2021 IBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

While having until January to cast my annual IBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot, I decided to get it in before the holidays this year. Once again, the IBWAA is not part of the Official BBWAA vote to enshrine players in Cooperstown but with a large voting body this is a fun process to partake in each season.

The IBWAA selection process allows for 12 candidates to be voted. My previous ballots can be found here:

2018
2019
2020

I didn’t hit the 12 max but did decide to open up my restrictions a bit. I’ve never been a “Small Hall” type but keeping out those on the border doesn’t make much sense to me considering there’s always going to be more worthy players.

After Larry Walker and Derek Jeter were inducted last cycle, I have just three holdovers this time with seven new candidates. Let’s get into it:

Alex Rodriguez 113.7 fWAR

Arguably one of the best to ever play the game, Rodriguez rubbed plenty the wrong way, but his numbers are otherworldly. I’m still mad he missed 700 homers by just four, but the career .930 OPS is beyond impressive. Rodriguez also racked up three MVP awards and was a 14-time All-Star. He’s remade his image a bit after his playing career while being an analyst, but regardless of what you think about him, the talent was something that doesn’t come around often.

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.

Scott Rolen 70.1 fWAR

Vastly underappreciated, 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.

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.

Manny Ramirez 66.3 fWAR

In 2002 Manny Ramirez picked up his only batting title with a .349 average. He’s a career .312 hitter and has a .996 OPS. He’s a member of the 500 home run club with 555 and picked up MVP votes in nine-straight seasons. Ramirez won nine Silver Slugger’s and was a part of two World Series championship teams. One of the best pure hitters to ever step on the diamond, Ramirez is worthy of induction.

Gary Sheffield 62.1 fWAR

Sheffield grabbed his batting title with the San Diego Padres in 1992 with a .330 tally. His .907 OPS is borderline for induction, but the 509 career home runs is enough to get it done for me. Sheffield picked up nine All-Star appearances and won the Silver Slugger five times. He was part of the 1997 Florida Marlins World Series team and was consistently a middle-of-the-order hitter.

Sammy Sosa 60.1 fWAR

Giving baseball one of the best home run chases in history, Sammy Sosa tangled with Mark McGwire during the amazing 1998 season. Sosa won his MVP that season hitting 66 homers and finished his career with 609. Sosa’s .878 career OPS isn’t all that special, but I can’t continue to ignore the career home run tally.

David Ortiz 51.0 fWAR

It took a while for the Hall of Fame to make room for designated hitters, but David Ortiz is among the best of them. He’s been both an ALCS and World Series MVP while picking up three rings. His career 541 home runs is beyond impressive, and the fact that he finished his career at 40 with a 1.021 OPS continues to be among the best seasons ever.

Billy Wagner 24.0 fWAR

Relievers are very under-represented in the Hall of Fame and Billy Wagner is another good one to get in. His career 2.31 ERA is impressive, and the 11.9 K/9 was ahead of his time. Saves are an overrated metric, but Wagner has 422 of them. A seven-time All-Star, put him in.

Joe Nathan 19.5 fWAR

Not far off from the man above him, Nathan falls into the category of relievers needing to make their way to Cooperstown. He posted 377 saves and owned a 2.87 ERA. Nathan’s K/9 of 9.5 wasn’t spectacular, but he was named to six All-Star games of his own.

Someone Else Give A-Rod A Chance

Alex Rodriguez will play his final game for the New York Yankees on Friday. It's the end to a saga that seemingly has such a sad trombone effect to it. No matter what you feel about Alex Rodriguez the human, or even the ballplayer, this doesn't feel like how the script was supposed to end. Then again, I'm not really of the belief that this is it either.

I have no idea what the contractual obligations boil down to. Rodriguez isn't a free agent until the 2018 season, at which point he'd turn 43 in the middle of the year. The Yankees were on the hook for $21 million next season, and there was $30 million allotted for marketing purposes tied to home run milestones. Throw all of that away though, forget the money, and just assume Alex Rodriguez isn't done.

After hitting 33 homers and owning an .842 OPS a season ago (his best mark since 2010), Rodriguez has fallen off of a cliff in 2016. He owns just a .609 OPS and has cracked just nine big flies in 62 234 plate appearances. What's worth contextualizing though is the way in which Rodriguez has been utilized this season. After starting 18 of the Yankees first 22 games (with an ugly .185/.274/.400 line to show for it). He's drawn just 37 starts in the last 89 games, with just 28 of them being on back to back days. The last time A-Rod started a game was July 30, and he hasn't started two days in a row since July 21-22. At this point in his career, he's far from a regular, but finding a rhythm with that schedule can't be easy either.

