Q’s 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

So, I don’t get to vote for the Hall of Fame.  But I definitely should!  I've watched baseball my entire life.  I've played baseball for many years in the past.  I've followed the ins and outs of baseball for as long as I can remember.  I know the sport inside and out.  I can make a far more informed opinion on most players than many of the actual voters can.

So, screw it, I’m casting my vote right here on the blog!  Players must have been out of baseball for at least 5 years to be on the ballot.  To stay on the ballot, you have to receive at least 5% of the vote the previous year…otherwise you are dropped.  You are on the ballot for a max of 15 years, and you have to get 75% of the total vote to make it into the Hall of Fame.   Voters can vote for as few as 0 and as many as 10 players on the ballot to make the hall of fame!

Since I get up to 10 votes, I decided to use them.  I found 10 players I think are worthy of induction into baseball’s hall of fame this year.  They are:

1.  Barry Bonds

2.  Mark McGwire

3.  Sammy Sosa

4.  Roger Clemens

5.  Mike Piazza

6.  Curt Schilling

7.  Craig Biggio

8.  Rafael Palmeiro

9.  Jeff Bagwell

10.  Edgar Martinez

Notice a theme?  Yes!  This is the year that most of the prominent steroid era figures are up for the vote!  And, as you can see, I don’t seem to give a shit…I want them all in.  Why, you might ask?  Well, its simple.  Baseball is a game of eras.  You have the deadball era, when hitting numbers were suppressed and pitching numbers were obscene.  And yet, the best players of this era got in.  You had the golden era, where the Yankees were awesome.  And the best players of this era got in.  You had the uppers and greenies era…and the best players of that era got in.  And now we have the steroid era.  I think the best players from this era should get in.

Listen, these guys hold the records…those records are not being erased.  Those games are not being erased.  McGwire’s and Sosa’s HR race electrified baseball and brought the sport back from the brink of death following the 1994 strike.  Barry Bonds is literally the best hitter I've ever seen live.  His hands were so fast, and his eye so keen.  Even before the roids, he was a legit hall of famer.  Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling were fireballing, strike throwing machines.  Rafael Palmeiro is one of only 4 players in history to have over 3,000 hits and 500 HRs.  The others?  Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray.  That’s elite company.  They are, by far, the best this era has to offer. 

The other guys on my list are not necessarily connected to roids (although, you certainly cannot rule them out).  Biggio is one of the greatest second basemen to ever play the game…3,000+ hits and was a good fielder too.  Bagwell was a legit power and average guy…with a career OPS+ of 149 (100 being average).  That’s elite.  And Edgar Martinez is unfairly hurt for being primarily a DH, and not having to play defense.  But he’s the greatest pure DH of all time.  And he hit the snot out of the ball, to the tune of a .312 career average and 147 OPS+.

These players are all among the best players this sport has ever seen.  And they were far and away the best players of their era.  Players who have tested positive for steroids from this era include Alex Sanchez, Jason Grimsley, J.C. Romero, Juan Rincon, Matt Lawton, Mike Cameron, Jose Guillen…you get the picture.  Not exactly good players.  Everyone was using steroids…not everyone hit 762 home runs, or put up absurd strikeout numbers, or dual-handedly revived the sport. 

Whether baseball wants to admit it or not, the steroid era happened.  It not only happened, but was silently endorsed by the league when those Home Runs were busy saving the sport from its self-inflicted wounds.  It brought people back to the ballparks in record numbers…numbers that continue to grow to this day.  Baseball needs to recognize the best players of this era and put them in the Hall of Fame.  Otherwise, the Hall of Fame will no longer be a shrine to the best players in baseball history.  It will lose its relevancy as an authority on the history of the game.