My 2017 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot

Whoa! Almost two years since I last wrote here! I’m returning because today the BBWAA will announce its newest members. And I’m making the case for one of Houston’s own.

I’ll admit I cried when Biggio got in. Sport brings out all kinds of emotions in me. I’d work for the Astros for free, which I guess is called volunteering. Of course, I don’t have a money tree to pay for anything.

Anyway, this is my ballot:

Jeff Bagwell

Tim Raines

Trevor Hoffman

Vladimir Guerrero

That’s it. No one else. The problem I’m seeing is that so many writers are voting for Bonds and Clemens and Pudge. I wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t vote for any of them in subsequent years. To say there is any doubt as to whether or not Bonds took anything illegal is to close one’s eyes and say you don’t see anything. Clemens and Pudge are not so cut-and-dry, but personally they don’t have my vote.

The steroid era ushered baseball into the new millennium under a terrible cloud. A cloud that potentially could have ruined the game for good. No one likes cheats. And no one likes cheats who are also making millions of dollars. Right or not, professional athletes are looked upon as role models. And sure, perhaps it’s unfair. But so what? It shouldn’t take several simultaneous investigations to get the league and its players to find an ounce of integrity. But that’s how things happened.

The writers are the gatekeepers of Cooperstown. And it appeared pretty obvious that anyone with ties to PEDs would never come close to getting in. Sosa. Palmeiro. McGwire. They didn’t come close. But only a few short years later after some rule changes regarding who votes and who doesn’t, it appears increasingly likely that Bonds AND Clemens get in.

I hate it. Baseball is full of hypocrites, and I guess it’s too much to expect any different from the writers.

Who would you vote for the Hall of Fame class of 2017?