According to what I can find in old emails that I’ve posted to this website, 2017 marks my 10^th Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

I wonder if this means that I have now reached my requisite years of baseball writing and am eligible for an actual hall of fame ballot? I can only assume so! I stress each year wondering what I’m going to write to keep things fresh. Stats don’t change, my opinion doesn’t change. 

As in prior years, there wouldn’t be a ballot discussion without the discussion of steroids. As long as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, the poster-boys for the steroid era, are kept out of the Hall, we will continue this numbing debate. For those who follow me religiously know my stance on the whole steroid use. We don’t know who used and to what extent. Plus, it wasn’t illegal in baseball throughout the 80s and 90s! So, I would never withhold a vote to anyone because of suspicion of use, new found muscles, back acne, the book “juiced” or any other reason.

Baseball writers have the responsibility of electing members into the Hall of Fame. Many have struggled with what to do with the steroid issue. They’ve fought this moral dilemma for many years. They have been looking for guidance from the Hall with none of their questions answered. Within the criteria to elect a player, there is an actual “morals” clause. What does this clause mean? Nobody really knows for sure and it has become open to interpretation. Baseball, like the history of America, has had its share of dark periods. Within the game itself, there has been periods of segregation, rampant amphetamine use and now the steroid chemical enhancement era. This doesn’t even include any off-field issues which include cases of bigotry, racism and misogyny. Many writers have decided that for the crop of players on the current ballot it is the steroid issue that has ruined the sanctity of the game. Therefore, they could not, in good conscience, elect a player who has been an admitted steroid user, one who has been actually caught, named in a report, named in a book, or simply looks like they may have maybe, possibly, heard a rumour that they used steroids. To gain election into the Hall, you must be named on 75% of the ballots submitted. There are enough writers who will not vote alleged steroid users into the Hall preventing many statistically worthy players from election.

However, in the ultimate move of hypocrisy, a committee formed by the Hall of Fame elected the steroid-era commissioner, Bud Selig, into the Hall this past year. For many writers, his election provided the guidance they had been seeking. How can you now penalize the players but not the man in charge who blindly (and likely knowingly) allowed steroids into the game?

As many of you know, I follow Ryan Thibodaux religiously on Twitter. From what I can tell, Ryan is just some guy from Oakland, who like me has an obsession with Hall of Fame voting. Unlike me though, who spends a couple hours writing this, he must spend dozens of hours scouring baseball articles figuring out who each writer voted for. He compiles all their ballots into a neat spreadsheet. I’ve watched the evolution of his spreadsheet over the years and it’s quite amazing. He’s gotten such notoriety for his work that writers are now contacting him directly and he is often quoted in their columns. Good for him! I hope he figures out a way to monetize his work. (Ryan, if you read this, I appreciate your work and your website!) The one bad thing about religiously refreshing his spreadsheet is that some of the announcement-day surprise is gone. While not every writer releases his or her ballot publicly, Ryan’s spreadsheet is so sophisticated that it is fairly easy to predict who will and won’t get elected. There will always be people on the bubble, but unlike other American polls, there will be few surprises with this one.

While I don’t consider myself a “big Hall” guy, because of the steroid issue, there are so many worthy candidates on the ballot. So once again, I will use my maximum 10 votes and hope that the logjam will break up soon.

They say there is no such thing as the “perfect ballot,” but I believe mine is pretty darn close.

Tim Raines: 

This is Tim’s final year of eligibility on the ballot. He needed approximately 20 writers to “flip their votes.” At the time of writing, he appears to have done so. Odds are extremely high that his name will be announced on January 18. A lot of his voting success has to do with an email campaign by writer Jonah Keri. I promised last year to read his Expos book in advance of writing this blog. Alas, like many books I intended to read, I still have not.

