The Baseball Writers Association of America is the group that officially gets to vote on the Hall of Fame entrants each year. But the group here at Redleg Nation decided that we should have a vote in fantasy land, too. 11 of the contributors here put in votes for the 2019 Hall of Fame ballot. Using the same criteria that the official ballots use, we would have elected six players to the Hall of Fame. In order to make the cut, a player needed nine votes from the eleven voters.
If the group here at Redleg Nation were in charge the 2019 Hall of Fame class would be made up of the following six players: Barry Bonds, Curt Schilling, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera, and Roger Clemens. All six of those players received nine of eleven votes – good for 82% of the vote.
Three players fell just short. Larry Walker, Roy Halladay, and Scott Rolen all needed one more vote – finishing at 73% with eight of the eleven votes. Maybe next year, guys.
Let’s take a look at how the votes broke down among the contributors here at Redleg Nation (you can click the image to see a larger version):
Several writers also decided to include a short reason about someone they voted for.
Wes Jenkins on Todd Helton
From 2000 to 2007, the peak of Todd Helton’s career, the only big leaguer with a higher wOBA was Barry Bonds. Four players had a higher fWAR — Bonds, ARod, Albert Pujols and Andrus Jones. Helton had the highest batting average, the second-highest OBP (Bonds), and the third-highest WPA (Bonds, Pujols).
Yes, he played at Coors Field. Yes, his back betrayed him. And yes, he lacks the gaudy counting numbers. If you want to make the argument that a player whose only contemporaries for eight seasons were Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez doesn’t belong in the Hall, then that’s your right. Personally, that’s enough for me.
Jim Walker on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens
It is time to end the hypocrisy. Nobody knows how many of the pitchers Bonds faced were juicing when he faced them or how many of the batters Clemens faced were juicing when he face them.
Bonds was a 147 OPS+ and 50+ bWAR player at the end of his age 27 season when he left the Pirates for the Giants. Judged by his physical appearance then versus later on, there is no reason to suspect he was juicing yet at that time. If the 50+ bWAR on its own isn’t enough to merit the HoF, scale his future numbers based on them using a normal aging curve and career length; and, he would easily be an HOF player.
Jason Linden on Scott Rolen
Jason wrote an outstanding piece at The Hardball Times on why Scott Rolen should be voted into the Hall of Fame. You should read the entire piece here. Below, however, is the first paragraph into why the head of the Linden household has Scott Rolen on his ballot.
Rolen received only 10 percent of the Hall of Fame vote last year, and I genuinely don’t know why. In terms of WAR, the Hall of Fame voters generally seem to require a player to be right around 60. Rolen has a career 69.9 WAR at FanGraphs and 70.2 at Baseball-Reference. These are numbers that should push him easily into the Hall, especially given his reputation.
Doug Gray on Edgar Martinez
One of the big rubs on Edgar Martinez is that “he was a designated hitter”. And you know what, that’s true. He spent a lot of time as a designated hitter. You know who else did? Recently elected Harold Baines. Except that Baines wasn’t nearly as good as Edgar Martinez.
The whole “he doesn’t play defense/both sides of the game” thing just rings hollow to me in most cases. Why? Well, because nearly every single person who makes that argument will also say that Mariano Rivera is a no-doubt Hall of Famer. And he threw 75 innings a year, one inning at a time. Rivera is the greatest reliever of all time. Martinez may not be the best designated hitter of all time – but it’s close if he’s not. But Martinez was a better, more impactful player than Rivera was (at least in the regular season). If Rivera gets your vote, then Martinez should also. For me – they’re both in.
Photo of the National Baseball Hall of Fame by Dan Gaken. Licensing for the photo can be found here.
That’s not how this works.
One guy is banned from the game and he knew that he would be before he made his decision to bet on baseball games.
Using performance enhancing drugs was not a rule that was a banishment from the game (and it’s still not until you do so three times).
Might as well try to compare socket wrenches and coconuts.
No, that’s not how this works. One guy is completely and entirely kicked out of the game, banished, not allowed to participate in it. The others are not.
Those are the rules. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t change that.
