Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot: FanSided’s SoDo Mojo

Bobby Abreu

Career Accomplishments:  

.291/.395/.475, 288 HR, 1,363 RBI, 400 SB

2x All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, HR Derby Champ

Chris: If I could vote for an 11th, it would be Abreu. Great power/speed combo, and he averaged 20 HR/28 SB with a .295/.399/.484 slash line over a 14 year period.

Vote: No

Connor: Bobby Abreu obviously put up some excellent career numbers, but without much award recognition or a solid postseason resume, I can’t vote for Abreu over any of the other candidates on this year’s ballot.

Vote: No

Barry Bonds

Career Accomplishments:  

.298/.444/.607, 762 HR, 1,996 RBI, 514 SB

7x MVP, 14x All-Star, 8x Gold Glove, 12x Silver Slugger, 2x Batting Title, HR Derby Champ

Chris: Bonds was on track to be one of the greatest players ever. We all know what happened after that.

Vote: No

Connor: The true shame about Barry Bonds’s legacy is that he most likely could have been an all-time great even if he hadn’t chosen to use steroids. The athleticism, the bat speed, and the contact skills were all there, but his unbelievable improvement after his PED usage began makes it impossible to know how his career really would have panned out.

From 1986-1997 (Bonds mentioned 1998 to be the first year of his PED usage in his sworn testimony), Bonds put together seven All-Star appearances and won three MVPs, seven Gold Gloves, and seven Silver Sluggers. That 12-year run itself is a Hall of Fame career in my book, BUT, since PED testing was not common before 1998, there’s just no way to know if that truly was his first year of cheating.

Vote: No

Mark Buehrle

Career Accomplishments:  

214-160, 3.81 ERA, 1,870 K

5x All-Star, 4x Gold Glove, World Series Champ

Chris: Quick worker and an innings eater. Amazing to watch. Was consistently quite good, but not quite Hall of Fame good. Maybe time to reflect will change that.

Vote: No

Connor: Buehrle was remarkably consistent throughout his 16-year career, but he was never a true ace. I believe every player in the Hall of Fame should have at least one run of dominance in their career to prove their elite status.

Vote: No

Carl Crawford

Career Accomplishments:  

.290/.330/.435, 136 HR, 766 RBI, 480 SB

4x All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, All-Star Game MVP

Chris: Nah.

Vote: No

Connor: Crawford was stellar in his first nine seasons in Tampa Bay (all seven of his awards came in that span), but he became a mostly average player after that run.

Vote: No

Roger Clemens

Career Accomplishments:

354-184, 3.12 ERA, 4,672 K

MVP, 7x Cy Young, 11x All-Star, 2x World Series Champ, 2x Pitching Triple Crown, 7x ERA Title, All-Star Game MVP

Chris: The on-field attitude and rumors is enough to keep him off my ballot.

Vote: No

Connor: Mentioned 82 times in the Mitchell Report; never once admitted to steroid use. Multiple marital affairs. Requested (and received) special treatment from the Astros and Yankees in the late part of his career to not travel with the team on road trips if he wasn’t scheduled to pitch. Overall, Clemens was just an awful representative of the game of baseball, and not deserving of the Hall.

Vote: No

Prince Fielder

Career Accomplishments:

.283/.382/.506, 319 HR, 1,028 RBI

6x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger, 2x HR Derby Champ, All-Star Game MVP

Chris: Anybody with less than a 40 career WAR shouldn’t even be on the ballot.

Vote: No

Connor: Prince was fun, but fun doesn’t make the Hall of Fame.

Vote: No

Todd Helton

Career Accomplishments:

.316/.414/.539, 369 HR, 1,406 RBI

5x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove, 4x Silver Slugger, Batting Title

Chris: The guy straight raked. From 1998-2007, he hit .333/.432/.585 WITH 298 HR. He’s my first guy in.

Vote: Yes

Connor: Honestly, Helton would be a shoe-in if it wasn’t for the “Coors Factor” potentially aiding his incredible career as a Colorado Rockie. Either way, his outstanding career numbers, longevity, and loyalty (17 years with the Rockies) make him an easy vote for me.

Vote: Yes

Ryan Howard

Career Accomplishments:

.258/.343/.515, 382 HR, 1,194 RBI

MVP, Rookie of the Year, 3x All-Star, Silver Slugger, World Series Champ, NLCS MVP, HR Derby Champ

Chris: Didn’t do it for long enough, and was an awful defender. If he would’ve been drafted to the AL and played DH, this could be an entirely different conversation.

Vote: No

Connor: Howard had a stellar 8-year run to begin his career with the Phillies, but, similar to Carl Crawford, his career spiraled after 2011.

Vote: No

Tim Hudson

Career Accomplishments:

222-133, 3.49 ERA, 2,080 K

4x All-Star, World Series Champ

Chris: Sort of like Buehrle. Always very good. Lack of K’s hurts. He would be a first ballot HOFer for the Hall of “Very Good”.

Vote: No

Connor: Chris is right; Tim Hudson had a fascinatingly similar career to Mark Buehrle, with Hudson’s being slightly better. If I had 11 votes, Hudson would be in, but the 2022 class is so good that he just misses the cut.

Vote: No

Torii Hunter

Career Accomplishments:

.277/.331/.461, 353 HR, 1,391 RBI, 195 SB

5x All-Star, 9x Gold Glove, 2x Silver Slugger

Chris: Incredible defender with a good bat, but not at that next level of HOF. Upstaged by the next guy, and Hunter was not great at stealing bases, either (195 for 294, 66.3%).

Vote: No

Connor: Nine Gold Gloves at a premier position, well above-average career offensive numbers, and 18 solid years in the big leagues? Sign me up.

Vote: Yes