As previously stated, Raines was probably the second best leadoff hitter of all time. He was also one of the best base stealers of all-time as well. His “problems” have been well documented. He played in an era with the best leadoff hitter of all time. He played the prime of his career in Montreal. He played a little bit too long allowing many to remember his lean years and not the greatness of his early years. And, he may have had a wee little bit of a cocaine problem. But, you have to admire a guy who would slide head first into second so he doesn’t break the vile he kept hidden out of his locker and in his back pocket. (#fakenews?)

We’ve read and I’ve spewed numerous stats in the past about his on base and steal percentage. We’ve talked about his walks and how his stats compare favourably and arguably better than many first ballot hall of famers including the great Tony Gwynn.

I’m happy to see that Tim will finally make it in and I can clear a spot on my ballot next year.

Barry Bonds:

Barry Bonds is statistically the greatest hitter of all time. He’s the greatest hitter I’ve ever seen. Period. Barry was a player that I would specifically pay to see. That is a key hall of fame criterion for me. When he was at the plate, you’d expect something great to happen. Steroid allegations are obviously the only thing stopping him from being a first ballot hall of famer. Plus, he may have been a jerk to the same writers who are deciding his fate. I will always remember the game Mrs. Tax and I went to in San Francisco. In that game, I complained after a couple walks that I didn’t fly 3,000 km to see Barry hold the bat on his shoulders. Then, with the bases loaded, he slammed a pitch into McCovey’s cove for home run number 55. It was only August and he was well on his way to breaking the single season home run record.

Roger Clemens:

Another certified jerk in  baseball circles, but you can’t argue his talent. He was even lying to congress before lying was cool! (Thank you Mrs. T for that line). If Barry was the best hitter that I’ve ever seen live, Roger might very well be the best pitcher. Back when the Jays stunk in the mid-90s and he pitched his two Cy Young seasons here, we would schedule our attendance around his appearances. He was a joy to watch. His stats are indisputably Hall-worthy.

Bonds and Clemens are exhibit A of the selection of Commish Selig changing their prognosis for election. I am predicting (based on Ryan’s model) a huge rise in their vote total. While they will definitely fall short of the 75% required for admittance, they are putting themselves into striking distance. Many feel that it’s now not a question of if they will get in but when. I’m not totally convinced of that, but would love to free up the space on my ballot to consider other players.

Jeff Bagwell:

Jeff was a player who has consistently appeared on my ballot. I was hoping he would make it in previously with his long-time teammate Craig Biggio who was recently elected. It appears that Bagwell, like Raines, will garner enough votes this time around to make it in. Bagwell is one of those players whose stats pop out at you. Again, he hit close to .300, had 450 homers, 1,500 RBI and 200 steals. His career stats are there. His hardware is in the trophy case with MVPs, Gold Gloves, All-Star Games, and a Rookie of the Year. What more does he have to do? Elect this man already.

Mike Mussina:

I can’t believe I have become a Mike Mussina defender. He was an Oriole. He was a Yankee. There is therefore nothing to like about him and I spent his whole career rooting against him. My favourite Mussina memory was when Cito Gaston managed Mussina in the ASG. Allegedly, it was decided that Mussina was not going to pitch even though the game was played in his Baltimore home park. The story goes that Mussina decided to get up and warm up in the ninth inning. Stubbornly, Cito did not succumb to crowd pressure and refused to put him in. Good times! But as someone who watched him pitch his entire 18-year career in the powerful hitting AL East, during a period of inflated hitting, his numbers are pretty crazy. You have to tip your hat to him. I also love that he went out on top winning 20 games in his final season, at 39 years of age.

Ivan Rodriguez:

If Mike Piazza was the best hitting catcher I ever saw, Ivan wasn’t that far behind. Where Piazza lacked defensively, Ivan picked up the slack. Ivan was likely the best fielding catcher of my generation. Ivan won an MVP award and 13 (!!) Gold Gloves. He also led the league in runners caught stealing multiple times. Notwithstanding the rigours of catching, he still managed to play 21 seasons, hit double digits in homers in 15 straight, hit .296 for his career and had an OPS of .798. He ranks well ahead of many of the other catchers currently in the Hall and ranks third amongst catchers all-time in home runs. He was however named as an alleged steroid user in “Juiced”. Let’s see if that’s enough to keep him out of the Hall. His stats certainly won’t.

