2020 IBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

Once again, it's that time of year and December 1 saw my inbox being hit with the yearly IBWAA Hall of Fame ballot. Although this isn't part of the official BBWAA vote to enshrine players in Cooperstown, there's plenty of crossover between voting parties and many of the same principles are the same.

At this time the IBWAA allows voters to select up to 12 candidates. You can find my 2018 ballot here, and my 2019 selections here. As was the case last year, I wound up with a ballot less than the maximum amount. The IBWAA has cleared a backlog of candidates already enshrining Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Although I could've included more players I had previously left off, I chose to stay the course.

When sending my ballot back to the IBWAA I wound up with four holdovers and the expected unanimous selection who makes his first appearance. Here we go:

Curt Schilling: 79.7 fWAR

Bloody sock nonsense aside, Schilling is a three time Cy Young runner-up, and six-time All Star. He struck out 3,116 batters in his career and owns a 3.46 ERA while totaling more than 200 wins. Three World Series rings, an MVP, and a 2.23 postseason ERA do him favors as well. Since voting for him last year, Schilling has made plenty of splashes in the media. He's not well liked off the field, but the character clause is among the most dated pieces of inclusion into the Hall of Fame. On baseball merit alone, he's worthy of the nod.

Derek Jeter 73.0 fWAR

The Yankees Captain enters the ballot as a near-lock for unanimous selection. He had an incredible career with significant accolades in both the regular season and playoffs. Over-glorified in part because of the market in which he played, Jeter will go down as one of the best to ever play the shortstop position. What he lacked on defense he contributed with his bat. The 14-time All-Star and five-time World Series winner will forever be one of the most celebrated Yankees of All-Time.

Scott Rolen 70.1 fWAR

Vastly under appreciated, Rolen started as a Rookie of the Year winner, and went on to tally eight Gold Glove awards. He was a seven time All Star and among the best to ever field the Hot Corner. With an .855 career OPS, his bat more than does enough to supplement what was an exceptional defensive career.

Larry Walker: 68.7 fWAR

Although he played the field plenty, Walker also turned in a nice run spending time in both the infield and outfield. He was the 1997 NL MVP and made five All Star games. His glove netted him seven Gold Gloves and his bat produced three Silver Slugger awards. Walker finished his 17 seasons with 383 homers and drove in over 1,300 runs.

Andruw Jones 67.1 fWAR

Jones's 17 year career is often going to be questioned as he held on for five uninspiring seasons to closer out his time as a big leaguer. That aside, the 10 year stretch from 199-2007 was one for the ages. With 10 Gold Glove's and five All Star appearances, he was easily among the greatest in the game for a decade.

In The Hall, Morality Needs To Go

I have long been a supporter of guys linked to performance enhancing drugs being in the Hall of Fame. Simply put, if you don't believe that players like Barry Bonds and Rogers Clemens are among the best to ever play the sport of baseball, you're unquestionably wrong. Here's where the caveats come in though, morality still plays a role that it has no business playing.

Today I read over a piece by BBWAA member and former Yankees beat writer Wallace Matthews. In it, he calls out Curt Schilling for being a baffon (political stance aside, he absolutely is), and huffs over the burden it is to cast a Hall of Fame ballot. While it's fair and understanding to note where he's coming from, the true burden is one that was cast upon him by the Baseball Hall of Fame itself.

Almost as equally long as I have contended that guys linked to PEDs but still deserving should be in The Hall, I've stated that the character clause is one of the goofiest prerequisites for inclusion at Cooperstown. Listen, the Baseball Writers Association of America should be asking journalists to quantify performance factors, not policing the shortcomings of the Commissioner and Major League Baseball itself. At the end of the day, inclusion in the Hall of Fame should be related to the amount of homers you smashed, strikeouts you tallied, or accolades you compiled while on the field of play.

When participating in Major League Baseball, players have gone through eras with live and dead balls. They have played the sport while certain races were excluded. Long before PEDs were the drugs of hatred, there were amphetamines and other choice vices that were explored. As a collective whole, the reality has always been that asking a group removed from decision making efforts within the sport, to retroactively rule on decisions that were made, was a losing battle.

Looking at Matthews' piece and knowing he isn't the first one to publicly defend his decision to throw away his vote, it's hard not to want something done about the burden he defines. At it's core, it seems quite haughty to come across as being above a privilege granted to so few. While The Hall has imposed the notion that morality be considered, the process involves nothing more than checking boxes of up to 10 players deserving of the game's highest honor.

While trying to be sympathetic to the tone of Matthews' message, it's also a tired one from a group that has so often fallen short of being worthy of give the benefit of doubt. I'm not sorry your journalistic profession has included you among a group of your peers that are tasked with helping us to celebrate baseball's greatest. I'm not sorry that the BBWAA as a whole has seen countless votes cast (or not cast) as personal vendettas or in trying to politic against those that wronged them while playing (or not playing) the game. I'm not sorry that it seems silly to cast votes for those you feel friendly towards, and want to give a final hat tip to. I'm really not sorry for any "burden" you'd like to define as part of the voting process.

If there's something to be sorry for, it is, and always has been, Cooperstown asking you to play morality cop. Most anyone that has ever watched the game can effectively evaluate the performance of a player's career, and a consensus (or at least a 75% consensus) should be relatively straightforward to reach in that line of thinking alone. It's time that morality stop playing such an issue in the voting process, both on the ballot, and in the fallout thereafter.

