Explaining my 2020 FanSided Mock Hall of Fame ballot

Here’s how I voted in the 2020 FanSided Mock Hall of Fame voting.

We here at FanSided decided to have our own Mock Hall of Fame vote to correspond with the actual National Baseball Hall of Fame, just to see how each site’s experts would collectively vote. You can check out the full results. Spoiler alert: The only one to reach 75 percent was Derek Jeter.

One of the main issues that still dominates this discussion is that of performance enhancing drug use. Many voters still steadfastly refuse to vote for players who admitted to or were suspected of using steroids, claiming they cheated and therefore have moral objections to their inclusion.

This argument might hold water if the Hall of Fame didn’t already include cheaters and other individuals with questionable moral character. Gaylord Perry had a wide reputation for throwing spitballs, George Brett had his infamous pine tar incident, Ty Cobb had a history of violent confrontations, and commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis has been dogged by accusations of racism and of delaying the sport’s integration.

And let’s not forget that Mr. Steroid Era himself, Bud Selig, is in the Hall of Fame. Selig looked the other way in the 1990s and early 2000s as home run records were shattered, seeing the resulting increase in fan interest and attendance. The league did not see fit to start drug testing and enforcing steroid bans until the mid-2000s, so it’s rather unfair to punish the players when MLB simply decided to let it happen.

Besides, anyone who thinks there aren’t steroid users already in the Hall of Fame are only kidding themselves. There’s no way to definitively identify who did and didn’t juice, and there’s also no way to tell how much a particular player benefited from the potential steroid use. The best policy is just to judge each player by his merits and look at whether he was one of the best players of his era.

With that in mind, my 10-player ballot consisted of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Todd Helton, Derek Jeter, Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner and Larry Walker. I’ll discuss each player and a handful of others split into the following three categories: The Surefire Picks, The Borderline Picks and The Ones Who Just Missed. And I’ll also discuss one player separately at the end.

The Surefire Picks

Bonds, Clemens and Jeter really don’t need much discussion. Bonds is the all-time leader in home runs and walks, winner of seven MVPs and eight Gold Gloves. Clemens is a seven-time Cy Young winner, third all-time in strikeouts and ninth all-time in wins. Jeter is sixth all-time in hits and was a champion in every sense of the word. The Hall of Fame would be a sham without these guys.

Curt Schilling

The fact that Schilling hasn’t already been elected to the Hall is a travesty. There’s absolutely no case to be made that his numbers aren’t good enough. He surpassed the traditional barometer of 3,000 career strikeouts, and his 80.5 career pitching WAR is better than several Hall of Famers including Tom Glavine, Don Sutton, Jim Palmer and Bob Feller.

The main reason voters don’t choose him is political. Since he retired, Schilling has made several controversial statements and social media posts, drawing the ire of a great number of people. I’m not defending his political views — I simply don’t care. They should have absolutely no bearing on his candidacy.

But unfortunately many voters are letting their personal feelings about Schilling’s political views get in the way of their duty to vote for the most deserving players, which is one of the myriad issues with the current voting system. Any objective analysis of his career would show he belongs in the Hall.

The man was one of the best pitchers of his day and a force in the playoffs and also was the recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award, the Branch Rickey Award and the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award. He’s seventh all-time in strikeout-to-walk ratio and the only one in the Top 10 to amass 3,000 strikeouts. Get this man to Cooperstown.

Billy Wagner

I’m surprised Wagner gets such little consideration from the voters. To me, he’s a slam dunk Hall of Famer, especially when you compare his stats to those of other top relievers. I recently made the case for him, so I won’t rehash it here. In short, I think he’s the best left-handed reliever to ever play.

The Borderline Picks

Andruw Jones

Jones was undoubtedly one of the best defensive center fielders to ever play, winning 10 straight Gold Glove Awards. He was also a force with the bat, belting 434 home runs, including seven seasons of 30 or more, peaking with a league-leading 51 in 2005.

