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Our Staff Hall Of Fame Picks

Asking the Pitcher List Staff their HOF picks

The BBWAA will induct at least one Hall of Famer this year. Ichiro Suzuki will get his honors as both the first Japanese and Asian player inducted, but the rest of the ballot is much more contentious. While Ichiro may be unanimous, players like Andruw Jones, Billy Wagner and Félix Hernández will generate much discussion among baseball fans and the BBWAA voters, as their cases are hardly a lock. Getting into Cooperstown has long been one of the most convoluted and challenging things to do in sports, as the process relies on voters with wildly different criteria and agendas. Does getting to 2000 hits matter to getting into the Hall? Depends on who you ask.

So I asked!

I had the Pitcher List writing staff fill out a mock ballot for this year’s class. The following is an analysis on these results, giving an interesting look into our agendas, ideas of a hall of famer, how much we value character clauses, and all sorts of other factors.

 

Results:

 

Forgive Mark Beuhrle being on here twice, his name I can’t spell for the life of me. With a sample size of 20 writers, 15 votes would be needed to be mock-inducted, and just one would be needed to stay on the ballot. As of January 10th, 118 BBWAA ballots have been tracked, so let’s compare the public data with the PL data from our writers:

PL writers were, as a whole, friendlier to Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, while holding the 2017 Astros scandal against Carlos Beltrán much more. They were also friendlier to the cases of McCann and Martin (more on them later), who will both likely fall off the ballot. Omar Vizquel also got a few votes, which is curious considering the statistical justification for his case lies solely in his longevity and counting stats, which more sabremetrically inclined voters would often disregard.

The most obvious discrepancy, however, is with Félix Hernández. King Felix’s praise here shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the PL Staff demographics of largely millennial pitching fans, but 70% is still extreme. Evidently, PL writers believe that Felix was truly a generational talent, whose falloff in his 30s does not sufficiently harm his case.

For the most part, PL Writers were more conservative than the public BBWAA ballots, yet more open to giving votes toward fringe candidates like Ben Zobrist (2 votes), Torii Hunter (1 vote) and Bobby Abreu (9 votes).

 

Staff Thoughts

 

I gave an option for staff to write excepts about their choices for them to be included, so here are the raw thoughts on their ballots:

“I get the PED concerns with A-Rod and Manny but you can’t deny the offensive talents that they possessed. Without question, two of the best hitters of the late 20th century, as well as two of the most polarizing figures to fans. I personally didn’t even like A-Rod when he was playing but he deserves to be in Cooperstown.” – Nathaniel Kosher

“I am specifically not voting for Carlos Beltrán. It does not make any sense to me to vote for a player who was clearly involved in a cheating scandal, especially a player who was, at the very least, supposed to be a veteran leader in the clubhouse. Voters have made it clear where they stand on players who were caught cheating via PEDs, and voting for Beltran feels hypocritical given that. There are a number of players that I would be voting for if we were going to overlook cheating (A-Rod, Manny), but instead, I’m choosing to vote for none of them, including Beltran.” – Myles Nelson

“Pedroia was one of the faces of an era of Red Sox baseball that changed how the franchise was perceived. Plus defense combined with a great bat and the gritty Boston attitude made him a fan favorite during arguably the best stint of Boston baseball there is.” – Jack Mueller

Ben Zobrist was instrumental in ending championship drouts in consecutive seasons for two teams who had combined for 138 years without a title. I don’t feel strongly enough about other candidates to prevent me from giving him a vote.” – Kevin Hasting

David Wright is my homer pick, if he had a working spine he winds up waltzing in.” – Christopher Weber

 

My Ballot

 

Personally, I view myself as more of a “big hall” voter, and after the BBWAA kept Bonds, Clemens, Sosa and Sheffield out, I have moved to a pretty firm “no steroids policy”. With that, here is my ballot:

Ichiro was a no brainer, as was Billy Wagner – whose 2.31 ERA and 422 saves make him one of the most accomplished and effective relievers of all time. Sabathia’s longevity earns him my vote, and despite the 2017 Astros scandal looming over his candidacy, I gave a vote to Beltran as well. Utley and Jones are similar cases, both tremendous defenders with very high peaks, and they both get my vote.

The other four require a bit more explaining. PL staff writers have been very favorable to Bobby Abreu, who has zero HOF vibes but whose career .291/.395/.475 slashline stacks well against all but the very best in Cooperstown. He didn’t get the respect he deserved from fans at the time, but for over a decade he was one of the very best in the game.

Which brings us to David Wright, who provides us with a philosophical question about Hall of Famers: How long does someone have to be great to be recognized as one of the greats? For a decade, Wright was a perennial all star and fan favorite, who was one of the best players in baseball until his age 30 season, where injuries derailed his career. Sure, Wright didn’t have the longevity to reach many milestones, but he certainly had a Hall of Fame peak and does it really make sense that his lack of mediocre seasons in his 30s prevent him from being inducted? I want the discussion about David Wright to continue, so I voted for him.

Russell Martin and Brian McCann might surprise you, but their cases are the effectively the same: both great catchers. Catchers are very underappreciated in Cooperstown, and both Martin and McCann were two of the best at the position. Neither were true offensive juggernauts, but factor in their world-class defensive abilities, and both were among the most productive catchers of all time. Fangraphs WAR – which incorporates catcher framing – ranks Martin as the 11th most valuable catcher and McCann as the 15th, just behind Yadier Molina and Joe Mauer, respectively.

The most notable absence here is Félix Hernández, and it’s also where I differ most from my PL colleagues. King Felix just didn’t have enough for me to justify his vote in my opinion. His peak was great but not truly all-time great, and his lack of longevity makes it hard to justify his vote. Furthermore, if I were truly voting, I’d want to ensure Wright – whose candidacy is hanging in the single digits – stays on the ballot, while Felix is comfortably sitting in the mid 20’s.

Carson Picard

Carson Picard is a Minnesotan and part-time Winnipegger who's all too familiar with both the cold and crushing defeat. He channels this into his baseball passions to write about all sorts of topics. A history major with passions in the arts, Carson's articles primarily focus on outliers and their bizarre stories

One response to “Our Staff Hall Of Fame Picks”

  1. Jeffrey Barto says:

    Bud Selig neglected the issues surrounding performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) until he faced significant pressure from the public and media. He was also involved in the cheating and collusion that occurred among the owners and general managers from 1985 to 1987. Both his ownership of the Milwaukee Brewers and his tenure as MLB commissioner allowed him and the league to benefit from his inaction regarding PEDs and his collusion with other owners.

    Despite these controversies, voters did not let these blemishes prevent Selig (or Pat Gillick, who also has a history of collusion) from being inducted into the Hall of Fame. This raises the question: why do they receive a pass, while players linked to PEDs are often excluded, except for David Ortiz? There needs to be consistency.

    Either the colluders should also be kept out of the Hall, alongside the PED users, or both groups should be allowed in, along with an accurate historical narrative. Given the history of their actions, visitors to the Hall of Fame and readers of baseball literature should understand the complete story. Players like A-Rod, Bonds, and Clemens are just as integral to baseball “fame” as Selig, Gillick, and Ortiz. A Hall of Fame that omits the complexities of their legacies is not truly reflective of the sport’s history.

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