There have been positive changes from the BBWAA in recent years (removing writers no longer covering the game, accepting MLB.com writers, making ballots publicly available), but the large linchpin remains the character clause. It's time the ballot was simply used as a process of deeming who is worthy based on baseball merit alone, and celebrating that. Pushing writers to do what comes across as a look-at-me thing, while not voting or channeling feelings into their ballots should cease. Really though, it's the BBWAA and The Hall itself who continue to facilitate it all.

A Weekend Of Fame

Over the past weekend, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza entered their rightful place inside the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. As the headliners of the show, Induction Weekend in Cooperstown was all about The Kid and the catcher from Pennsylvania. It would've been a great even no matter what, but being their in person took it over the top.

I've now been to Cooperstown twice in my lifetime. Induction Weekend was going to be something different altogether however. The first time I visited The Hall, there had to have been less than 100 people in Cooperstown altogether. A random weekday in mid-June, I made the trek through country roads to the quaint little upstate New York village. I took my time exploring some shops and other venues outside of the museum, but I was there to see the artifacts themselves. This weekend was different.

Upon getting into town on Saturday afternoon, the small town had grown immensely in population. With cars parked all over lawns everywhere, the city itself was overrun with baseball fans from all walks of life. It's hard to overstate how cool it is to see a place where your team allegiance is irrelevant, and instead the sport is celebrated. I made this trip with my dad, his first time to Cooperstown, and the memories started immediately.

In his low 50's, my dad's all time favorites include the likes of Ozzie Smith. He's met him before at the College World Series and seen him at other events. It was on Saturday in Cooperstown that took it to a new level though. Ozzie was outside of a storefront finishing up a signing, and being that close, watching my dad see one of his childhood favorites up close and personal was pretty cool. He ended up getting his jersey signed, and took a picture as well. I'd have to imagine that will be a story he hangs onto for quite some time.

Having gotten into town around 1 pm, the parade featuring the Hall of Famers in town wasn't set to begin until 6pm. The weather was in the upper 90s, and people all around didn't help to cool things at all. We made our way in and out of stores while enjoying the air conditioning while perusing so many different forms of baseball memorabilia. I was pretty set on buying a ball as a collector, but the inflated prices turned me off and I just couldn't justify it. Regardless of the tie to Cooperstown, knowing I could acquire any of those autographs on line at lesser prices, I decided to pass. Regardless, the day of window shopping turn in a gem when I stumbled across a ball signed by The Babe himself.

As the afternoon turned into early evening, it was time for the parade to start. Having decided to stand rather than plop down in a chair, we found a great spot to view the legends coming down the street in the back of their respective Ford trucks. It was pretty impressive to note the lack of aging some had seen, and sad to see how tough shape others looked. We both enjoyed seeing former Twins such as Bert Blyleven and Dave Winfield, but it was Rod Carew and the respect that was shown him that made me choke up a bit. Pedro Martinez was the most entertaining entrant (not a huge surprise) while both Griffey and Piazza drew big cheers at the end of the route.

Leaving town for the day, we stopped at a local CVS and grabbed a couple of lawn chairs. The setup for the Induction ceremonies were incredibly well done. We claimed a spot and went back to our hotel for the night.

Arriving on Sunday around 11:30, the field transformed into a viewing area was already plenty full. We had our spot relatively close to where the public was allowed to begin seating. Behind us, the crowd had filled in considerably. I spent about two hours waiting in line to go through the official merchandise tent while my dad waited in our seats taking it all in. Again in the upper 90s, it was going to be a long (albeit exciting) day.

Having just finished the line and checkout process, I rushed back to my seat as the ceremony was beginning. Orioles announcer Gary Thorne did a great job introducing all 48 of the Hall of Famers that were in town for the big moment. As Griffey and Piazza made their way to the stage though, I couldn't help but feel the goosebumps.

Both speeches were incredibly well delivered, but I have to note just how well Piazza did. He was incredibly articulate, and it was visible that he was a strong public speaker. A moving message, Piazza made more of an impact on me in a matter of that instance than he did over the entirety of his career. As he ended, I couldn't help but to be blown away by what I had witnessed.

Griffey brought forth different expectations. He's always been one of my favorites, and as he teared up about 20 seconds in, I knew I'd follow suit in short order. Griffey's speech was a little more disjointed than Piazza's before him, but again, was something I'll never forget. He capped it off (quite literally) with his signature backwards hat, and it brought the house down. As he had done so many times during his career The Kid became bigger than the moment.

Heading out of town one last time on Sunday afternoon, I left feeling a sense of completion. Induction Weekend for Ken Griffey Jr. was probably something I'd consider a bucket list item. It was the second largest crowd ever for The Hall ceremonies, and that brought forth a dual reality. I'd had a blast, but wouldn't want to experience Cooperstown in this way again.

Barring another must see enshrinement, my future trips to Cooperstown will be more focused around the museum, and less traffic in town. Having gone to Fenway for a day following the weekend, both my dad an I planned to make a trip out of a museum stop and a new stadium a yearly thing. We had now done the big induction, and follow up trips seemed best lent towards enjoying baseball in its purest sense.

All in all, Cooperstown had delivered once again. Griffey was the highlight for me, Ozzie for him. Both Piazza and Griffey had reached the pinnacle, and we were there to see it. The memories had been made and I know I wouldn't trade them for anything. The Kid had entered The Hall, and that makes everything right in the baseball world for me.