Anniversaries and Ballots

Today, January 22nd is a big day in the baseball world. It's the day the Baseball Hall of Fame announces the enshrinement class of 2019. The ballots from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) have all been tabulated and those players who have garnered a minimum of 75% of the votes will be headed to Cooperstown, NY this summer.

Back to that in one moment, but first...

This past December marked the 13th anniversary of the "My Pinstripes" blog. Once glance will show that I have not done much posting on here over the last few years due to the time I have spent writing for "Bronx Pinstripes".

The plan going forward is to continue to post at My Pinstripes here and there, hopefully in a new WordPress format. Blogger is not what it used to be. And, of course, I will continue at Bronx Pinstripes.

Now back to the ballot.

It didn't take long for controversy to start with this year's voting. One member of the BBWAA revealed that he had left Mariano Rivera off his ballot. He also didn't turn his ballot as to not be the one to keep Rivera from possibly being the first player to be on 100% of the ballots turned in (said writer will not get his name mentioned here since his whole premise was ridiculous).

I've noticed many of the writers voting for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, especially the former, but I still do not believe they should have the privilege of entering the Hall.

Fred McGriff must be voted in today or this whole thing is a farce. If not for the 1994 work stoppage, McGriff would have hit 500 home run (he finished with 493) and would have been an automatic to enter.

Mike Mussina won 270 games. It doesn't matter that he has no rings, that he won only 20 games once in his career, etc. He pitched in the toughest division in baseball his entire career. He also would have had that ring if not for Rivera's rare World Series meltdown in the 7th game in 2001.

Andy Pettitte will not get into the Hall because of his admitted PED use. His numbers might have been iffy anyway, but now we'll never know.

Edgar Martinez is one of the best pure hitters of all-time. But, because most of his time was at DH he has been overlooked. That might change this year.

If I had a vote, my ballot would include:

Mariano Rivera (1st time on ballot)
Roy Halladay (1st time on ballot)
Fred McGriff
Mike Mussina
Edgar Martinez
Jeff Kent
Larry Walker

I'm still not sure on Walker, especially since Todd Helton has similar numbers. However, Helton's entire career was spent in hitter-friendly Colorado, while Walker's was not. It will still be tough for Walker to make it since this is his last shot (10th time on ballot) and he only received 34% of the vote last year.

As for Kent, compare his numbers to other second basemen, not just other players and you will see why deserves to be selected.

The announcement will be at 6 pm EST this evening, with the MLB Network talking (way too long) about it beginning at 3 pm EST.