You seem very bothered by the fact that we are allowed to vote for some players, but not another one.
Bonds, Clemons, Schilling, Rivera, Martinez, Mussina, Ramirez, Sheffield, Rolen, Holladay. Those would have been my votes.
would love to see Pete included above just to see how the vote went
Overall very good ballots, especially when compared to some of the actual ballots of BWAA members. I have two thoughts/questions:
1. Unfortunately Sheffield played most of his career in the NL, meaning he had to play in the field and was a disaster as a 3rd baseman and outfielder, leading to a horrendous -27.7 dWAR. However if you look at just his performance as a hitter, one could definitely argue he is HOF-caliber. His oWAR of 80.8 is well above Edgar’s 66.9, and he finished his career with a .907 OPS and 509 HRs. And over a 10 year peak from 1994-2003, he hit .305/.425/.563 with a 158 OPS+. If Sheffield had had the opportunity to play DH for more of his career, would he had received more votes?
2. What’s Bill Lack’s explanation for voting for Sheffield and Ramirez but not Bonds and Clemens?
Manny is the only person on the ballot who was actually suspended for PEDs, right?
I believe so. I know for certain Clemens, Bonds, and Sheffield were not.
I screwed up…honestly. I had forgotten about their steroid use or wouldn’t have included them. So, delete those two from my ballot.
Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying!
Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Larry Walker, Roy Halladay, Todd Helton, Billy Wagner, Fred McGriff
I have no arguments with any one’s votes after all they are your votes. My only argument is why Fred McGriff does not receive anymore love. Here or nationally. McGriff was afeared bater 52.6 Career War, 284/.377/509 slash line, 493 career homers and 1550 RBIs. And even better in the post season.
My votes Are Bonds, Schilling, Clemens, Rivera, Musina, Halladay, Martinez, Walker, Mc Griff.
52.6 WAR is pretty low for a first baseman. The average WAR for HOF first basemen is 66.8. First basemen with higher WAR and higher on the JAWS rankings include John Olerud, Will Clark, and Keith Hernandez. Of course WAR is not the end all stat for HOF measure. I agree that McGriff deserves to have a long discussion on his merits. He was definitely a feared hitter and those 493 HRs speak volumes, as do 6 top-10 MVP finishes. To me he is right on the cusp, but with so many deserving candidates, I can see why he’s not on more writers’ ballots.
@jreis are you trying to compare steroids to throwing games and a world series? One is barely a crime the other could land you Rico charges depending on how far you take the gambling and who is involved.
Steroids “damaged” baseball only in the eyes of purists. The owners and commissioner at the time didn’t care because people were coming out in droves to watch newly huge players knock the cover off the ball. After the strike disaster of 1994, steroids were just what the doctor ordered.
I’m not condoning steroids, and I think we as a society are hypocritical on vices like gambling, but in my opinion comparing the two is apples and oranges.
I think the outrage had subsided a bit. I remember last year thinking Jones, Guerrero & Thome might not get in and the year before that with Bagwell because majority of playing careers happen during the roid era and many HOF writers viewed all players with suspicion. Eventually Bonds & Clemens will get in and probably would be in by now if both had been likeable.
Baines getting voted in opens the door for Edgar Martinez & Big Papi and that should probably be it as far as Full Time DHs. Only other guys I can think of during DH era are Chili Davis,Ken Singleton & Don Baylor and neither are HOFers. Most AL teams seem to use as a day off for a regular or as a platoon anymore. Cruz & Morales are probably it as far as Full Timers.
I agree with this comment 100%. McGriff, Walker, and Helton all 3 deserve to be in.
I’m actually surprised that I’m the only guy who voted for Sosa. Not a perfect player, for sure. But 600 HR and seven top-10 MVP finishes says that he was among the best of his era.
I think I shortchanged Roy Halladay. Honestly, I think I’m still upset with him for how he died. That’s silly, but I’m not over it.
I really thing McGriff should get more consideration. Guy was a stellar player and I feel he gets hurt by not being associated with one team. The San Diego Padres that could have been…McGriff, Sheffield, Kruk, Gwynn.