Much like a year ago, the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot is stuffed with worthy candidates. Last year, there were 22 players who deserve to have their credentials seriously discussed. Of those, three of them got in and two fell off the ballot. That leaves us with 17 holdovers and another impressive class of newcomers. By my count, there are now 24 players worth reviewing. Since voters are only allowed to choose 10 players, you can see how this might be a problem. Let’s take a look at the ones who drew votes from our panel:
Jeff Bagwell – Quick SAT analogy. Piazza : catchers : : Bagwell : first basemen. Enshrine the man. (Parker)
Craig Biggio – To me, Biggio is one of those essential ingredients to any successful team. A guy who can play multiple positions while providing power, speed and solid defense. 3000+ hits and 400+ steals make him a no-doubter for me. (Albanesius)
Barry Bonds – Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Bonds. Those are the three best hitters in baseball history. (Vasile)
Roger Clemens – He had 4,672 SOs, 354 Wins, Seven Cy Young Awards. Enough Said. (Flattery)
Randy Johnson – It’s extremely rare when MLB sees a player dominate throughout his entire career the way Randy Johnson did. He earned a reputation as the pitcher a team doesn’t want to face in a series. For good reason. Johnson won over 300 games (303) and coupled that with more than 4,800 strikeouts (4,875). Each of those achievements on their own could merit this honor, yet he has both among his many accomplishments. (Gray)
Jeff Kent – The best hitting second baseman of all time, look at the numbers. Underrated defender, MVP in 2000. (Ferguson)
Edgar Martinez – It’s absurd that just because he was a DH, people count that against him for HOF consideration. It’s in the rules of the game. The only Expansion Era players with a higher career OBP are Frank Thomas and Barry Bonds. (Vasile)
Pedro Martinez – Overcame doubts about his size which caused him to start his MLB career in the bullpen and contributed to him to be traded for pennies on the dollar early on. Anyone who saw him pitch would tell you he was electric and anyone who just looks at his numbers at Baseball-Reference can tell you he was incredibly dominant. (Joura)
Mike Mussina – He will always be a pitcher that is constantly overlooked for his lack of rings, considering his eight years in the Bronx (right in the middle of the eight year World Series drought). That being said, Mussina pitched in a hitting era and was always above average. He is not the best pitcher in the class, but he still stacks up well. (McCarthy)
Mike Piazza – It’s time to forget the speculation and base-less accusations against Mike Piazza and vote in the greatest offensive catcher to play in MLB. (Koehler)
Troy Percival – Not many closers were as reliable as Percival. Only eight pitchers tallied more saves than Percival’s total of 358. He was a four-time All-Star that had a stretch of eight out of nine seasons where he saved 30 or more games, in the only season where he didn’t, he had 27. He was a model of consistency for the better part of a 14-year career. (Gray)
Tim Raines – The biggest speed/power combo this side of Rickey Henderson. (Hangley)
Curt Schilling – A key component of three different World Series teams, including two titles. 3000 K’s, 216 wins, and a postseason resume consisting of an 11-2 record in 19 starts with a 2.23 ERA. (Flattery)
Gary Sheffield – One of the most dangerous hitters in the last 30 years. How good? One of only 10 players in history to hit 500 home runs, knock in over 1600 runs, score over 1600 runs and bat 290. Also walked more than he struck out. (Ferguson)
Lee Smith – The Mariano Rivera of his time, Smith was one of, if not the best closers of his day. Smith finished his career with 478 total saves, and finished more than 800 games. Every number of his shows a man who is more than worthy of making it into the Hall of Fame. (Kolton)
John Smoltz – He was often overshadowed by Maddux and Glavine, but he was right there with him and when needed he moved to the bullpen. Out of the pen he performed stunningly by saving 144 games in just three seasons. (Slape)
