The Baseball Hall Of Fame ballot is out!
This is one of my favorite days of the off-season.
I love looking at the new players on the list and looking at the guys that will get in.
Seeing James Shields on this list brings me actual joy.
People I’d vote for are in bold (sorry James Shields).
This is not a bad ballot.
You have an automatic first ballot Hall of Famer inAdrian Beltre.
He has 3177 career hits and 477 home runs.
He was incredible defensively.
Beltre is a pretty easy slam dunk.
But he was also a catcher who won three batting titles and even won the 2009 AL MVP.
It’s not an easy pick but I’d vote for him.
I don’t see any of the other new players having a shot at getting in.
He only has 1885 career hits.
It’s a shame but he needed to stay healthy for another four or so years.
Matt Holliday had a very nice career but played his best seasons in Colorado.
He is in the Hall Of The Very Good.
I would be shocked if any of them hit the 5% needed to appear next year.
This is Gary Sheffield’s last year on the ballot.
He hit 55.0% last year (you need 75% for election).
He may hit 60% in this final year but I don’t see him even hitting 70%.
That’s too much of a jump and the PED allegations.
He appeared on the Mitchell Report and had ties to BALCO.
He claims he used steroids but did it unknowingly.
I thinkTodd Heltongets in this year.
He had 72.2% of the vote last year.
He’d get my vote too.
He also has 2519 career hits.
His career path is similar to Mauer where he became pretty ordinary the last 1/3 of his career.
But like Mauer, he was never bad and his greatness early on is enough for me.
He had an incredible batting eye and has a career WAR of over 60.
Carlos Beltran:He’ll get into Cooperstown in a few years.
He got 46.5% last year and I bet he crashes 50 this year.
Andruw Jones:The best defensive centerfielder I’ve ever seen.
Not only that but he was a very good hitter as well.
He only has four years left on the ballot so he’s running out of time.
He’s along with Chase Utley in the under 2000 hit club.
My prediction is Jones gets in but it might take the full 10 years.
But put that away for a minute and look at his resume.
He was completely dominant for almost his entire career.
He even finished with 422 career saves.
He was awful in the post-season but I attribute that to a small sample size.
Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez are the last big names on this list.
I wouldn’t vote for either and neither will get in.
Both got under 36% in the last ballot.
