This year’s Hall of Fame class doesn’t include any first-ballot shoo-ins, in the vein of Derek Jeter last year or Mariano Rivera the winter before. But there are still plenty of names on the ballot whose cases are worth discussing.
We asked those of our writers who vote for the Hall to share their ballots and, if they wanted, to write a few words about one particular candidate they find particularly interesting or compelling. Other writers have already weighed in, and more will be expanding their ballots into separate articles between now and the announcement of the results on Jan. 26.
Keith Law, The Athletic MLB
Full ballot: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, Gary Sheffield, Manny Ramírez, Todd Helton
Andruw Jones’ statistical case for the Hall of Fame puts him on the borderline. He has 62.7 career WAR, on the low end for Hall of Fame outfielders, with a tremendous peak but none of the longevity voters typically expect for candidates, as his last year as an above-average regular came at age 29. I have voted for him, however, for two primary reasons.
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The first is that he’s the best defensive center fielder in MLB history, and it’s not particularly close. By TotalZone, the best available metric for estimating defensive value for players prior to this century, he’s at 230 runs saved in center, 54 runs ahead of Willie Mays, in about 10,000 fewer innings played at the position. Jones was, before his knees acted up and he put on weight that cost him his range, certainly the best defensive center fielder I’ve ever seen, and remains the gold standard to whom center field prospects, including current Atlanta prospect Cristian Pache, are compared.
The second is Jones’ outsized impact on the game beyond his own play. MLB has benefited from a wave of extremely talented players from Curaçao, where Jones was born, and the neighboring island of Aruba, both of which are constituent countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Jones was the prime mover behind this explosion. Kenley Jansen, Jonathan Schoop and Ozzie Albies all credit Jones with inspiring or mentoring them as youth players or prospects, and if you watched any Little League World Series games with Curaçao involved in the years after Jones appeared in the 1996 World Series, every kid’s favorite player was … Andruw Jones. The post-Andruw player boom from Curaçao and Aruba also includes Xander Bogaerts, Didi Gregorius (born in the Netherlands but raised in Curaçao), Jurickson Profar and Jair Jurrjens, among others, and the stream of talent hasn’t stopped. One star player can influence a whole country, and in this case, Andruw Jones’ impact on MLB has gone well beyond what he did on the field for Atlanta.
Rob Biertempfel, The Athletic Pittsburgh
Full ballot: Curt Schilling, Scott Rolen
Even though I’m a small-Hall guy, checking off only two boxes is unusual. It’s my smallest ballot in 10 years as a voter.
Every year, I investigate each candidate as if it was his first time on the ballot. I’ve been a consistent Schilling voter, but last year was the first time I’d thrown my support to Rolen. As I looked into Rolen a few weeks ago, Google led me to an article on CooperstownCred.com that had arguments for and against his candidacy. It included this quote from a Hall voter: “(Rolen’s) was the final name I crossed off my list in each of the past two years. Over the course of the 2019 season, I chatted with a few players and coaches who are familiar with Rolen. I kept hearing the same thing: fantastic player, certainly Hall-worthy. A deeper dive into his numbers won me over.”
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Hmm, sounds reasonable, I thought. Then I looked at the name of that voter. It was me. As I did more research, I found no reason to disagree with the 2019 version of myself.
Dan Connolly, The Athletic Baltimore
Full ballot: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Todd Helton, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Omar Vizquel, Billy Wagner
Over the years, I’ve devised my own method to deal with the Steroid Era dilemma. I take some emphasis away from the traditional power categories and put more stock into defense and all-around play. It’s made me a “large Hall” guy, because I’ve included some players on my ballot who don’t have standout offensive numbers but could handle a bat and were outstanding with the glove.
Former Atlanta Braves (and four other teams) center fielder Andruw Jones leads that parade as one of the greatest defenders in baseball history — Willie Mays is the only other center fielder to win at least 10 Gold Gloves consecutively — who also turned in one of the best, all-around nine-year periods in recent history. From 1998 to 2007, only Barry Bonds and Alex Rodríguez posted higher WARs than Jones. He hit 26 or more homers in 10 consecutive seasons, including an MLB-leading 51 in 2005, the year he finished second in NL MVP voting behind Albert Pujols.