Alan Trammell – The Detroit franchise shortstop redefined the position. Once always considered a glove-first position, he paved the way for players like Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Ramirez. While not the greatest player, he led the Tigers to a World Series and was a great talent. (McCarthy)
So, how did our group vote? Here are the ballots for each of our writers:
Patrick Albanesius – Bagwell, Biggio, Johnson, Martinez, Piazza, Schilling, Smoltz
Scott Ferguson – Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Johnson, Kent, Martinez, Piazza, Raines, Sheffield, Smoltz
Sean Flattery – Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Johnson, Martinez, Schilling, Smoltz
Frank Gray – Biggio, Clemens, Johnson, Percival, Piazza, Smith, Smoltz
Charlie Hangley – Bagwell, Johnson, Martinez, Piazza, Raines, Schilling, Smoltz
Mike Koehler – Biggio, Johnson, Martinez, Piazza, Schilling, Smith, Smoltz
Dan Kolton – Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Johnson, Piazza, Smith
Julian McCarthy – Bagwell, Biggio, Johnson, E. Martinez, Martinez, Mussina, Piazza, Smith, Smoltz, Trammell
James Newman – Biggio, Johnson, Martinez, Piazza, Smoltz
Doug Parker – Bagwell, Johnson, Martinez, Piazza
Tyler Slape – Bagwell, Biggio, Johnson, Martinez, Piazza, Smoltz
Joe Vasile – Bagwell, Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Johnson, E. Martinez, Martinez, Piazza, Raines, Schilling
Chris Walendin – Bagwell, Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Johnson, Martinez, Mussina, Piazza, Schilling, Smoltz
Last year, my ballot was a strategic one, with votes used for candidates who needed the help to stay eligible, rather than the 10 best picks available. Since then, the Hall of Fame has changed the system, albeit in an incredibly ineffective way. They recognized there was a problem and if anything they made it worse. They needed to do at least one of three things – either expand the number of people you could vote for or make a clarification on the “steroids guys” or radically change the 5% to remain eligible rule. They did none of those.
So, screw ‘em.
Because they didn’t fix the problem, they’ll have to address this in the future, whether that’s this year or 20 years from now. No longer do I feel the need to save the institution from itself. If the Hall of Fame doesn’t care, it’s the thing that loses luster, not those of us who want so desperately to believe in it.
After missing the chance to vote for Greg Maddux last year, I’m beyond thrilled to vote for Johnson and Martinez – two guys eligible for the first time and the type of players to tell your grandkids that you got to see pitch live. Bagwell, Bonds, Clemens, Mussina, Schilling and Smoltz join them in the no-doubt category. That leaves two remaining spots and double-digit number of contenders for the honor.
The final nod for me goes to Piazza and Raines. However, anyone who voted for Biggio or Edgar or Trammell or Walker or half a dozen other guys would be fine in my book. There’s really no candidate like Jack Morris last year – one who drew significant support despite being clearly inferior to roughly 20 other available guys.
In our 14 voter universe, a player needs 11 ballots to reach the 75% bar necessary to earn selection to the Hall of Fame. Here’s how they fared:
14 – Johnson
13 – Piazza
12 – Martinez
11 – Biggio
11 – Smoltz
Bagwell (8), Clemens (7), Schilling (7), Bonds (6), Raines (4), Smith (4), Mussina (3), E. Martinez (2), Kent (1), Percival (1), Sheffield (1), Trammell (1).
Last year we voted in Maddux, Piazza, Biggio and Glavine, with Frank Thomas being the highest non-elected vote getter. It’s extremely unlikely that the Hall voters will select five players but hopefully we’ll get four in.
Following the 2014 election, Rafael Palmeiro fell off the ballot for not receiving enough support. We’ll likely lose several qualified candidates this way, this year. It stinks but at least it does something to alleviate the backlog. New candidates for next year are not nearly as star-studded as this year but still will include Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Edmonds, Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner.
Unless the Hall reacts to some of the concerns it failed to address in the past 365 days (and longer), we’ll still have 15 or more qualified candidates and only 10 spots on the ballot in 2016.
