2019 HALL OF FAME BALLOT

2019 HALL OF FAME BALLOT

INSTRUCTIONS: Please make your selections either by highlighting the names of your choice in yellow, or with a big X, whichever you prefer. A simple list in the body of an email is fine too. Send to Howard Cole, at baseballsavvy@aol.com no later than Monday, December 31, 2018, 9:00 p.m. PST.

Notes: Each name is linked to that particular player's Baseball-Reference.com page. Asterisk (*) for first-time candidates You may vote for up to 15 candidates. 75% required for election. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina have already been honored in previous IBWAA elections, which is why you don’t see their names listed here.

Rick Ankiel*

Jason Bay*

Lance Berkman*

Freddy Garcia*

Jon Garland*

Travis Hafner*

Roy Halladay*

Todd Helton*

Andruw Jones

Jeff Kent

Ted Lilly*

Derek Lowe*

Fred McGriff

Darren Oliver*

Roy Oswalt*

Andy Pettitte*

Juan Pierre*

Placido Polanco*

Manny Ramirez

Mariano Rivera*

Scott Rolen

Curt Schilling

Gary Sheffield

Sammy Sosa

Miguel Tejada*

Omar Vizquel

Billy Wagner

Larry Walker

Vernon Wells*

Kevin Youkilis*

Michael Young*

2019 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot

Mariano Rivera
Roy Halladay
Todd Helton
Andy Pettitte
Edgar Martinez (last chance on the ballot)
Fred McGriff (last chance on the ballot)
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Mike Mussina
Curt Schilling
Manny Ramirez
Sammy Sosa
Larry Walker
Omar Vizquel
Andruw Jones
Scott Rolen
Jeff Kent
Gary Sheffield
Billy Wagner
Lance Berkman (first time ballot)
Roy Oswalt (first time ballot)
Rick Ankiel
Jason Bay
Freddy Garcia
Jon Garland
Travis Hafner
Ted Lilly
Derek Lowe
Darren Oliver
Juan Pierre
Placido Polanco
Miguel Tejada
Vernon Wells
Kevin Youkilis
Michael Young

BBWAA Elects Four Into Hall of Fame

The Baseball Writers Association of America has elected four members to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Chipper Jones, Trevor Hoffman, Jim Thome and Vladimir Guerrero.

Jones had 97.2% of the vote needed while Guerrero (92.9%), Thome (89.8%) and Hoffman (79.9%) all eclipsed the 75% mark needed for Hall induction.

Mike Mussina missed the mark falling just 49 votes shy with 63.5% of the vote while Edgar Martinez fell just 20 votes shy with 70.4% of the vote.

My 2018 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot

The 2018 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot has been released and there are quite a few interesting names on it as newcomers. To name a few of the newcomers we have Johan Santana, Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, Jamie Moyer and Andruw Jones. Let’s take a look at the complete ballot and decide who I would vote for if I had a vote with the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Here is the complete 2018 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot:

Johan Santana

Chipper Jones

Barry Bonds

Chris Carpenter

Roger Clemens

Johnny Damon

Vladimir Guerrero

Livan Hernandez

Trevor Hoffman

Orlando Hudson

Aubrey Huff

Jason Isringhausen

Andruw Jones

Jeff Kent

Carlos Lee

Brad Lidge

Edgar Martinez

Hideki Matsui (homer alert… as this is all hypothetical)

Fred McGriff

Kevin Millwood

Jamie Moyer

Mike Mussina

Manny Ramirez

Scott Rolen

Curt Schilling

Gary Sheffield

Sammy Sosa

Jim Thome

Omar Vizquel

Billy Wagner

Larry Walker

Kerry Wood

Carlos Zambrano

BOLDED players receive my vote, capped at ten votes per ballot.

My IBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

Ladies and gentleman I know you have been waiting on the edge of your seats for me to release my Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Hall of Fame ballot but wait no longer. What I lack in some areas I more than make up for with tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic answers and steroid users on my ballot. Please check it out and enjoy.

Keep in mind that the IBWAA has already inducted Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Edgar Martinez on our ballots in previous years so this is why they are not present on this ballot and why they are present on the BBWAA ballot.

Thoughts and arguments below in the comment section por favor. 

