The 2018 National Baseball Hall of Fame announcement is
today and it might as well be Christmas again. I don’t have a hall of fame
vote, but here’s how I’d vote if I was lucky enough to be able to.
Chipper Jones: Shoe-in for the Hall on his first-ballot. One
of the best switch hitters of all-time and held up well for a 19-year career, most
which was played at third base. Not much else to say here.
Jim Thome: Another first-ballot lock. While 500 homers doesn’t
necessarily appear to be the benchmark it used to be, Thome has 600 and was
never tied to performance-enhancing drugs. This is easy.
Vladimir Guerrero: Vlad was so much fun to watch. He terrorized
baserunners from right field with regularity. The scary thing is he’s not known
for his arm. He’s known for his lifetime .318 batting average and being one of
the best bad-ball hitters in the game. He was close last year, he’ll get over
the hump this year.
Trevor Hoffman: Saves aren’t that valuable of a statistic at
all. As a matter of fact, they’re kind of useless. However, Hoffman closed
games time and time again. Ultimately, if you do your job as well as he did for
as long as he did, regardless of how people feel about the degree of difficulty
that comes with your job, you’re a hall of famer.
Edgar Martinez: One of the best offensive players in the history
of baseball. That’s a fact. His career slash line was .312/.418/.515. The only
six players to best that career slash line in all three categories are Babe
Ruth, Ted Williams, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie
Foxx. Edgar’s going to get close, and he should get in.
Barry Bonds: I’ve changed my mind on Bonds. Last year, I
didn’t have him in my 10, but I’m putting him on this year. The case for him
because more obvious the more you read about his career. Last month, baseball statistician
Ryan Spaeder, fired off a series of tweets about Bonds’ career that were very
telling. My two favorites? If you took away all seven of Barry Bonds’ MVP
seasons, he still has a better WAR for his career than Ken Griffey Jr. On top
of that, his career WAR is better than the career WARs of Ken Griffey Jr. and
Frank Thomas combined. Look at the seasons Bonds had in Pittsburgh and his
early days in San Francisco and try telling me he wasn’t a hall of famer before
he took steroids.
Roger Clemens: He’s sort of a package deal with Bonds in my
opinion. I think the argument about being a hall of famer before steroids
applies to Bonds and Clemens and that’s it when it comes to the players linked
to performance-enhancing drugs. I’m more passionate about Bonds getting in than
Clemens, but ultimately, I do feel like voting for one warrants voting for the
other.
Fred McGriff: Now that Tim Raines has a plaque Cooperstown, Fred
McGriff is the most underrepresented candidate on the Hall of Fame ballot every
year. All he did was hit, hit and hit. Crime dog hit at least 30 homers in
every season from 1989-94. His lowest OPS in those six seasons was .890 in 1990.
Maybe it’s not a long enough peak, but he held up at first base for enough time
to post a very respectable career slash line of .284/.377/.509 to go with 493
homers. Hopefully the today’s game committee puts him in because it doesn’t
look like the writers will.
Curt Schilling: One of the best big-game pitchers in
baseball. His postseason performances were always clutch and for a borderline
candidate, that’s enough to get over the top in my eyes. Are people really dumb
enough to not vote for him because they don’t think he’s a good person?
Johan Santana: It’s sad to think he might fall off the ballot
today. But Johan was one of the best pitchers in baseball during the first
decade of the 21st century. Injuries derailed his career, but look
at what he was when he wasn’t injured. He
had three straight seasons with a WHIP under 1.00 from 2003-05 and won the AL Cy
Young award in two of those three seasons. Lifetime 3.20 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.
Another guy that was also so much fun to watch when he had it all going.
Notable exclusions: I wanted to vote for Andruw Jones, but
he falls victim to the rule of 10. I think it’s a stupid rule and the ballot
should expand to 12. Billy Wagner would be my 12th vote if it did go
to 12. There’s almost always one or two guys that the writers who vote for 10
candidates each year, feel like they left out. Mike Mussina never passed my eye
rest and neither did Scott Rolen. As for the rest of the PED guys, sorry but if
Pete Rose isn’t in the Hall of Fame then I can’t get behind putting you in
either.
