By Richard Cuicchi | January 21, 2024 at 09:56 PM EST |
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The official results of the Baseball Hall of Fame voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will be announced on January 23.
You might recall on December 31 that I posted my (unofficial) votes for the 2024 class of the Baseball Hall of Fame, as a member of the Internet Baseball Writers’ Association of America. IBWAA members were asked to submit up to 12 names on their ballot.
Here are the top 12 players who received the highest percentage of votes by the IBWAA. (Per the Hall of Fame rules, players must receive a minimum of 75% of the votes to be elected.) I submitted only nine names on my ballot, which are marked by an asterisk below.
**Adrian Beltre (94%)
**Todd Helton (75%)
Joe Mauer (73%)
**Billy Wagner (73%)
**Andruw Jones (68%)
**Gary Sheffield (65%)
**Alex Rodriguez (60%)
**Manny Ramirez (58%)
**Carlos Beltran (52%)
Chase Utley (37%)
Bobby Abreu (32%)
Andy Pettitte (28%)
I also voted for Omar Vizquel (11-year Gold Glove shortstop) who received only 11% of the IBWAA votes. I believe his alleged off-the-field indiscretions have negatively affected the voters’ opinions of him.
The other major difference in my votes, versus the entire membership’s, is Joe Mauer, whom I left off my ballot. My rationale was, out of his 15 major league seasons, only six years were All-Star-caliber seasons. Is that enough for Hall-worthiness? It’s true, he won 3 batting titles, but what about all those analysts who now say batting average isn’t a relevant statistic? Mauer’s career stats were indeed impressive, including .306/.388/.439 slash line, 55.2 WAR, 127 OPS+, and four years with Top 8 MVP votes (including one MVP first-place finish).
But here are equally impressive stats for another 15-year major leaguer who has NOT been elected: .303/.384/.497 slash line, 56.5 WAR, 137 OPS+, six years as an All-Star, and four years with Top 5 MVP votes (with one second-place finish). Who is the player? Will Clark!
I suppose one could make a case for or against the merits of any two players. I’m just bummed out that Clark, my favorite player, didn’t get in.
Baseball Hall of Fame tracker Ryan Thibodaux compiles the official votes from BBWAA writers that make their ballot publicly available. With roughly 50 % of the ballots available, Thibodaux calculates that Beltre (98.8%), Mauer (84.2%), Helton (83.2%), and Wagner (79.9%) are the most likely inductees. He has Sheffield (74.5%) and Jones (71.2%) on the cusp of the minimum 75% required.
Look for the official results on Tuesday.