David Ortiz & Perennial Yankees Killers During my Lifetime

As much as I hate to admit this you have to respect what David Ortiz has done in his major league career. Sure you have the controversy of the failed steroid test and the Mitchell Report inclusion that wasn’t an inclusion because a Boston-area Senator was in charge of the report but if you can presume that he has been clean since, and every drug test he’s taken has suggested that he is, then you still have to think he has Hall of Fame numbers. Numbers, I didn’t say credentials. While his Hall of Fame credentials may always be up for debate and the fact that he has as many failed tests as Alex Rodriguez has may be as well you cannot deny the fact that he’s been a perennial Yankee killer. In fact there have been quite a few during my lifetime and we will showcase them here this evening in honor, for lack of a better word, of Ortiz.

Ortiz once had a teammate, speaking of failed steroid tests, in Manny Ramirez that made up one of the toughest middle-of-the-lineups in my recent memory. Ramirez faced the Yankees in 203 games and hit a monster 55 home runs against them with 165 RBI and a .322 batting average. Ramirez killed just about every team though. 

Speaking of Ortiz, Ramirez and the Red Sox there was a trio of starting pitchers that the Yankees simply could not get to on most nights consistently. Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey all shut down some of the greatest offenses of my lifetime starting with Beckett in the 2003 World Series and ending with Lester and Lackey most recently before being traded away by the Red Sox. 

Speaking of the pitching side of things I can remember Roy Halladay mowing down Yankees with tons of consistency. It didn’t matter who the mighty Yankees sent at Halladay in his years with the Toronto Blue Jays the man they called Doc set them down with ease. I halfway remember skipping games on purpose that he pitched to save myself the aggravation. 

The final pair of teammates to completely torment the Yankees date back to my early years as a fan. Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez absolutely destroyed the New York Yankees. I can remember Tino Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr. trading home runs on a Saturday afternoon in the Bronx more than once and it always seemed like the Mariners got the better of the Yankees. It started in 1995 in the ALDS and it went on that way until the Yankees beat the 116-win Mariners in 2001. Edgar killed Yankees closer Mariano Rivera at the plate, one of the few that could say that, and Griffey killed anyone and everyone put in front of him during his prime. All because as a child he got kicked out of the Yankees clubhouse when his father, Ken Griffey Sr., was a member of the team. Way to hold a grudge kid!

The Greatest DH’s in MLB History

The Hall of Fame vote for the 2016 inductions are over but that doesn’t mean the debate for 2016 and the speculation for the 2017 vote has to end. It won’t end here anyway because I have a ton to say about it and the free agency and trade markets aren’t doing us any favors to fill the time right now. We have gone over the best catchers of all-time as we looked to shine some light on the tremendous career of Mike Piazza and today we will look ahead to not only the 2017 class but the 2021 class as well. That’s when presumably David Ortiz will be eligible for the Hall of Fame with the five-year waiting period and the DH debate can begin once again.

I am piggybacking Scott Chiusano of the New York Daily News a bit as he released his own Top 5 DH’s of all-time by the numbers but I am putting my own spin on things like I tend to do. First I changed around his rankings a bit to fit my opinion and secondly I want to see how this list will or could affect Oritz when he comes up for Hall of Fame voting in 2021. First things first though, my list:

1.       Edgar Martinez

2.       David Ortiz

3.       Frank Thomas

4.       Harold Baines

5.       Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004 as a player while Frank Thomas was elected in 2004 by the Baseball Writers Association of America while the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, or the IBWAA, elected Edgar Martinez in 2016 to their Hall of Fame. Many believe that Harold Baines belonged in the Hall of Fame and Baines was elected to the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 2009. This leaves three of the Top 5 DH’s in MLB history in the Hall of Fame, one that many believe should be in the Hall of Fame and one just awaiting his candidacy. A lot can change between now and the 2021 Hall of Fame vote but by then, either because of the DH position or the steroid era, David Ortiz will likely be in…. as much as that pains me to say as a fan of the Yankees. 

IBWAA Hall of Fame Vote, Edgar Martinez and the Yankees

Quick! Someone tell former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera that if he’s reading to look away, this isn’t going to be pretty. The Baseball Writers Association of America elected Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza into the Hall of Fame while the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, or the IBWAA which I am a lifetime member of, elected Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez. In year’s past the IBWAA elected Piazza leaving the gate open for Griffey’s teammate and former DH. We’ve checked in and seen just what Griffey Jr. and Piazza has done against the Yankees so now it would only be right to see the damage that Edgar did to the Yankees during his playing career, especially against the Yankees closer Rivera who he had an extraordinary amount of success against.

