My 2011 HOF Ballot

I don’t have a vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame. I will never have a vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame. That won’t stop me, though, from posting my hypothetical ballot. We’ll do this alphabetically, with brief explanations. I can only choose ten, though, and I may have to leave guys out because of that.

1. Roberto Alomar–This one’s a bit of a no brainer. That he wasn’t elected last year is ridiculous. .365 career wOBA, 125 wRC+, 63.5 bWAR…one of the best second basemen of his time.

2. Jeff Bagwell–Dude just flat out raked. 79.9 bWAR, 449 HRs, .406 wOBA, 152 wRC+. Yeah, he’s a Hall of Famer (AND HE’S FROM CONNECTICUT!)

3. Bert Blyleven–Read here.

4. Edgar Martinez–He’s hurt by the fact that all he did was hit but…all he did was hit. Edgar was truly a special talent with the bat, as evidenced by his career line: .312/.418/.515, .405 wOBA, 151 wRC+, 67.2 bWAR. If they ever create an award specifically for DH’s, it should probably be named after Edgar.

5. Mark McGwire–583 HRs, 162 OPS+, 63.1 bWAR, .415 wOBA. The numbers speak for themselves. Yes, there’s the steroids stuff, but I’m not really paying much attention to it. Why? Because there’s no way he (or another player who will appear on my ballot) was the only one on the damn things.

6. Rafael Palmeiro–Like McGwire, he’s got the steroids cloud (and a positive test to boot), but the numbers are just too good to ignore. 569 HRs and 3,020 hits. 66.0 bWAR, .380 wOBA, 133 wRC+.

7. Tim Raines–Redirect.

8. Alan Trammel–So much better than people seem to remember. 66.9 bWAR, .343 bWAR/115 wRC+ as a SS when SS’s didn’t hit. This is worth noting.

9. Larry Walker–Explanation Here

So, I almost maxed out my ballot. There are other guys–like Kevin Brown, Fred McGriff, and John Olerud–who have at least decent cases, but upon whom I haven’t decided yet. Those are definitely ones I could look at for future Case for Cooperstown articles.

What do you guys think? The full eligibility list can be found here.