My Hall of Fame Ballot

My lack of love for the BWAA is well documented among my regular readers. So I thought I would continue it by writing my own renegade Hall of Fame Ballot which includes names that did not garner enough votes by the BWAA justice league (one even didn't get enough votes for another shot).

1. Frank Thomas - Originally I had Edgar Martinez as the first guy on my ballot. I felt he should have been the one to open up the Hall of Fame to the career DH. But speaking of guys who defined the DH. How about one of the most feared hitters of the greatest era of hitting? Thomas rightly made the Hall in spite of his time at DH although it is a shame he got there before Edgar. They should be in it the hall together. I unfortunately had to remove him from my ballot because we have a backlog of greats now. But in future years I hope he gets the recognition he needs to join Thomas. There seemed little doubt about Thomas being a legit Hall of Famer. A five time all star, two time MVP (noticeably years he did not DH), and four time silver slugger, Thomas has the advantage of both the MVP trophy and that major 500 hr milestone on his side to go along with a .301/.419/.555 career batting line. He hit over 40 homers five different times, won one batting title, and was a major run producer driving in over 100 RBI's 11 times (tell me all you want about the relativity of the RBI, that stat counts on the score board and can easily be compared with stats around RISP to see how the player produced relative to their teammates. Thomas by the way with RISP was a career .312/.447/.569 hitter). There's a reason the White Sox for so long were a tough team to face. That reason was Frank Thomas. The BWAA couldn't keep him out.

2. Barry Bonds - now the controversy starts. But the Hall of Fame to me is not about perks-punishment. The election should be about the best in baseball. It should be apart from the question of morals or even if a player ever did something he shouldn't (also why Pete Rose should be in btw). If Bonds doesn't make it in along with Rose who was not allowed in, the leaders in some of the most important stats in baseball history will not be found in the Hall of Fame. Kind of ruins the point of the Hall doesn't it? And let's face it, even before Bonds hit 73 or passed Aaron all time, before the BALCO accusations, he was well on his way to the Hall. I never really liked bonds personally, but you can't deny his greatness. The all time homer (762), walks (2558), and intentional walks (688) leader. That intentional walks stat should say it all. In the history of the game, there was no player managers were more afraid of having their pitcher face when the game was on the line. A two time batting champ (including a whopping .370 in 2002), 14 time all star, 12 time silver slugger, and 7 time MVP! Steroids or no the talent is beyond question or compare. When discussing best players of all time Bonds is in the top three, period. Oh, and along with the bopping to the tune of a career 1.051 OPS he was also quite a base stealer; swiping 514 bags over his career. He's been in the rare 40/40 and 30/50 club. And if you're a fan of things like WAR, his career b-r WAR is 162.5, good for a whole season of victories! It's looking more and more like he'll never get in though.

3. Roger Clemens - Mark Newman from MLB.COM said this about his ballot for next year (anticipating guys like Bonds and Clemens to be denied entry again) "The Hall of Fame was created for the elite of the elite, not for those who require social campaigning. I will be tempted next December to vote for only Bonds and Clemens, on the basis that no others on this or the next ballot were remotely near their levels of greatness; both are among the top three all-time as a position player and pitcher, respectively." Point taken. Just as Bonds dominated the MVP award, Clemens did so with the Cy Young, winning 7 of those (along with one MVP and 11 all star appearances). 5 time leader in strike-outs, 4 time leader in wins, 7 time leader in ERA. Clemens was my one of my three favorite pitchers of baseball when I was young. He won 20 games 6 times (complain all you want about W-L record, with very few exceptions will 20 wins not reflect truly great pitching). Which helped him reach 354 wins. Greg Maddux, who we will get to later, who is a shoe-in for the Hall this year, has only one more win than Clemens. Indeed, it is only the PR nightmare that Clemens has battled around PEDs that will likely keep him out. While it's worth noting he has never actually been disciplined or tested positive (at least no positive test result of his has ever been revealed) like Bonds the suspicion and scandal in the legal system has doomed him even though his career also was clearly a Hall of Fame one long before any PED accusations. And as MLB.COM reporter Paul Hagen puts it, "A Hall of Fame vote is too important to use guesswork about whether a certain player did or didn't use PEDs.'' But once again, the hall will look empty lacking a pitcher with a career 4672 strikeouts. I was at the game in 2001 when he beat the White Sox to go 20-1 (he finished the season 20-3), which gave him for a time the best winning percentage in a season by a pitcher ever! So Clemens will always have a place in my Hall of Fame!