Ted Simmons belongs in the HOF…criminal.
http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article/72856460/ted-simmons-was-an-offensive-force-in-time-with-cardinals
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/simmote01.shtml
Just say “no” to cheaters.
Old schoolingly yours,
Peter
To the ten guys who didn’t vote for Tim Raines did you ever see him play?
It was 100% a ballot constraint issue with me. Raines is a HOFer, IMO, along with several other players I didn’t have the room to vote for.
I like a man who replies.
Speaking as one of the ten who did not include Raines on their ballot, I can confirm that I did indeed see him play over the course of his entire career.
I don’t begrudge him an eventual spot in the Hall, but I’m in no hurry to place him among the all-time greats. Part of the reason for this is the trajectory of his career– he started out as a dominant player, but spent 14 years after age 27 as a good/very good player. Never made another all-star team after age 27, and averaged just 106 games/season over those final 14 years…
I like a man who replies.
I understand why you grouped things the way you did using all star seasons. Would it not make at least as much sense to group by games played? From 82-92 he averaged 145 games played. Would have had that much in 81 if not for the strike. Would have had it in 94 and 95 except for striikes. A full time player thru age 35 and good enough to be a part time guy for six more years
Nearly 4,000 times on base and over 800 steals. How many guys have done that? Your choice Bagwell got on base 3,700 times and your choice Piazza got on 2,900 times. They beat him in homers and RBIS and Raines beats them in steals and runs.
I like your choices and you should put Raines right there with them.
While I am not a writer, I compare the players eligible to their peers already in and I believe you should be able to find ten names. If you are given the privilege of voting, respect it. That gives me the following ten players:
Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Smoltz, Kent, Piazza, Raines, Schilling and Smith are no doubters.
Messina and Sheffield are the next best two to make ten.
If I put Biggio or Bagwell, I have to put in Bonds. While there were questions about Sheffield, he was a hitting machine from when he came in and aged correctly. Biggio on the other hand improved in his thirties and that bothers me. When going for The Hall, not only is the pattern of accumulation is also important in the natural cycle of things, but the accumulation of numbers because if the cumulative numbers weren’t the cause, then we can use pockets of dominance like they said on MLB Now, where they discussed using a players best seven years as compared to others. I don’t like that principle because I believe health is also taken into consideration in the accumulation of numbers. Players like Tulowitzski and Garciaparra were great when they played, but it was rare they played all year. Thus, by resting on the DL for a spell they came back stronger while other players were run down, so by having seven awesome years and seven years of missing large pockets of seasons we cannot justify their collective effort.
Which brings us to the problem with steroids, in that it wasn’t just the improvement in certain God given things like eyesight and muscle mass, but the ability to rebuild tired muscles synthetically by using unnatural methods. That’s why Biggio, Bagwell and Bonds don’t make my list.
Brian steroid users should users (proven) should not be voted in. I know this issue has its pros and cons. But just because someone can use a substance to improve their credentials doesn’t mean they have to be rewarded for using them. The voters should simply A) not vote them in and B) not allow any other committee to consider them for the H-O-F. Finally longevity should not be used as a measuring stick. I always believed the Hall was for those special players who made an impact on the game and were truly a cut above other players in their time. I hope I never see an induction where the elder Hall Of Famers have to stand there with fake smiles “honoring” their brethren like Clemens, Sosa or McGuire.
I think that the Hall of Fame could have very easily – and absolutely needed to have – taken a stance to clarify its position on this subject. Years ago, in response to Pete Rose, the Hall made a rule saying that no one on MLB’s ineligible list could be on a HOF ballot. The Hall could easily have said that no one who failed an officially sanctioned MLB steroids test is eligible. But it did not do that.
I think it’s a reasonable conclusion to draw that since they are on the ballot, that the institution of the Hall of Fame is okay with them being inducted.
