I’m back. My apologies, college is a bitch between papers, finals prep, and Fortnite. The 2019 MLB HOF ballot has been out for a while now and I think I’m finally ready to submit my *un*official ballot. So who am I checking off? Let’s find out..!

 

Mariano Rivera

Do I even need to explain myself on this one? He’s Mariano, he’s Mo, he’s 42, he’s the GOAT. I can tell you that his 652 saves are the most all time by over 100 saves, or that his 42 postseason saves is also a MLB record, hell, I can even say that more men have walked on the moon than have scored against this man in the postseason, but do I need to? This man is the greatest closer this game has ever seen. If you had every single closer in history, you’d have 5 categories: Bad, Good, All-Star, Hall of Fame, Mariano. He was THAT good. No one in history even comes close. I personally don’t think he will be the first Unanimous Hall of Famer, although he deserves it, at least one moron will leave him off for one reason or another, but not me. He’s earned my check.

 

Edgar Martinez

10th year’s the charm. He came 20 votes short last year. TWENTY. Let me start by saying this, if he doesn’t get in, I will have lost all faith in the BBWAA and I don’t think I’ll ever trust them again. The biggest blow against Martinez? He was primarily a DH. Why they held that against him? IDK. Let’s play a game real quick. Pretend you don’t know who I’m talking about, just look at this next line and tell me if you think it’s a HOFer.                         .312 batting average, 309 homers, 1261 RBI, 514 doubles, and a .418 on base percentage. Yeah, you read it right, a .418 OBP. That would be 13th best all time among HOFers. HOFer? Yes. Yes, he was a DH, but when he retired he was the best damn DH this league has ever seen. (David Ortiz probably beats him and yes I hate myself for typing that. #BuckFoston.) Bottom line is, Martinez deserves to be in the Hall, and I have faith that this year is THE year. He probably should’ve gotten the call a few years ago, but hey, better late than never I guess.

 

Roy Halladay

First off, Rest in peace Doc. Second off, this is one that if he doesn’t make it this year, I’d be okay with it considering it’s his first year on the ballot, but Halladay should be a HOFer one day. When he was in his prime, he was the best in the business. By far. He was unhittable. (Twice literally!) May 29th 2010 when he tossed the 20th perfect game in MLB history. Then a few months later, on the 6th of October of that year, Halladay threw just the 2nd no-hitter in postseason history, (Don Larson WS perfect game 1956). Doc was an 8x all-star, a 2x Cy Young winner, and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting twice. Every single pitcher in MLB history with 200 wins and 2 Cy Young awards is in the HOF, with the exception of Roger Clemens but that’s for other reasons. Along with his 2 top place finishes, Halladay also finished 2nd twice, 3rd once, and 5th two more times in Cy Young voting. From 2001 to 201 Halladay compiled a 58.7 WAR, nearly 10 wins higher than the next closest, CC Sabathia. When in his prime, the Doc was the best. Some may just look at 203 wins and say that isn’t enough, but his Cy Young finishes and very strong peak years will be good enough to earn him a spot in Cooperstown.

 

Mike Mussina

On his first ballot in 2014 Mussina only received a bit over 20% of the vote. (75% is needed to be inducted.) The good news for Mussina is he has seen that number rise every year. ’15- 24.6% ’16- 43% ’17- 51.8% ’18- 63.5% Last years mark was the 6th highest among the men on the ballot, 4 of the 5 above him are in the Hall, and the other is the before mentioned, Edgar Martinez. Mussina getting into Cooperstown has slowly turned into a “when” thing instead of an “if” thing. And that’s good. Because he deserves to be in Cooperstown. Moose spent 18 years in the majors, from 1991-2008. He was with the Baltimore Orioles until 2001 where he found himself in pinstripes for the final 8 years of his career. Ask yourself, what do the Yankees and Orioles have in common? That’s right! They both play in the AL east. So for 18 years, through the ‘roid era, this man pitched in the AL east and had a career ERA of 3.68. Okay yes, that doesn’t necessarily jump off the page when you look at it, but that was in the AL east during the time of offenses dominating. Mussina has 270 career wins, that’s 33rd all time, and his 2,813 strikeouts is 20th all time. Mussina also earned 7 gold gloves in his career, that’s 5th all time among pitchers. (Ok I know that doesn’t make you a HOFer but I liked the stat.) Okay speaking of stats I like, let’s talk WAR. His career pitching WAR is 82.9, good for 23rd all time. Of the 22 in front of him, 21 are in Cooperstown, the 1 outcast? Roger Clemens, who again, we know why he’s not there. Mussina also has a career WAR of 83.0, 58th all time. You think 58 is low? 57th all time is Ken Griffey JR with 83.8, and right behind Mussina at 59th all time is some guy named Nolan Ryan who’s career WAR is 81.8. Mussina deserves to be put in Cooperstown and as I mentioned I believe this is a when, not if, kind of deal. The only question I have is what hat is he going to wear on his plaque?

 

Fred McGriff

Yes. I’m voting for Fred McGriff. His 10th year on the ballot along with Martinez. Unfortunately for him, he’s no where as close to 75% as Edgar is. McGriff’s highest percentage was back in 2012 when he received 23.9% of the vote. Like I said, not even close. McGriff finished a 19 year career with a .284 batting average and 493 home runs, tied with Lou Gehrig for 28th all time. McGriff also had 2,490 hits in his career. To me, I believe that if McGriff had 500 homers and 2,500 hits, then he receives a lot more love on the ballots and maybe even gets in. Playing from 1986-2004, you might guess that he used steroids somewhere along the line. Wrong. Never, not once, he did it the right way. He was 7 home runs, and 10 hits shy off 500/2,500, if the 1994 season isn’t shortened, he gets there, and probably gets in the Hall. In his peak years, age 24-30 in 1988 through ’94, McGriff was one of the most dominant forces with a bat. During those years he hit .288/.390/.545 and averaged 148 games played, with 35 homers and 95 RBI. During the postseason McGriff elevated his game even more. His slash line in 50 career playoff games is .303/.385/.532 with 10 homers and 37 RBI. The sad thing about McGriff is he probably won’t get in, all because of 10 hits and 7 homers. If it makes him feel any better, tell him I would vote for him.

 

Each voter gets 10 votes, and some people believe that every voter should use all 10 votes, but I’m only gonna use 1/2 of my votes. The only people left on the ballot I’d consider all have PEDs linked to them, and until they tell me that they’ll have an asterisk on their plaque, they do not get my vote. So that’s my ballot, what’s yours? Let me know!