MLB Hall of Fame Ballot Part 1: My Ballot
By Patrick Gunn
The Hot Stove is set on low right now, so let’s discuss the 2020-2021 Hall of Fame ballot. Only two years ago, four players were elected to the Hall of Fame, with former Yankees legend Mariano Rivera becoming the first player elected to the hall unanimously. Last year, Derek Jeter came close to joining Rivera in that club, but he settled for a hearty 99.7% induction to go with Larry Walker sneaking in on his last year on the ballot.
This year, the ballot contains fewer surefire Hall of Famers. The players on the ballot for the first time, with all due respect to Nick Swisher, are not inside class Hall of Famers like Jeter or Ken Griffey Jr. or Greg Maddux. The three Hall of Fame worthy holdovers – Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Curt Schilling – all have major flaws to their candidacy that occurred off the field.
That leads to a weaker ballot as voters wait for more elite, clean players to enter the ballot. Regardless, I do believe that there are Hall of Fame worthy players up this year, the BBWAA just needs to lower their ridiculously high standards. Also, as of this year, I’ve decided to take the character clause much more seriously than I have in the past, looking more into player’s biographies and trying to vote for people worthy of election, not just players. So, without further ado, here is my ballot for the Hall of Fame.
Yes, this article is a shorter piece, because I plan on writing in more detail about each of the players, I’m voting for later this week. I will also discuss several of the players that just missed my vote with reasoning as well. I prefer to vote in a larger Hall and let players who were consistently great over time get elected. With that said, here is my 2021 Hall of Fame Ballot, in alphabetical order:
Bobby Abreu
Todd Helton
Andy Pettitte
Scott Rolen
Billy Wagner
Here are a few of the players who just missed my ballot:
Barry Bonds
Mark Buehrle
Roger Clemens
Tim Hudson
Torii Hunter
Omar Vizquel
Again, I’ll have more details on why I chose to elect each player listed and later I’ll give my reasoning on why I chose to not elect several other players.
*Correction: An earlier version of this piece said (BBWA instead of BBWAA. We apologize for this error).
