Feinsand: Explaining my 2024 Hall of Fame ballot
Mark Feinsand
@feinsandIt’s the most wonderful time of the year.
No, not the holiday season, though that’s pretty great, too. I’m talking about Baseball Hall of Fame voting season, when baseball writers around the country obsess over a single piece of paper, tasked with the job of deciding who is and isn’t worthy of a spot in Cooperstown.
This year marked the eighth time I have filled out a ballot for the Hall of Fame, an honor that never gets old. My first seven ballots have included votes for 14 players who went on to be inducted, including Scott Rolen just a year ago.
I have typically voted for 10 players each year, often leaving a name or two off because of the Hall’s rule that limits voters to only 10 players. This year, I removed Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez from my ballot, not because of their involvement with performance enhancing drugs (I have voted for players associated with PEDs in the past, including both of them), but because I found myself with more than 10 players I wanted to vote for and neither A-Rod nor Manny appear to be anywhere close to getting in. They were essentially wasted votes that I felt would be better served going to other players.
Here’s a look at my 2024 Hall of Fame ballot with some thoughts on the 10 players I voted for:
(Players listed alphabetically)
Beltrán was a five-tool talent who excelled in every aspect of the game, using his power, speed and smarts to thrive on the field during his 20-year career.
He won the 1999 American League Rookie of the Year award, made nine All-Star teams, won three Gold Gloves and posted an .837 OPS with 435 home runs, 1,587 RBIs, 312 stolen bases and 2,725 hits, playing most of his career with the Royals and Mets. His 86.4% stolen base success rate is the best in history for players with at least 200 attempts, and his 70.1 bWAR ranks eighth among all center fielders in history.
Beltrán was one of the smartest players I have ever covered during my two-plus decades in this job, and while his involvement with the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal played a part in his vote total last year (46.5%), I’m hoping that voters consider that first-ballot snub as enough of a penalty for Beltrán, who should be in the Hall.
This is Beltré’s first year on the ballot, and although it’s unlikely that he will be unanimous, I can’t imagine any voter looking at this ballot and not checking the third baseman’s name.
The résumé speaks for itself: 3,166 hits, 477 home runs, 1,707 RBIs, a .286/.339/.480 slash line, two top-3 MVP finishes (NL 2004, AL 2012), five Gold Gloves, and four All-Star appearances (all of which came after the age of 30).
Beltré became the first Dominican-born player to reach the 3,000-hit milestone, and his 93.5 bWAR is far superior to the average Hall of Fame third baseman. He ranks first among all third basemen in hits, third in home runs and third in bWAR, trailing only Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews.
Beltré is one of only 12 players in history with both 3,000 hits and 400 homers; aside from players associated with PEDs (Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro), the other nine are either in the Hall (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr., Dave Winfield, Carl Yastrzemski) or have yet to become eligible (Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols).
Okay, enough stats; I took more time looking things up for this column than I did to decide to vote for him. Beltré is a Hall of Famer, and will be a lock to hear his name called next month when results are announced.
I hadn’t voted for Buehrle in any of his first three years on the ballot, but that admittedly had more to do with the 10-player limit than my feelings about the left-hander’s career.
Buehrle’s career was eerily similar to that of Andy Pettitte, whose name has been checked off in each of my past three ballots. The biggest difference between the two was Pettitte’s postseason success, which came largely as a result of more opportunities to pitch in October.
Buehrle compiled a 59.1 bWAR (Pettitte’s was 60.2) and had a 214-160 record with a 3.81 ERA over 3,283 1/3 innings in 518 games (493 starts). He did reach the postseason three times, helping the White Sox break their 88-year championship drought in 2005, also earning three All-Star selections.
Buehrle wasn’t overpowering, evidenced by his 1,870 strikeouts, but he used a wide arsenal of pitches to work deep in games on a regular basis, topping the 200-inning mark in each season between 2001-2014. He retired at the age of 36, preventing him from adding to his career win total.
I fully understand why some voters shy away from Buehrle, but having been a Pettitte voter myself, I think Buehrle has a compelling case and should continue to stay on the ballot for further examination.
Helton has been hurt by the fact that he played his entire career with the Rockies, giving him 81 home games a year at hitter-friendly Coors Field. And while his numbers at home (1.048 OPS) were far greater than those away from Colorado (.855), Helton was one of the most underrated great hitters of his era.
He hit 369 home runs with 1,406 RBIs, a .316/.414/.539 slash line (.953 OPS), a 133 OPS+ and 61.8 bWAR. Helton earned five All-Star appearances, won three Gold Gloves and captured the 2000 slash line triple crown, showing himself as more than just a product of the Coors Field effect.
Perhaps most impressive was his plate discipline; Helton walked more than he struck out during his career, posting an on-base percentage of .400 or better nine times in 10 seasons between 2000-09, good for a .436 OBP during that decade.
Larry Walker’s induction into the Hall in 2020 might have helped pave the way for Helton to do the same. He reached the 72.2% mark in last year’s vote, putting him in position to get inducted this year.
There are players whose careers were consistently excellent, allowing them to compile round-number milestones that help them earn election into the Hall of Fame. There are others whose prime years were so overwhelmingly great, that even if they were unable to replicate them during the back half of their careers, their peak was simply too good to overlook.
Jones falls into the latter category. Following a 31-game cameo in 1996, Jones had a tremendous run from 1997-2006, hitting 337 home runs with 1,010 RBIs and an .853 OPS.
He also won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves in center field, earned five All-Star selections and helped the Braves reach two World Series. Jones had 1,556 hits through his age-29 season (2006), and appeared to be on a sure-fire Hall of Fame track.