I	Split	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
	New York Yankees	138	594	95	158	44	22	103	6	88	86	.317	.423	.542	.965

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

By the way Edgar finished his career with a .579/.652/.1.053 triple slash against Mariano. As you can see Edgar was one of the few players to actually have the number of Mariano Rivera in his career. Some players went their entire careers without even making contact against the greatest closer of all-time and much of the contact that was made resulted in a new baseball bat but not Martinez. He owned the Yankees and he owned Rivera specifically. He’s now a Hall of Fame player for the IBWAA, will he ever make it in the BBWAA? Who knows?

Looking Ahead to a Potential 2017 Hall of Fame Ballot

The 2016 Hall of Fame ballot and vote is officially in the books with Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza making their walk into Cooperstown on the BBWAA side of things. As far as the IBWAA goes we elected Piazza in 2015 allowing the Internet Baseball Writers Association of American to elect Ken Griffey Jr. and his former teammate Edgar Martinez into the hall. The 2016 vote is over but it's never too early to look towards 2017.

Here are some notable first time and holdover players that will grace the 2017 ballot:

Mike Cameron
J.D. Drew
Vladimir Guerrero
Derek Lee
Magglio Ordonez
Jorge Posada
Manny Ramirez
Edgar Renteria
Ivan Rodriguez
Jason Varitek
Tim Wakefield

I don't see any slam dunks on this list personally. I believe Vlad will get in and Posada will garner more votes than expected but that's about it. This could potentially open the flood gates of votes for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and others.

IBWAA SELECTS KEN GRIFFEY, JR. AND EDGAR MARTINEZ IN 2016 HALL OF FAME VOTE

Los Angeles – In its seventh annual Hall of Fame election, the IBWAA selected Ken Griffey, Jr. unanimously (230 votes) and Edgar Martinez, with 75.22% of the vote (173 votes). A 75% threshold is required for election.

 

Trevor Hoffman finished in third place with 70.87%, followed by Mike Mussina (68.26%), Roger Clemens (66.09%, after receiving 64.76% in 2015) and Barry Bonds (65.65%; 63.44% last year). There are 423 members in the IBWAA; 230 voted in this election.

 

The 2016 IBWAA Hall of Fame ballot compared identically to the BBWAA ballot, with the following exceptions:

 

1. Mike Piazza’s name did not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2013.

 

2. Jeff Bagwell’s name does not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2015.

 

3. Tim Raines’ name does not appear on the IBWAA ballot because he was elected by the group in 2015.

 

Per a group decision in January, 2014, the IBWAA allows members to vote for up to 15 players, instead of the previous 10, beginning with the 2015 election. In the 2016 election, 99 members voted for 10 or more candidates. Twenty-one members voted for 15 candidates. The average vote per member was 8.74.

 

Complete voting results are as follows:

 

Player Name	Votes	Percentage
Ken Griffey, Jr.	230	100.00%
Edgar Martinez	173	75.22%
Trevor Hoffman	163	70.87%
Mike Mussina	157	68.26%
Roger Clemens	152	66.09%
Barry Bonds	151	65.65%
Curt Schilling	147	63.91%
Alan Trammell	135	58.70%
Larry Walker	104	45.22%
Fred McGriff	83	36.09%
Mark McGwire	83	36.09%
Jeff Kent	78	33.91%
Lee Smith	75	32.61%
Gary Sheffield	74	32.17%
Billy Wagner	71	30.87%
Sammy Sosa	57	24.78%
Jim Edmonds	50	21.74%
Nomar Garciaparra	14	6.09%
Mike Hampton	3	1.30%
Mike Lowell	2	0.87%
Troy Glaus	2	0.87%
David Eckstein	1	0.43%
Garret Anderson	1	0.43%
Jason Kendall	1	0.43%
Luis Castillo	1	0.43%
Mark Grudzielanek	1	0.43%
Mike Sweeney	1	0.43%
Brad Ausmus	0	0.00%
Randy Winn	0	0.00%

 

Ballot tabulations by Brian Wittig & Associates.

 

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

 

In 2010, the IBWAA began voting in its own relief pitcher category, establishing the Rollie Fingers American League Relief Pitcher of the Year and the Hoyt Wilhelm National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Awards.

Among approximately 400 others, IBWAA members include Jim Bowden, Jim Caple, David Schoenfield and Mark A. Simon of ESPN.com; Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, GammonsDaily.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Orange County Register; Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com; Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com; Eno Sarris, FanGraphs; Dan Schlossberg, USA Today; Jesse Spector, Sporting News and Wendy Thurm.

 

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a yearly fee of $20, or $35 lifetime. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.

Contact:

 

Howard Cole
Founding Director, IBWAAbaseballsavvy@aol.com