Larry Walker:

The Larry Walker train is picking up steam. I can totally see Larry’s hall of fame election becoming the next campaign. He will hopefully follow the likes of Blyleven and Raines and not Trammell and Morris. Larry has been penalized for playing the prime of his career in Colorado. It’s completely ridiculous. Check out his “road” statistics when you have a chance. Walker is a career .313 hitter. He had 1,300 RBI, 2,000 hits and amassed over 200 steals. He has his MVP award and multiple Gold Gloves. His “advanced stats” are even better! I’m just not sure I fully understand them but I do however like them because they support my argument. So don’t ask me what WRC+, WAR, WAR7 or JAWS actually means, but what I do know is that my eye test and the stats test are all aligned. Larry Walker should be a hall of famer.

Curt Schilling:

Argh. “Don’t be a hypocrite and leave him off your ballot… don’t be a hypocrite and leave him off your ballot…” Curt Schilling is a bad human being. If I told you that we’re talking about the election of a guy who regularly trolls Muslims, transgender peeps and the LGBTQ community, and who wishes death to reporters, you’d assume that I was talking about the 45^th President of the United States. But, no! I’m talking about Curt Schilling. (I hear he is considering running for the senate. Sadly, he will probably win.)

As much as I don’t want to vote for him, I’m including him on my ballot. As stated earlier, he wouldn’t be the first racist or degenerate in the Hall. He wasn’t even a good teammate! The image of him with a towel on his head during the 1993 World Series as Mitch Williams was labouring through his appearances couldn’t have been a sign of encouragement. But, you can’t deny his statistics. Similar to Mussina, Schilling put up great pitching statistics in an era of inflated hitting. Plus he has all the pre-requisite hall of fame statistical benchmarks. He has enough wins, World Series rings, top 5 Cy Young votes, seminal moments (the bloody sock), playoff MVP awards and 3,000 strike outs on his resume. Let’s just put him in and move on.

Vladimir Guerrero:

With all these bad dudes I’m electing, I’m allowing myself to elect a good one. Vladdy also qualifies as another player that I just loved to watch play. He was your prototypical five-tool player. He could catch, run, field, hit and do whatever that fifth thing is. He was the best bad ball hitter I’ve ever seen and could hit the ball out of the park whether it was inside or well outside of the strike zone. He was just a fun player to watch with an infectious smile and attitude. His stats don’t really measure up that well when you compare him to others of his era. He did however hit .318 for his career and has an MVP award to his credit. He also didn’t wear batting gloves which I thought was pretty cool. He is definitely not a slam dunk to make it in, but I hope he does.

Manny Ramirez:

In keeping with the hypocrisy absence theme and players that I would pay to watch, how can you not include Manny? Manny won’t make it in. Unlike many others on this list who are alleged steroid users in a time when steroids weren’t banned in baseball, Manny was caught when they were banned. Twice! While it’s true that those times were at the point when his career was dwindling, it’s likely not the first time he dabbled. Manny is widely considered as one of the best right-handed power hitters of all time. He was a terror in the middle of those Cleveland and Boston lineups. Amazingly, he never won an MVP award. But, his “old school” and advanced stats rank him amongst the best in history well ahead of many present hall of famers. He boasts a career .312 average, 555 home runs, 1,800+ RBI and is eighth  all-time in OPS. Are you kidding me? His statistics are certainly there but so are those failed tests. Those tests will keep him out. He was also a defensive liability and his lack of focus at times coined the phrase “Manny being Manny.” Manny was one of the most colourful and decorated players of this era, was fun to watch and worthy of the price of admission. He deserves a spot in my Hall.