No strings attached to newcomers
Adrián Beltré and Joe Mauer are the Hall of Famers on this ballot.
It feels good to have two new names who have Cooperstown credentials and no taint of steroids, cheating, domestic violence, or anything else that would bring the dreaded “character clause” into the conversation.
Beltré was with the Red Sox for one season, 2010. You might remember him best as the guy who hit homers on one knee and went full Curly “Pop Goes The Weasel” if anyone touched his head in the dugout. I remember Beltré as the only third baseman who ever told me he played without wearing a protective cup.
Beltré played for the Sox on a “pillow contract” and made a comfortable landing spot for himself in Texas by hitting .321 with 28 homers and 102 RBIs in 154 games for Boston. He led the American League with 49 doubles, was an All-Star, and finished ninth in MVP voting. Rather than re-sign Beltré, the Red Sox traded for Padres first baseman Adrián “The Cooler” González and moved Kevin Youkilis from first to third.
Beltré won’t be wearing a Sox cap in Cooperstown, but he is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer. He has more hits (3,166) than the great George Brett and slammed 477 homers, which puts him third, behind only Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews, in the category of homers hit by a third baseman.
It took a little longer to cast a vote for Mauer, but any catcher who wins three batting titles and an MVP clears the bar. Mauer was a hitting machine and one of the best catchers in the game before concussions made him a first baseman. He’s a little thin on power (only one season with more than 13 homers) and retired at 35, but how many catchers register season batting averages of
.365, .347, and .328?
When the vote is announced Jan. 23, you can expect Beltré to top the ballot. Todd Helton (right) is getting in and closer Billy Wagner has a good shot.
No thanks to Helton (a creation of Coors Field) and Wagner (no thanks to closers, unless they are
Mariano Rivera or Goose
Gossage). Same goes for
Chase Utley, Andruw
Jones, and Jimmy Rollins, favorites of young voters eager to vote for as many candidates as possible.
BBWAA members can vote for as many as 10 players, but these eyes have never seen 10 Hall of Famers on any ballot. The charge is to find the Hall of Famers, not the top 10 on a given ballot.
In his 10th year on the ballot, Gary Sheffield has a shot, but I’m guessing he comes up short. The PED case against Sheffield is pretty thin, but he’s in the Mitchell Report and that has cost him with older voters. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have been broomed from our ballot forever. Thus far, David Ortiz is the only steroid suspect (failed survey test in 2003) who’s been given a pass by Hall voters. In this spirit, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Andy Pettitte, and Sheffield probably will come up short again.
Next year we get to vote for Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia. Whee.
Free at last.