In what has become a New Year’s tradition here on 210Sports, I now post my completely unofficial Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.
To be eligible to cast a real ballot a person must be a Baseball Writer’s Association of America member for at least 10 years and cover baseball for 10 consecutive years for an accredited outlet. It goes without saying I have neither qualification, and odds are I’ll never meet either of them.
But I have a blog so I have a spot where I can say who I would have voted for if I had an official vote. And so I shall.
To remind readers how I determine my vote, the method I use to decide is pretty simple. I follow the example set by Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram, and he believes it comes down to one thing: “you would buy a ticket just so you could tell your grandchildren you saw him perform”. That’s about the best criteria I have ever seen, and so I use that.
As it does every year, I expect the subject of PEDs to come up. To be honest this is a really easy decision for me. If a player is eligible, I’ll vote for him if I think he’s worthy.
I understand that some people think they shouldn’t be enshrined. My issue is how do I determine who did them and who didn’t? Now some of the later candidates will have failed tests, and then including them could be an issue for voters. But not for me, because if they’re eligible I’ll consider them.
On to my “ballot”. The easiest part is listing the players I voted for last year that didn’t make the Hall of Fame in 2019 and are still eligible:
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Manny Ramirez
Curt Schilling
Billy Wagner
Despite having four more slots to add players only one new names makes the list, and it will be for this season only because Derek Jeter is a shoo-in to make it this season.
The only way the other 17 newbies on the ballot should get into the Baseball Hall of Fame is if they buy a ticket.
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