What hurts him is mainly the fact that he was not an effective player in his 30s. He eventually settled for a part-time role and was done at age 35. But for a decade, he was the game’s best center fielder and a true middle-of-the-order bat, which has to count for something.

He amassed 62.8 career WAR, ahead of guys like Jackie Robinson and Vladimir Guerrero. He’s also second all-time in Total Zone Runs, and first among outfielders. This, combined with the fact that he was a strong hitter in his prime, should be enough to get him in.

Scott Rolen

Like Jones, Rolen was a defensive standout who also was strong offensively. He won eight Gold Gloves at third base, made seven All-Star games and took home a Rookie of the Year award. He finished with 517 doubles, 316 homers and 1,287 RBIs in 17 seasons.

His counting stats took a hit thanks to several seasons being shortened due to injuries. Despite that, he’s 24th all-time in Total Zone Runs and sixth among third baseman. His 70.2 WAR puts him ahead of Carlos Beltran, Tony Gwynn and Ivan Rodriguez. The underrated Rolen deserves this.

Gary Sheffield

Sheff was one of the best all-around hitters of his era, hitting for average and power and showing incredible discipline. For his career, he amassed more than 300 more walks than strikeouts, making him one of the toughest outs a pitcher ever faced.

His other stats are pretty good, too. He finished with a .292/.393/.514 line with 509 homers, 467 doubles and 1,676 RBIs. He made nine All-Star teams and won five Silver Sluggers and finished in the top 10 of the MVP voting six times.

His 60.5 WAR is ahead of Harmon Killebrew, Yogi Berra and Mike Piazza, and his 80.8 offensive WAR is more than Frank Thomas, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Thome. He belongs in the Hall with the best hitters of his day.

Larry Walker

This is Walker’s final year on the ballot, and the vote is expected to be close. But he’s one of the best all-around players of his era, winning seven Gold Gloves and one MVP award. His 72.7 WAR is ahead of Jeter.

Yes, his numbers might have been helped by Coors Field in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and his counting stats might have been better if not for some injuries. But the man was an absolute stud both at the plate and in the field. He deserves to be in.

Todd Helton

Helton was my last pick, and it wasn’t easy. He might have been helped by Coors Field as well, and the second half of his career wasn’t very memorable aside from appearing in the World Series. But there are some numbers that helped sway me.

He walked more than he struck out over the course of his career, and he also won three Gold Gloves. His 592 doubles are 19th all-time, his career OPS of .953 is 18th all-time, and his .414 on-base percentage is 27th. He’s in the top 40 in slugging, walks, runs created, extra-base hits and win probability added.

He’s second all-time in total zone runs among first basemen and eighth in fielding percentage. Some of his 369 homers might have been Coors-aided, but there’s no denying he was a great pure hitter and one of the best all-around first basemen to ever play.

Omar Vizquel

Vizquel is getting some healthy support, but I simply do not think he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Yes, he was an elite defender who won 11 Gold Gloves and made three All-Star teams, but he was well below average offensively.

His career OPS+ of 82 indicates he was 18 percent below league average. He had only two seasons in which he was league average or better, and for a pure contact hitter, the fact that he had only one season hitting .300 or better is not very good. By contrast, other elite defenders like Jones and Rolen were well above-average hitters as well.

Proponents will point to his 2,877 career hits, but that’s a product of playing for so long. His career line of .272/.336/.352 leaves much to be desired. His 404 stolen bases are nice, but that’s the only good offensive stat he has; everything else suggests he was simply not a good hitter.

Ozzie Smith got into the Hall on the strength of his defense, but there’s a difference. Smith’s defense was THAT good, and yes, it was that much better than Vizquel’s. Smith finished with 44.2 defensive WAR compared to Vizquel’s 29.5, and his Total Zone Runs was 239, well ahead of Vizquel’s 130.

Smith’s career OPS+ is 87, so he was slightly better than Vizquel offensively and much better defensively. And here’s the nail in the coffin: Smith’s career WAR is 76.9, while Vizquel’s is 45.6. This puts Vizquel below the other candidates on this list. He was a good player, but not a Hall of Fame player.