Jones had a solid year with the Braves in 2007, but his career fell off a cliff after he left Atlanta. Playing only 435 games for four teams between 2008-12, Jones hit .210 with a .740 OPS, 66 home runs and 172 RBIs, battling injuries and inconsistency. Those years -- which ended with him retiring at age 35 -- prevented him from reaching the 2,000-hit mark, as he finished with 1,933.
Still, Jones amassed 434 home runs with 1,289 RBIs and a 62.7 bWAR, doing the bulk of that damage during his incredible prime. That decade-long run of excellence was enough for me to add him to my crowded ballot in 2021, where he remains this year.
I voted for Pudge Rodriguez in 2017 -- my first year as a voter -- and haven’t had a catcher on my ballot since. That ended this year with Mauer, who was one of the best all-around catchers -- and players -- in the game during his prime.
Injuries cost Mauer some years on the back end of his career and forced a move to first base, but during his first eight or nine years in the Majors, he was the best all-around catcher in the game.
Mauer posted a .323/.406/.466 career slash line between 2005-13, earning six All-Star selections, three Gold Gloves and the 2009 AL MVP award. In that MVP season, he won the slash line triple crown (.365/.444/.587), winning one of three career batting titles in the process. He was also an excellent defender behind the plate, part of what helped him compile a 55.2 bWAR.
Catchers have been largely overlooked by Hall voters for years, though Mauer could buck that trend now that he’s on the ballot. Like Jones, this is another case of a player whose prime was too good to ignore.
Pettitte might be the opposite of a “peak” player, putting together a lengthy career that saw him pitch more important games for the Yankees than anybody else.
The lefty went 256-153, finishing more than 100 games over .500 for his career. The only pitchers to accomplish that and not get into the Hall are Pettitte and Roger Clemens, whose PED suspicion is the reason he hasn’t been enshrined. Pettitte, too, has some PED stain, having admitted to briefly using HGH to help him return from an injury. Some voters will disqualify him for that; I am not one of those voters.
Pettitte was never the best pitcher in his league, though to be fair, he pitched in an era with the likes of Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina, the latter three of whom are in the Hall. Pettitte finished in the top six in Cy Young Award voting five times during his career.
Then there’s the postseason, where Pettitte played an integral role in five World Series titles and eight league pennants (seven with the Yankees, one with the Astros). He holds the postseason records for starts, wins and innings pitched, and having covered the majority of his Yankees career, there was nobody else his teammates wanted on the mound in a big game. He started 12 potential postseason series clinchers for the Yankees, who won eight of those games -- including all three in 2009.
Many consider Pettitte to be a borderline candidate for the Hall, which is completely fair. I lean toward the “yes” side of that borderline.
Simply put, Sheffield was one of the most dangerous and fearsome hitters I have ever watched.
He hit 509 home runs, including eight seasons with 30-plus and six more with at least 20. Sheffield won a batting title with the Padres in 1992, helped the Marlins win the 1997 World Series, made nine All-Star teams between 1992-2005, and kept things interesting wherever he went -- he played for eight clubs during his 22 seasons.
Sheffield’s involvement with the BALCO scandal is likely what has kept him out of the Hall, but as a voter who is open to including players associated with PEDs on my ballot, I have never for one moment considered leaving Sheffield off.
Utley didn’t have a lot of the big, round-number milestones that many Hall voters like to see, but he was one of those players that you grew to appreciate every time you watched him play.
That’s not to say his numbers were bad. Utley hit 259 home runs with 1,025 RBIs, a career .275/.358/.465 slash line (.823 OPS), 1,885 hits and a 64.5 bWAR. But when you watched Utley play, he was a difference-maker, whether it was his superb defense at second base, his outstanding baserunning or his ability to put together a solid at-bat at the right time.
Utley was a key cog on some really good Phillies teams, including the 2008 World Series championship club and the 2009 team that won a second straight NL pennant. His career numbers might not look Hall-worthy, but as I mentioned earlier, I’m more of a “peak” guy, looking at how a player measured up during the prime of his career.
Utley played 16 years, though his seven-year stretch from 2005-11 saw him hit 173 home runs with 616 RBIs, 104 stolen bases, an .896 OPS, a 131 OPS+ and 49.3 bWAR. During that time, I felt like I was watching a future Hall of Famer, so including him on my ballot made sense to me.
I will admit, it took me some time to vote for Wagner, who was left off of my first six Hall of Fame ballots. It wasn’t that I didn’t recognize Wagner’s greatness, but with the likes of Barry Bonds, Clemens and Jeff Kent occupying spots on my ballot year after year, I had to make some choices about which players I would leave off.
Wagner finally got my vote for the first time last year, becoming only the second reliever I have ever voted for. (Given that Mariano Rivera was a unanimous selection, he is obviously the other.) Wagner’s longevity didn’t match that of Rivera or Trevor Hoffman, but during his 903 career innings, he was as dominant as any reliever we’ve seen.
Among pitchers with at least 900 innings pitched, Wagner ranks first in opponent batting average (.187), strikeouts per nine innings (11.92) and hits per nine innings (5.99). He also ranks second in WHIP (0.997) and opponents OPS (.558), trailing only Rivera in those categories.
Closers are a tough one for me, in general. Wagner’s relatively low innings total were always an issue for me, but he excelled at his job, earned seven All-Star selections and helped his team reach the postseason seven times in 15 full seasons. He’s not Rivera, but that’s not the standard a closer needs to be in the Hall. Wagner had a Hall-of-Fame career.