4. Tom Glavine - He was a lock to get in, had it not been this year then definitely before the 15 year limit is up. A five time 20-game winner (led the league in wins each of those years), 2 time Cy Young award winner, 10 time all star, four time silver slugger, with 305 wins, pitched over 200 innings 14 times, and was part of the big three of the Braves dynasty that literally dominated the NL East through the 90's and early 2000s. A lefty, because when it comes to Hall of Fame, which hand you throw with matters. He's pitched in the postseason so many times he is one of the winningest pitchers in postseason history by sheer volume with 14 wins and a whopping 218.1 innings of postseason pitching (35 starts). While a guy like Mussina (one of my favorite pitchers) offers some comparables in career numbers, he wasn't ever showered with these kinds of accolades that go to the elite. This is why one (Mussina) is a border-line case and one (Glavine) is undisputed. Glavine was an ace of his generation, and is going to more than the armchair Hall.

5. Greg Maddux - the only undisputed guy on the ballot (although somehow still unable to get a unanimous vote from the ridiculous BWAA). Playing from '86 to '08, he put together a phenomenal career. 355 wins, 3.16 ERA, over 5000IP, and a career 1.14 WHIP (so great in part by an unbelievable 1.8 career bb/9 rate)! What amazed me most was how Maddux was great even when his fastball had no juice to it, and yet he did it while regularly avoiding high pitch counts. It was commonplace to hear about a 76 pitch complete game by Maddux. Here are some other accolades about this amazing ace: 8 all star appearances, 4 consecutive Cy Young awards (along with three other top 3 finishes), 18 gold glove awards (13 consecutive), 4 time ERA leader (two times with an ERA below 2), 3 time wins leader (not to mention 19 straight years of 13 or more wins), 5 times he led the league in innings, 4 times in WHIP, 9 times in bb/9, and to go with those 355 wins were 109 complete games (35 shutouts). Not much more needs to be said. Of the 10 comparable players listed on baseball-reference.com, only one isn't in the Hall of Fame. "Who is that" you might ask? Roger Clemens. Whose case to be in the hall has already been made.

6. Craig Biggio - Among his accolades, one of the things Biggio did that was a real accomplishment (which no one else on this ballot achieved) was play his entire career with a single team. That is unheard of these days. He was a franchise player who managed to constantly be valuable to his team. He played good defense at multiple positions (winning 4 gold gloves at 2B), knew how to take one for the team (leading the league in hbp 5 times and amassed 285 plunkings for his career), he was a 7-time all-star and a 5-time silver slugger. Did I happen to mention he has 3060 career hits? That is the statistic that to me puts Biggio in the hall. That requires a career of consistency. While his career .281/.363/.433 line is not overwhelming, he provided value throughout his career. He also swiped over 400 bags for his career too and socked almost 300 homeruns. It was a sad thing to see him fall two votes shy. But he obviously is destined for the hall at some point, most likely next year.

7. Jeff Kent - Kent and Piazza (number 9 on my ballot) both should have been elected and I am totally confused as to why they weren't. To my knowledge neither ever really was attached to PEDs, and Kent was a great performer even without Bonds batting behind him. A few of Kent's accolades includes being the all time leader for second basemen with homeruns (his career total is 377 but I'm not sure if those all came at 2B). That alone sets him up above other second basemen. But add to that a career .290/.356/.500 batting line, an MVP, 5 all star appearance, and 4 silver sluggers (all of which appeared in the latter half of his career) and you have a very strong resume. While his best years came playing with Bonds, he still played at an elite level years after leaving SF. From 1997 he was a genuine threat in every line up he was a part of. That kind of contribution should not go unnoticed.

