The 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot Has Been Announced, Who's In And Who's Out?
Welcome back to everybody’s favorite witch hunt, the Baseball Hall of Fame voting process!
There are fifteen players from last year who are returning, and nineteen new names on the 2017 Hall of Fame ballot, but the big dogs are Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero, Ivan Rodriguez, and JD Drew. Okay, yeah. I know that Drew’s not getting inducted into the Hall of Fame for baseball, but he should get inducted into the Hall of Fame of SOMEthing for being an alligator-wrestling son of a bitch who would leap out of a boat to attack an alligator with a knife. If I had a Hall of Fame vote, Drew would be on my ballot.
If you’ve read any of my Hall of Fame stuff in the past, then you know that I’m not 100% against the steroid guys. I pick and choose my steroid guys. For me, Barry Bonds is in, Roger Clemens is in, and A-Rod is in once he becomes eligible. At first, I thought I would have a hard time voting for Manny Ramirez. That seems strange, considering that I’d vote for Clemens, Bonds and A-Rod. Why is Manny any different from that group of guys? They’re all cheaters, but they’re the best of the best from the large pool of cheaters. It also seems strange to me to award the elite cheaters, like that makes a difference.
A cheater is a cheater, and it’s definitely fucked up to say that these guys cheated the best, so they get to be in the Hall of Fame. I get that, but I’ve bought into the line of thinking that fans understand the era, and you can’t keep the best players of an entire generation out of the definitive baseball museum. I mean, you can, but that doesn’t seem right to me. If you’re going to tell the story of the history of the game, then you can’t ignore an entire era. Recognize it for what it was. It was the Steroid Era, and Manny was one of the best hitters in the game during that period.
So, why the hesitation on Manny? Manny was the greatest right-handed hitter that I’ve ever seen. That’s no exaggeration, and I think that most who watched him would agree. But I think the reason why I was hesitant at first to be a thumbs up on Manny was because he failed not one, but two PED tests. Not only did he fail two tests under MLB’s drug policy, but it was also reported that he was on that “anonymous” 2003 PED test, so it’s probably fair to say that he was using performance-enhancing drugs for the majority of his career.
It would be so hypocritical of me to say that I wouldn’t vote for Manny for those reasons, but then say that I’d vote for A-Rod. As we all know, A-Rod was also on that 2003 PED test that was supposed to remain anonymous, and although he never failed a test once testing was officially implemented, there are plenty of reports that would indicate that he was using PEDs for a majority of his career, as well. Realistically speaking, A-Rod and Manny shouldn’t be looked at any differently in regards to the extent of their cheating. A-Rod was just a smarter cheater and never got caught. Manny…well, Manny was Manny. Using that logic, if you’re a yes on A-Rod, you should be a yes on Manny, too. That being said, although I personally would vote for Manny, I don’t think he’ll ever get in. I think the two failed tests will too much for voters to look past.
Vladimir Guerrero will be interesting. Would I vote for him? Yes. Has he been officially linked to PEDs? No. Do I think he did PEDs? Probably. Anybody who had solid power numbers during the Steroid Era more than likely at least dabbled with PEDs, but again, that’s not a deal-breaker for me. Vladdy got MVP votes in 12 of his 14 full major league seasons, including 11 straight years with an MVP vote, winning the award in 2004 with the Angels. That’s kind of what I look for most in a Hall of Famer. I put a lot of stock in how that player performs compared to the players that they actually played against, and MVP voting tells you a lot in that regard. He hit .318 with a .931 OPS over a 16-year career. That’s a Hall of Famer. He might not be first ballot, but he’ll get in.
Pudge Rodriguez is another interesting case, but this one, we have a better idea in regards to if he ever used PEDs or not. Back in 2009, when asked if his name was on that 2003 PED test, Rodriguez said “Only God knows.” That’s a yes. Jose Canseco has also publicly said that he has personally injected Rodriguez with steroids when they were teammates in Texas, so yeah. Steroids aside, we’re talking about arguably the greatest defensive catcher of all-time, who also has more hits than any other catcher in history. You could kind of just stop there and determine that he’s Hall of Fame worthy, but to put things in perspective, the top six all-time WAR leaders at the catching position are Johnny Bench (75.0), Gary Carter (69.9), Pudge Rodriguez (68.4), Carlton Fisk (68.3), Yogi Berra (59.5), and Mike Piazza (59.4). With Piazza getting inducted this year, that entire list is made up of Hall of Famers, aside from Rodriguez. Whether or not he’ll get in with the evidence stacked against him is another story. I’d vote for him, though.
Other newbies on the ballot this year include Casey Blake, Pat Burrell, Orlando Cabrera, Mike Cameron, Carlos Guillen, Derek Lee, Melvin Mora, Magglio Ordonez, Jorge Posada, Edgar Renteria, Arthur Rhodes, Freddy Sanchez, Matt Stairs, Jason Varitek, and Tim Wakefield. Out of this group, I’d say Posada will probably get the most support from the voters, but I can’t see anybody from this list actually getting voted in. We’ll break down the full ballot once we get closer to voting time.