My Mock 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

by Julian Spivey
*portions of this article were previously published

I’m obviously not a part of the BBWA (Baseball Writers Association of America) that has the opportunity to fill out a ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame. But every year I like to fill out a mock ballot of which players I would vote for if I did have a real ballot. I don’t understand how there are members of the BBWA who aren’t filling out 10 spots on their ballot recently. There are so many worthy players on the ballot now that I had to leave some players that I think are worthy of the hall off my ballot. And, I’ll come right out and say if you’re looking for players like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens on my ballot, I will never include players we know to have used performance enhancing drugs.
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Fred McGriff
I’ve contended for years that Fred McGriff is the most screwed player from baseball’s steroid era. McGriff didn’t use PEDs, which makes his terrific offensive numbers not as impressive as the astronomical numbers of those who did. And, while the BBWA punished players (rightfully so) who did use PEDs they fail to consider that numbers like the ones McGriff compiled over his career (493 homers, 1,550 RBI, .284 average) would’ve gotten him into the hall of fame had he played in any other era. It’s clear McGriff is going to fall off the ballot, as this is his final year, and that’s a travesty. But I have high hopes that the veterans committee will one day elect him to Cooperstown, which seems incredibly likely after the shocking election of Harold Baines.

Edgar Martinez
The BBWA continues to show that they don’t believe designated hitters belong in the hall of fame and that’s wrong. I’m not a fan of the DH. I wish baseball had never allowed it and wish they would abolish it, but I’m not going to let my feelings toward the DH keep one of the best pure hitters of his era out of the hall of fame. I do believe Martinez is a borderline hall of famer, but he’ll appear on my ballot, nonetheless. A .312 career average with two batting titles, 1,200-plus RBI and more than 2,000 career hits is enough for me. It looks like there’s a great chance Martinez will indeed make the hall in this his final year on the ballot.

Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in baseball history and one of the most dominant pitchers the game has ever seen. With an MLB record 652 saves, which is 51 more than the next closest reliever, Rivera is an obvious lock for the hall of fame in his first year on the ballot.

Roy Halladay
Some people view Roy Halladay, who sadly lost his life in an airplane crash in 2017 at only 40 years old, as a borderline hall of famer, but he was arguably the most dominant starting pitcher of the ‘00s and that should be plenty to make him a hall of famer. Whether or not he’ll make it posthumously on the first ballot is to be seen, but with a career record of 203-105 and ERA of 3.38 it should be a no-brainer.  

Mike Mussina
Mike Mussina never won a Cy Young Award, given to a league’s best pitcher, and I believe it’s the one thing that’s keeping him out of the hall of fame thus far. I don’t believe that’s right. There’s only so many Cy Young and MVP awards to go around and Mussina pitched in the same league as Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez for his career. Mussina’s 270-153 career record and 3.68 ERA are good enough for me, not to forget he’s one of the best defensive players ever at his position with seven Gold Gloves.

Jeff Kent
Jeff Kent has more home runs than any second baseman in the history of Major League Baseball. He hit 377 in his career. Kent also had a very good .290 career batting average and almost 2,500 career hits. He also won the 2000 National League MVP and was a five-time all-star. For the second base position these seem like obvious hall of fame numbers. Yet, he’s never come close to being inducted in many years on the ballot. Why? The era he played in. People just don’t trust that he did it clean, especially because his career seemed to get off to a slow start and he didn’t really become the slugger he did until he teamed with notorious PED user Barry Bonds in San Francisco. But, I’m a fan of innocent until proven guilty and there just isn’t enough for me to keep Kent out of Cooperstown.

Larry Walker
This is Larry Walker’s second to last year on the hall of fame ballot and I don’t believe I’ve ever included him on my mock ballot, but some of the sabermetric guys have finally gotten me to believe in his candidacy. His career WAR (wins above replacement) is fifth highest of anybody on the ballot (and third highest of non-PED users) and his .313 batting average, even with a bulk of his career coming at hitter friendly Coors Field is impressive enough.

Todd Helton and Lance Berkman
Todd Helton and Lance Berkman are similar career hitters who though I watched their entire careers I wouldn’t say with 100 percent certainty that I believe are obvious hall of fame locks, but with each on their first year on the ballot and it being another stacked year for voters I worry about one or the other potentially not getting the five percent of the vote they need to remain on the ballot for future looks. I don’t want to see what happened to Carlos Delgado happen to either of these guys – I don’t believe it will – but just in case.

Andruw Jones
I’m not 100 percent sure that I believe Andruw Jones is a hall of famer. He might be one of those guys that falls more into the “very good” instead of “legendary” category. But I don’t believe he should fall off the hall of fame ballot, and I believe there’s a chance he could after receiving just 7.3 percent of the vote (you need at least five percent to remain on the ballot). That’s why I would use a spot for him over say Curt Schilling who won’t fall off the ballot. Jones has some offensive numbers that say “yeah, put him in the hall,” but mostly should be considered for the hall of fame because he’s of the greatest defensive players to ever play the game. Jones won 10 gold gloves in center field and is one of only six outfielders to win 10 or more Gold Gloves (the other five are either in the hall or will be).

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