Additionally, I think it’s beyond hypocritical for writers who cheered on Bonds, Sosa and McGwire at the time to now retroactively enforce a penalty.
You are angry at the steroids users and nothing anyone else says is going to sway your opinion on this subject. That’s okay. My hope is that you save some of your anger for the Hall of Fame for its refusal to take a crystal-clear stance on the issue. The Hall didn’t cheer on or benefit from the HR explosions. They are the one institution that could have taken a stance (in either direction) and not had their motives questioned. The HOF wants people to be inducted and regardless of which way it acted here, people would have been inducted. The Hall was in a win-win situation — all it had to do was … something. Instead it did nothing on the subject and now innocent people like Alan Trammell are going to suffer because of it and that stinks.
And Piazza as well! But the writers banished Palmiero so how hypocritical is that? Very simple. Set up a steroid user Era in the Hall of Fame, Elect all the users in one year as a group. Everyone is happy. They all get in as one class and they go in without any team logo on their caps. None of the players from this group will dare challenge or sue the Hall for fear of having their mantles relocated next to the nearest bathroom or better yet above the urinals
pete, you have a magical way with words.
I think it was less to do with being hypocritical and more to do that there were a ton of worthy candidates and this was going to happen to someone. If you had to bet money on it happening, you’d probably pick the guy who wagged his finger and then turned around and failed a test.
The big takeaway here is that there’s no reason to have a limit on the number of people you can vote for.
Sometimes less words is more. By saying nothing, it has placed its trust, as it always does, in the Writers to be the judge. Over time, as the composition of the BBWAA evolves and attitudes change, it has left open all the flexibility to respond to anything. Once the urge to begin codifying everything actually goes to execution, it’s a never ending amendment process to deal with the next nefarious scandal…and we all know they will come. Whether or not Bonds ever gets into the Hall will never change his baseball card. I also think many forget that the HoF is not an arm of the MLB. I often heard call for Selig to intervene, but he (or any other commish) had no say in what the HoF did.
If it truly places “trust” in writers then that takes away the only semi-defensible reason to have a limit on the number of people that writers can vote. If the above reproach writers are not a risk to start voting for bums, why should the Hall care if a writer fills out 20 names in a year like 2014 or 2015 where there are 20 valid choices?
Ryan Thibs HoF tracker on Google Docs is a cool link to track the public ballots. I’ve been keeping an eye on it and as of now our HOF electees are right on the money. Even if you take into account that last year the largest percentage differential between the public ballots and the final tally was a drop of 6%, all of Biggio, Piazza, Smoltz, Martinez and Johnson will get in with Bagwell coming in right behind that, exactly how Mets 360 voted.
I really don’t care about the HOF, but my changes would be
-Unlimited number of votes
-Each player on the ballot must come with an explanation why he was or wasn’t voted for. This may be a burden to some, but if they aren’t willing to take it seriously, no reason to have them vote at all. Also, to lessen the load, have a more restricted ballot. That means guys like Eddie Guardado, Tony Clark need not appear on the ballot.
-4 chances to get in. 2nd attempt in the 2nd year. 3rd attempt in the 5th year. 4th attempt in the 10th year. Since each writer gives an explanation for each player, there should be less debate on why a player didn’t get in. Still gives a player 10 years because perceptions of an era do change over time.
-Writers get 3 chances and their explanations are reviewed. If a ballot has a certain number of “infractions” (such as not voting for a clear HOFer or throwing a pity vote to a clearly non-HOFer), it will be considered a bad ballot and 3 bad ballots and you’re suspended/out of HOF voting.
Does Palmiero become the first player in MLB history to hit almost 600 home runs who will not be voted in by the BBWAA?
Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds are the only eligible candidates that have 600+ and aren’t in the Hall (yet?) So far then, yes, Palmiero has by far the most HRs for someone not voted in. He had 569. The next highest total from someone who didn’t get in is Jose Canseco with 462.