There’s only one sure way to be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame: run for ten years in a row of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Another group considers managers, referees, managers and long-retired players, but since its inception in 1936, the Hall has always asked writers to be the top judges for the highest honor. The latest election results will be announced on Tuesday.
Yet not even the most experienced writer could understand the game as well as a player. What if voters come from the excavation instead of the press box? Perhaps players with their intimate perspective can more easily agree to choose the best of the best.
“I think they will definitely come to a consensus more,” said Ben Davis, a former catcher for San Diego, Seattle and the Chicago White Sox. “You know who the best man in your league is. If your game plan goes through, there’s always one guy who will not let you knock. It’s the same for every team. ”
Ryan Spaeder, a writer and statistician, has been seeking such opinions for the past few years, inspired by a conversation with Kevin Youkilis, the former All-Star fielder. When Youkilis suggested that anyone with great league experience should vote for the Hall of Fame, Spaeder decided to vote as much as possible.
As of Monday afternoon, Spaeder had 76 players in this year’s poll, from Hall of Famers like Carlton Fisk and Larry Walker to players with short careers like Steve Holm and Bucky Jacobsen. In Spaeder’s poll, only three candidates reached the 75 percent threshold for induction: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Todd Helton.
The early return among the writers yielded another, somewhat unlikely choice: Curt Schilling, the jug of power, post-season stalwart and vocal critic of the news media that promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory. Of the 182 BBWAA votes cast late Monday afternoon – as counted by Ryan Thibodaux on Twitter – only Schilling voted more than 75 per cent, although bonds (72.5 per cent) and Clemens (72) were close.
Some voters did not prefer the process, citing the difficulty of applying the Hall of Fame character guidelines to players using drugs for performance enhancement, especially in the pre-Test era. Some organizations, such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, prohibit writers from voting for awards, believing that writers should report the news and not make the news.
Writers who do not publish their ballots are more selective, and therefore the support of most players decreases when the full results are announced. Between the polls, however, the difference between the opinions of players and writers is not as pronounced as it seems.
No candidate gets 80 percent among any of the voting groups. The candidates in the 40-49 percent among writers (Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel) are grouped between 53 and 65 percent among players – better, but still not the requirement for induction. Helton, the longtime Colorado Rockies slugger who played home games in a hitter’s paradise, received far more support from players than from writers, but he also received more new votes among returning writers than any other candidate and won more in his third election. if 50 percent voted. years on the ballot.
“Just as you can not control who you play on the schedule, you can also DISCUSS WHERE you play when you are drafted,” Schilling wrote on Spaeder’s website. ‘He performed at a Hall of Fame level in an incredible career. He also gets far less recognition as a defender than he should. ”
Fisk told Spaeder that he would vote for Schilling, Vizquel, Wagner, Mark Buehrle, Torii Hunter, Andy Pettitte and Aramis Ramirez – and leave Bonds and Clemens. Walker selected a maximum of ten candidates, including Bonds and Clemens, but two Hall of Famers – who asked Spaeder to remain anonymous – were stingy. One only voted for Helton, Vizquel, Scott Rolen and Jeff Kent, and another replied, “I will not vote for anyone on the current election list.”
Former reliever Eric O’Flaherty has admitted that he was torn over the voice for players linked to steroids, but said the widespread use of amphetamines also gives players an edge. Since voters ignored the use of those drugs – also known as greenies – he could not penalize players for using other performance enhancers.
“I usually feel like the steroid guys have to come in because I once took a greenie and felt like I could build a spaceship three minutes later,” O’Flaherty wrote, explaining his voice on Spaeder’s website. “I went that day and I had an easy turn and would have had another 12 turns if they had allowed me.”
O’Flaherty also voted for Schilling and simply explained, “he was really good at baseball.” No player addressed the details of Schilling’s controversial social media presence, although only 57.9 percent voted for him, compared to 75.3 percent of the authors.
Schilling himself voted on Helton, Jones, Kent, Rolen, Vizquel, Wagner and Bobby Abreu, providing a variety of statistics to Spaeder and emphasizing the importance of defense, especially with Rolen and Vizquel.
“If defense matters, which is far greater than what Hall of Fame voters consider, they are both a lock,” he wrote.
John Baker, a former catcher for the Marlins, the Padres and the Cubs, has included five players linked to performance-enhancers – Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield, Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa – among his ten picks. It would be naive, Baker wrote, to assume that all present Hall of Famers were spotless.
“How do you think people have been playing chocolate milk for about 20 years?” he wrote, adding later: “Induct Bonds and Clemens, bring Sammy back to Wrigley (and in Cooperstown), and be prepared to sit with the idea that context and nuance are important to growth and understanding.”
Baker calls Bonds the greatest hitter to ever live, pointing out that baseball was not integrated when Ted Williams began his career in 1939. Davis said the exclusion of Bonds was staggering.
“The fact that effects are not in me really makes me think,” he said. “You can say whatever you want, but he’s the best baseball player to ever walk the earth. It’s not even close. ”
Many writers are of the opinion, but probably not enough for Bonds, Clemens – or anyone else – to get the call of a lifetime on Tuesday.