Jones’ production dropped off a cliff after he signed a deal with the 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers, and that’s likely the reason he’s left off so many ballots. But in his first decade as a big leaguer — and that’s a significant period of time, in my opinion — Jones was clearly one of baseball’s best sluggers while having few equals, if any, at a premium defensive position. It’s about time defense gets more love in Cooperstown, and Jones should be one of the primary recipients.
After years of being a staunch supporter of Omar Vizquel’s Hall of Fame candidacy, I am now exceptionally conflicted, given the allegations of spousal abuse that have been reported. Hall of Fame induction is primarily about baseball credentials for me, and on the field, I believe his defensive prowess eclipsed any offensive shortcomings he had. Still, I try to take in as much information as I can about a player and weigh everything together. With hesitation, I chose to keep Vizquel on my ballot this year, but I certainly will revisit that next year, when hopefully additional information will be available.
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Matt Gelb, The Athletic Philadelphia
Full ballot: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa
The longer Rolen stays on the ballot, the more his case should gain momentum. Third base is an underrepresented position in the Hall of Fame, and while that alone is not enough to anoint Rolen, the entire picture of his career is. The end was marred by injuries, but the first eight seasons were underappreciated. Rolen, over his first eight seasons, was Nolan Arenado but better. Was he as flashy? No. Did he ever possess a Hall of Fame aura? No. But compare him by any metric to Hall of Fame third basemen as well as those who just missed the cut, and Rolen emerges as someone who should represent the bar for what it is to be an all-time great at the position.
Dan Hayes, The Athletic Minnesota
Full ballot: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Billy Wagner
At some point, if you’ve scanned the Twitter feeds or the opinions of most writers included here, you’ve seen a rant about the Hall of Fame’s arcane Rule of 10. The rule, which limits voters to selecting 10 candidates in a single year, has led to players who deserve a longer Hall of Fame conversation winding up as a one-and-done, and many other difficult decisions.
Consider: This is my fifth time voting and it’s the first time Sammy Sosa is on my ballot. Sosa is a Hall of Famer to me. But when I first voted for the 2017 class, he was far down my list of worthy HOF eligible players because of a backlog of more deserving candidates.
No more.
Over the last four years the BBWAA has voted in 13 players, including three in their final year of eligibility. But it’s hard to see Sosa, who has one more try after this, making the same type of leap as Larry Walker and that’s unfortunate.
Chad Jennings, The Athletic Boston
Full ballot: Bobby Abreu, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Billy Wagner
There’s comfort in being a small piece of a big puzzle. It means my vote is not precious. It’s an honor and a responsibility, to be sure, but it’s OK to be conflicted. Uncertainty comes with the territory, and it takes hundreds of imperfect opinions to elect someone to the Hall of Fame.
And so, I placed my final X next to Abreu’s name. I didn’t expect it when the process began — I feel far more conviction about Jones, Rolen and Sosa — but Abreu was a player of his era who we learned to appreciate in real time. His numbers compare favorably to Dave Winfield and even Tony Gwynn, players who felt more like Hall of Famers than Abreu ever did.
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Does that mean Abreu absolutely belongs? Of course not. But there are few can’t-miss selections — especially in these murky waters of steroids and whatever Schilling has going on — but I’ve been to Cooperstown and stood among those plaques. Abreu would not be out of place in my experience of the Hall of Fame, and if 300 of my peers one day agree with me, he’ll take his rightful place there.
Tim Kawakami, The Athletic Bay Area
Full ballot: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield
I voted for Gary Sheffield because I wish I could’ve voted for Keith Hernandez back when he was eligible (and topped out at 10.4 percent of the vote). I voted for Sheffield because if you put Hernandez’s defensive dominance and 128 career OPS+ up against Curt Schilling and Omar Vizquel, I think Hernandez stands out as a big HOF miss. And we might look at Sheffield that way in future years, when he’s off the ballot and guys like Adrían González and Joe Mauer get pushes.