8. Raphael Palmeiro - There may not be a sadder case in this year's vote than poor Palmeiro. He's quite an interesting case, because when you think about it, Palmeiro never seemed elite. He always seemed like the poor man's slugger to me. But this poor man's slugger was incredibly consistent. And what really stands out is he cleared TWO of the one time guaranteed statistics to get into the Hall of Fame. Palmeiro is a member of both the 3000 hits club AND the 500 home run club! He has a career .288/.371/.515 batting line. He'd slugged over 40 homers 4 times, over 30 homers 10 times, and for 14 consecutive seasons hit 22 or more homers! Yet he never led the league in home runs. He never won an MVP. He was a 4 time all star and two time silver slugger. He somehow won a gold glove in 1999 even though he only played 28 games at 1B that year. Without being one of the superstars of that era, he is proof of how good the era was in producing hitters in that he quietly put together a clear hall of fame career. But Palmeiro was the first to fall from grace. After a failed drug test at the end of his career, he was an easy choice for BWAA justice. While he got both 3000 hits and 500 homers, it was easier I think denying him than if Bonds were the first to be denied. Once it became clear the BWAA would get away with it, have enough public support, it became easier I think to blackball other sluggers. This year, Palmeiro only received 4.4% votes for the hall, not enough to stay on the ballot. The BWAA has effectively removed him from Hall of Fame consideration. As such, I'll put Mr. Viagra in my Hall of Fame. Although I will say this, of all the players scandalously left off of ballots, Palmeiro is the only one who has actually tested positive (although McGwire did confess to using). The rest have been excluded by suspicion or accusation. Many of them probably did use, but the Hall is not about the ethics of using, it's about the greats. And they were all still greats.

9. Mike Piazza - Piazza like Kent is an all time home run leader at a position (in his case catcher). In this case he hit 427 for his career (but not all of those are at catcher). There probably is no better example of a man aloud to take the field because his bat will make up for the rest. Piazza was a horrible catcher, especially when it came to throwing out runners. If they were fast a single might as well have been a double. But man could he hit (.308/.377/.545 career slash line). He basically carried the Mets to the 2000 Subway Series. But if you need proof that he was a hall of fame catcher here are the stats that showed how in the greatest era of hitting he owned the catching position: 12 All Star appearance and 10 silver slugger awards! He also was rookie of the year and twice finished second in MVP voting. B-R's "similar player" offerings: Yogi Berra, Johhny Bench, Carlton Fisk make up 3 of the first 4. Yeah, he's a Hall of Famer. This year he got over 60% of the vote, I think he'll be elected within four years. Until then, grab an armchair and take a seat in the Armchair Hall Mikey.

10. Sammy Sosa - It was tough to choose between Sosa an McGwire, but I chose Sosa. BWAA can wag their fingers all they want and righteous fans can pompously decry these two, but Sosa and McGwire saved baseball plain and simple. Everyone was entralled in the home run race of '98 and no one questioned where this unbelievable juice was coming from. But between PED suspicion and a corked bat Slapp'n Sammy most likely is doomed to the blacklist. But here are a few considerations when thinking about Sosa: he is the only player in baseball history to club over 60 homers 3 different times (although ironically never led the league in homers any of those years, he did lead the league in homers two other years however), from '95-'04 his lowest home run total was 35. Sosa was also a phenomenal run producer during that stretch only falling under 100 RBIs once (and he still drove in 80 that year in a shortened 126 game season). But to really talk about his run producing, twice he led the league in RBI's with video-game number totals of 158 and 160. Those seasons he played 159 and 160 games. That's a run a game average. Forget the RBI as a team statistic, you just don't do that well. There is a reason McGwire became the single season home run king and still could not win an MVP in 1998. For his career Sosa amassed 609 home runs joining the even more elusive 600 club. He was a 7 time all-star and 6 time silver slugger to go with that MVP award (and an additional 2nd place finish). While Sosa's corked bat story is kind of out there, he is clearly being punished for PEDs, only because he was amazing in the PED era. He never actually tested positive or had a genuine accusation put against him. Although I do recall once when he was told he was suspected of taking PEDs he said he'd take a test right now, the media said "ok do it" and then he didn't. Not helpful to the image. But images aside, his home run power is among the best in history and especially when looking at some of the traditional stats that BWAA always likes anyways, he had some of the best offensive seasons out there. That's why I'm a keeping him in my Hall. If Palmeiro is a sign of things to come my hall might be the only one Sosa enters as he barely scraped by with a 7% vote this year.

There are other names worthy of honorable mention. Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, Jeff Bagwell, and Edgar Martinez all deserve some credit, recognition, and consideration. Mark McGwire should be on here, but I ran out of room. Maybe next year. The BWAA stalling and blackballing is backloading the ballot with tons of viable options. That only three guys got elected out of so many worthy candidates is a sham and insult to the game. I will continue to rain on their parade with my subversive lack of love. Welcome, to the 2014 True Armchair Hall of Fame.