Baseball Hall of Fame voting

[madducks]

Derek Jeter and Larry Walker are in. Jeter was one vote shy of being a unanimous selection. Boston writer?

Hall of Fame voting results for class of 2020 (75% needed for induction)

Player - Votes (Percent) Yearly Change (Year of Eligibility)
Derek Jeter - 396 (99.7%) –------------ (1st)
Larry Walker - 304 (76.6%) Increase 22.0% (10th)
Curt Schilling - 278 (70.0%) Increase 9.1% (8th)
Roger Clemens - 242 (61.0%) Increase 1.5% (8th)
Barry Bonds - 241 (60.7%) Increase 1.6% (8th)
Omar Vizquel - 209 (52.6%) Increase 9.8% (3rd)
Scott Rolen - 140 (35.3%) Increase 18.1% (3rd)
Billy Wagner - 126 (31.7%) Increase 15.0% (5th)
Gary Sheffield - 121 (30.5%) Increase 16.9% (6th)
Todd Helton - 116 (29.2%) Increase 12.7% (2nd)
Manny Ramirez - 112 (28.2%) Increase 5.4% (4th)
Jeff Kent - 109 (27.5%) Increase 9.4% (7th)
Andruw Jones - 77 (19.4%) Increase 11.5% (3rd)
Sammy Sosa - 55 (13.9%) Increase 5.4% (8th)
Andy Pettitte - 45 (11.3%) Increase 1.4% (2nd)
Bobby Abreu - 22 (5.5%) –------------ (1st)

[Judge Jude]

BBWAA
@officialBBWAA
·
5h
Public ballots will be released in two weeks. All voters had the option of making their ballots public or keeping them private.

..................

[not that the torch-and-pitchfork crowd will care, but if you have more than 10 players you consider worthy of induction, nothing says you can't pick 10 and leave Jeter off because he's already guaranteed election. I wouldn't agree with that, but just sayin' it would not be a breach of the HOF rules.]

[madducks]

I remember reading a few years back that some writers will not vote for a player who they think has a chance of being elected unanimously because players like Ruth, Williams, Mays, & Aaron weren't unanimous selections.

[Sour Masher]

I remember reading a few years back that some writers will not vote for a player who they think has a chance of being elected unanimously because players like Ruth, Williams, Mays, & Aaron weren't unanimous selections.

It has always been an idiotic reason. Some traditions are dumb. JJ's reason is more forgivable, but I'm still not in favor of that approach. Vote for the 10 best to your supposedly well-informed mind. Really simple.

[TranaGreg]

and everyone in mudville is rejoicing ... well, Canada, as we now have our second HoF member.

[chancellor]

Given how douchetty Jeter has been in his new role, I'd bet on a southern Florida writer torpedoing his unanimous chance.

[Pauly]

BBWAA
@officialBBWAA
·
5h
Public ballots will be released in two weeks. All voters had the option of making their ballots public or keeping them private.

..................

Im more interested in seeing who voted for JJ Putz than who didnt vote for Jeter. It would be amazing if it was the same person.

[Sour Masher]

Im more interested in seeing who voted for JJ Putz than who didnt vote for Jeter. It would be amazing if it was the same person.

Or who voted for Brad Penny.

Another yet un-discussed option for the one non-Jeter voter is that Jeter may have banged that dude's wife or daughter. He was, after all, quite the player in that way as well.

[Judge Jude]

or maybe the voter herself, and she got no gift basket?

[Sour Masher]

or maybe the voter herself, and she got no gift basket?

That would do it. It would be a rookie mistake not to send a gift basket to a HOF voter though, so I doubt it.

[chancellor]

That would do it. It would be a rookie mistake not to send a gift basket to a HOF voter though, so I doubt it.

Derek probably thought he was gift basket enough.

[revo]

Larry Walker's vote totals:

2011 BBWAA (20.3%)
2012 BBWAA (22.9%)
2013 BBWAA (21.6%)
2014 BBWAA (10.2%)
2015 BBWAA (11.8%)
2016 BBWAA (15.5%)
2017 BBWAA (21.9%)
2018 BBWAA (34.1%)
2019 BBWAA (54.6%)
2020 BBWAA (76.6%)

That's quite the change of opinion in four years!

[Judge Jude]

I think Ken Davidoff of NY Post said he was one of only two writers to choose him in all 10 years on the ballot

[Sour Masher]

The numbers were always there for Larry. What held him back was 1. Anyone from that era has the PED questions, 2. He benefited not just from Coors field, but early Coors field when the park effect was even more dramatic. A vacuum, this is overdue, but given where and when he played, I get why it took this long, and I'm not sure what changed in voters' minds.

[TS Garp]

The numbers were always there for Larry. What held him back was 1. Anyone from that era has the PED questions, 2. He benefited not just from Coors field, but early Coors field when the park effect was even more dramatic. A vacuum, this is overdue, but given where and when he played, I get why it took this long, and I'm not sure what changed in voters' minds.

There were also questions about how deserving he was based on the fact that he was injury prone (he played in more than 140 games in a season only 5 times). In general, I think the narrative around him slowly changed and people started appreciating what a dynamic all-around player he was. For what it's worth, per BR, he has more career WAR than Jeter (just barely), Roberto Alomar, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn, Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, Craig Biggio and many other Hall of Famers. The way these narratives and perceptions evolve is fascinating. It's interesting to see guys like Raines and Walker steadily pick up steam and support, whereas someone like Dick Allen hasn't. Maybe writers still hold on to questions about his attitude. He could get in via the Golden Era committee next year. We'll see.