Assuming that one way or another, Rodriguez sorts his contractual obligations with the Yankees out, he'll be free to sign with another team. On a one year deal, I'd love to see it happen, and I'd love to see it happen for one reason. Alex Rodriguez has 696 career home runs, and I want to see him hit four more.

You can probably all but guarantee that Rodriguez will never surpass Babe Ruth's 714 homers, and he's not going to come anywhere close to Barry Bonds or Hank Aaron. 700 is within his grasp though, and watching him clutch it would be an all time great baseball moment. Over the entirety of Major League Baseball's existence, only three players have surpassed the 700 milestone.

Babe Ruth entered the 700 home run club on July 13, 1934. Hank Aaron became the second player to join the club, 39 years later on July 21, 1973. Barry Bonds turned the duo into a trio when he launched number 700 on September 17, 2004, 31 years after Aaron's feat. Now, just 13 years after Bonds, we could watch Rodriguez make it a part of four. Seeing two players hit 700 home runs in my lifetime is something I selfishly want to see take place.

I've outline my stance on PED's previously. If you missed it, you can read it more in depth here. In short, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and yes, even Alex Rodriguez all belong in the Hall of Fame. Trying to arbitrarily rule after the fact as to what is right and wrong is something that has no business in baseball. I have as much of a tough time with A-Rod the person, or at least the perception of him, as the next guy, but the feats he's accomplished in this great game can't be ignored.

Some point in the not so distance future, I hope the Yankees cut ties with A_Rod. He doesn't need a plaque in Monument Park (though a case could be made for one). He doesn't need a celebration or a sendoff. No, he just needs a brief chance from one team willing to celebrate history.

On A-Rod, The Longball, And Those Damn Yankees

Kim Klement/USA Today

Sure, I know this is a Minnesota Twins blog, but at times it's ok to deviate a little bit from the mean. After all, if we're going to focus solely on another team in baseball, it's probably worth talking about the New York Yankees. There's probably not another foe more hated in the state of Minnesota, and for good reason, but the recent history runs plenty deep. With Alex Rodriguez hitting home run number 661 last night, it would seem now is as good of a time as any for a little reflection.

First let's start with the hear and now. On the season, the former Yankee posterboy Rodriguez has seven home runs. That total equals the mark he recorded in 2013 (albeit he played in only 44 games). Having served a season long suspension a year ago, it looks like Rodriguez has his legs back under him, and he's looking straight up at Barry Bonds record. Had it not been for former Twin Delmon Young robbing a home run from A-Rod last night (surprisingly Delmon Young robbed a home-run, crazy things do happen), the Yankee slugger would be sitting exactly 100 longballs away from tying Bonds' mark. So how do we put it all into context?

On September 5, 2007 Barry Bonds hit his last home run, number 762. At the age of 42, he was winding down a season in which he launched 28 homers, while hitting .276 and leading the majors with a .480(!!!) on base percentage. I was in the stands at Great American Ballpark in the summer of 2003 when Bonds launched number 647 against the Cincinnati Reds, there's no doubt in my mind he was one of the greatest power hitters of all time. Now with Rodriguez quickly approaching that territory, it's time to contextualize the concept as well.

Both Bonds and Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs. I don't need a grand jury or either player to outright admit to that, it's more the validated. Each of them stacked the deck in their favor. While baseball was searching for an offensive revitalizing, commissioner Bud Selig turned a blind eye, and players like the two mentioned took advantage. Eventually Selig decided he'd had enough, it had gotten out of control on his watch, and now he'd go on a witch hunt to reign it back in. Fortunate or not, both Bonds and Rodriguez have become the gold standard for negativity in the steroid era of baseball. For me however, it's tough to chalk up their accomplishments as nonsensical due to that understanding.

In nearly every era over the course of the existence of baseball, circumstances have remained difficult to compare. Whether it be amphetamines, the exclusion of African-American players, the live ball era, or some combination of other events, baseball has consistently been inconsistent. Although not to condone cheating, I find slighting otherworldly performances in the greatest game on earth to be shortsighted. I can dismiss Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds the individuals, neither of them seem like great people, their accomplishments reside in a different category.

As Bonds launched number 762 on September 5, it could have been reasoned that an entire generation of baseball fans had just experienced something they would never see again. Fast forwarding to 2015, it stands to reason that same generation may just be lucky enough to see it happen twice. With each Rodriguez home run, he moves one step closer to breaking what seemed to be an insurmountable record. At 39, time is running out, but the baseball fan in me is hoping there's just enough.

Do I think Alex Rodriguez is the greatest power hitter to ever play the game, probably not. Would I love to witness Rodriguez being the second all-time home run record breaker in my lifetime, there's no doubt about it. While I still will always dismiss Alex Rodriguez the person, I love the longball as much as anyone else, and despite hating those damn Yankees, it's about so much more than that.