Let me first tell you, I started covering Major League Baseball on a daily basis in 1982. I did the pre and post game show for two seasons starting in 1989. I did MLB play by play for the Montreal Expos for 13 more starting in 1991.
Twenty-three years in all and I don’t get a hall of fame vote. No big deal when you compare it to, let’s say, the great Vin Scully. Vin broadcast the Los Angeles Dodgers games for 37 years and never got a vote. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact. Okay maybe I’m complaining.
Only baseball writers get votes. Here are the election rules:
BBWAA (the Baseball Writers’ Association of America) members earn a Hall of Fame vote from its organization, which is independent of the Hall of Fame, by maintaining 10 consecutive years on a baseball beat.
While none of the great radio broadcasters have ever had a vote, some of the writers that do should never have had one. That’s obvious with just one fact:
Mariano Rivera is the only player to be elected unanimously into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and he was selected in 2019.
That means that Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr. and every other one of the greats of the game were not deemed good enough by someone.
Billy Wagner’s last chance
Ballots have been sent out for the 2025 vote and we are once again faced with a player who’s on the doorstep but facing his final year on the ballot, this time it’s closer, Billy Wagner. How is it possible someone was not good enough nine times but good on the tenth?
As an Expos fan and broadcaster, it irked me at how long it took for most of the Expos players to get in. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Larry Walker. All deserving and all waited. Raines and Walker in their final year.
Wagner garnered just 10.5% in his first year of eligibility back in 2016. Now here we are, with 75% needed for election, Wagner reached 73.8% last year. Crazy when you consider if you don’t get 5%, they take you off the ballot.
Will Ichiro Suzuki be unanimous?
Once again the writers can get it right by selecting Ichiro Suzuki unanimously. There are some however that don’t believe anyone should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. There’s always Ron Cook who famously no longer votes for anyone.
Ballot #77 is from Ron Cook. After voting just for Mariano and Jeter in 2019 and 2020, this is the third straight blank ballot Cook has submitted.
Ballot talk begins around 23:00 – https://t.co/cnacLAM9rN
In the Tracker: https://t.co/iuMQ5HlBGX pic.twitter.com/inAmyPz3vd
— Anthony Calamis (@tonycal93) December 29, 2022
In 2014, they reduced eligibility from 15 years to 10 and you can only vote for ten. Since I don’t have a vote I haven’t really done a forensic on borderline cases. With that in mind and by just looking at the names here is who I would vote for:
Ichiro Suzuki, Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltran, Bobby Abreu, CC Sabathia.
I would keep Russell Martin on the ballot. And I would go back in time and vote for no longer eligible Johan Santana.
For the future, I would consider Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins Dustin Pedroia, Felix Hernandez and Troy Tulowitzki.
Should you wish to follow the voting as it progresses you can do that here. Thanks to Ryan Thibodaux who you can find here.