Sheffield’s career 80.8 oWAR is higher than Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell (74.8) and Edgar Martínez (68.4), and much higher than current-or-future class comparables Jeff Kent (60.1) and David Ortíz (56.7).
Also, come on: Sheffield’s career 140 OPS+ is higher than Ken Griffey Jr. (136).
Yes, Sheffield had some BALCO ties, but he never tested positive for PEDs that I know of, we don’t know how many players used PEDs and I don’t believe PEDs are what made Sheffield good.
He certainly was one of the greatest hitters of his time. Maybe one of the best of any time.
David O’Brien, The Athletic Atlanta
Full ballot: Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Billy Wagner
Why should fifth-time candidate Billy Wagner already be in the Hall of Fame? Start with this: Among relievers who pitched at least 750 innings, his 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings, .187 opponents’ batting average and 0.998 WHIP are the best in history. Yes, better even than the great Mariano Rivera (1.000 WHIP), who in 2019 became the first unanimous HOF selection. Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, elected in 2018 in his third year on the ballot, pitched into their early 40s and retired as the all-time saves leaders. Rivera had 652 saves in 19 seasons, plus 42 in his remarkable postseason career, and Hoffman had 601 in 18 seasons. Wagner retired at age 39 after 422 saves in 15 seasons. His 903 innings would be the fewest of any Hall of Famer. Notwithstanding Hoffman’s advantage in saves and 186 1/3 more innings, Wagner was a significantly more dominant pitcher, with a fastball that still touched 100 mph late in his career. Besides, 1,000 innings won’t be any sort of unofficial Hall of Fame minimum much longer, the way modern relievers are used. Consider Aroldis Chapman, 32, would need six more seasons at the rate he pitched during 2011-2019 just to approach 900 innings and surpass Wagner’s saves total.
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C. Trent Rosecrans, The Athletic Cincinnati
Full ballot: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Manny Ramírez, Scott Rolen, Gary Sheffield
I’ve had many Hall of Fame discussions in my life — heck, I’ve had many Hall of Fame discussions in the last 12 hours — and I’ll never, ever say anything to try to persuade someone to come to my side and vote for Manny Ramírez. He failed two PED tests after MLB instituted testing. These weren’t rumors, these weren’t blind tests, these aren’t suspicions, these are failed tests with suspensions.
That said, man, could Ramírez hit. He was a savant at the plate. One of my favorite things to do as a beat writer was listen to Bronson Arroyo tell Manny Ramírez stories. The only thing better than a Manny story was a Manny at-bat. There was never a doubt when Ramírez was at the plate that he was one of the best hitters in the game.
So, yes, he failed two tests. He also paid his price for those failed tests, and neither ban was a lifetime ban. I can respect differences of opinion, but mine is that he was one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen and he’d be among peers in Cooperstown.
Mark Saxon, The Athletic St. Louis
Full ballot: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, Manny Ramírez, Scott Rolen, Omar Vizquel*
I’ve long been a proponent that the best players at their position make the Hall of Fame. That’s why I believe Keith Hernandez, arguably the greatest-fielding first baseman ever, should be in, and why I vote every year for Jeff Kent, arguably the best-hitting second baseman of all time. So, this year, I changed gears and voted for Scott Rolen. While I believe his offensive output, particularly in the era he competed in, is borderline for the highest honor the sport endows, his career WAR (70.1) outperforms the average HOF third baseman in an underrepresented position. A brilliant fielder with well-above-average offense, Rolen’s total package warrants Cooperstown inclusion. It’s taken me a while to get here and an otherwise fairly weak class gave me the opportunity to broaden my voting approach. Happy New Year.
(Note: I filled out my ballot and voted for Vizquel before the publication of The Athletic’s story about domestic violence allegations against him.)
(Top photo of Rolen: G. N. Lowrance / Getty Images)