check off the box next to the name of the most feared right-handed hitter in the era in which he played. You say character clause, I say let’s move on.
Edgar Martinez, because as somebody once wrote, if the DH is part of the game, then the game needs to honor the best at that position. That was Martinez.
Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling each remain Hall of Fame-worthy. Neither’s a slam dunk, but they each deserve a spot.
Larry Walker earned a spot on my ballot last year for the first time, in part because the first-time candidacy of Vladimir Guerrero made me look again at Walker’s career. In my eyes, Walker has a slightly better case than Guerrero, who is also deserving but I couldn’t find room on my ballot for him last year and vote for Walker. This year, I’ll vote for Walker and Guerrero, hoping the case for Walker grows and that Guerrero gets in and clears one more spot on next year’s ballot.
First-timer Chipper Jones has a slam-dunk case for a Hall of Fame that’s been rather miserly with making room for third basemen.
So, that’s nine, one to go, and I’ve got four names I could vote for: first baseman/DH Jim Thome, third baseman Scott Rolen and relief pitchers Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner.
Hoffman? Great reliever, dominating at times, but I obviously have a different standard than other voters when it comes to relievers gaining entry. Hoffman got 74 percent last year without my vote. I have faith that he will crack 75 percent without any help from me again, and that will help clear the decks for next year.
Wagner? I buy the argument that if one looks beyond longevity, he was more dominating than Hoffman. If I had to spend a vote on somebody who was on the cusp of elimination because he threatened to dip below 5 percent, I’d consider voting for Wagner. But not yet.
So it’s down to Thome and Rolen.
Here’s where the vote tracker came in handy for my purposes. Last I checked, Thome appeared on all but two of the voters’ ballots made public. It looks as if he and Jones, left off only one ballot, are going to sail in.
Thome’s totals offer plenty of ammo for a Hall of Fame vote, and I would vote for him in a heartbeat if not for the Rule of 10. That said, I seldom thought Thome, whose highest MVP was finish was fourth, stood out as a far and away more dangerous slugger than anyone else in his era. I won’t lose sleep over not voting for Thome, who will get in, as well he should.
In honor of the Rule of 10, my 10th vote goes to Rolen. With eight Gold Gloves, Rolen was a better defender than the Gold Glove-less Jones, whose career overshadowed Rolen’s. Despite many games lost due to injuries, Rolen’s defense and offensive numbers still add up to a Hall of Fame career.
Here’s hoping the Rule of 10 will allow him to stay on the ballot long enough for that to happen.