PITTSBURGH — The Baseball Hall of Fame will announce its 2021 class Tuesday night. I'm guessing Curt Schilling will be the only inductee. I don't think any player should be inducted. That's why I sent my ballot in blank.
I've been a Hall voter for almost 35 years. Each year, we get a ballot with the names of the eligible players. To be enshrined, a player must receive 75% of the votes. Our instructions are to vote for any number, zero to 10. This year, I voted for zero.
A lot of voters vote for many candidates. Some vote for 10 every year. I won't question anyone's ballot, but that strikes me as cheapening what it means to be a Hall of Famer. That's why I'm a much more stringent voter. Last year, I voted only for Derek Jeter, who was named on all but one of the 397 ballots from 10-year-plus members of the Baseball Writers of America.
Many voters traditionally have refused to vote a player into the Hall in his first year of eligibility. That's why it took until the 2019 class for Mariano Rivera to become the first player to be unanimously selected in his first year. All of the other greats who were enshrined before him didn't receive all of the votes. The late, great Bob Gibson, for instance, received just 337 of 401 votes in 1981. That strikes me as being ridiculous. If I think a player is a Hall of Famer the first year, I vote for him. If I don't vote for a player that first year, I never will vote for him. A player can be on the ballot for as many as 10 years.
Larry Walker made it into the Hall last year in his 10th year on the ballot. Schilling has the best chance of getting in this year in his ninth year. Many voters look at the players who came close the year before — Schilling was named on 70% of the ballots last year — and vote to get the man in. I refuse to do that, although I thought long and hard about Schilling.
Again, it's about cheapening the Hall in my mind.
It was an easy call to not vote for any of the first-year eligibles this year. There are many really good players on the list, but none who was really great. Mark Buehrle? Tim Hudson? A.J. Burnett? I know Pirates fans always will appreciate the good work Burnett did to make the franchise here a winner again after 20 years of losing, but he was not a Hall of Fame pitcher.
The Hall should be only for the truly greats.
That brings me to Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
I grew up in Pittsburgh and watched Roberto Clemente play. I consider Bonds to be the best player I've ever seen. He could do anything he wanted on a ball field. Hit for power? He smacked 73 home runs in 2001 and finished with a record 762. Hit for average? He batted .370 in 2002. He was incredible.
Clemens was nearly as dominant as a pitcher. I don't think I could name three right-handers who were as good as he was. He won 354 games and seven Cy Young Awards.
But I never have voted for Bonds or Clemens, who are on the ballot for the ninth time.
My vote would be different if Bonds and Clemens were up for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Its voters are instructed to make their decisions based strictly on what the players do on the field. It's different with the baseball voters. We are reminded in our instructions each year of what has become known as the "character clause." "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."
Bonds and Clemens have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. I believe they cheated the game. I am not advocating that their accomplishments be stricken from the record books as if they didn't exist as players. But I am not going to give them the game's highest honor with my vote. I won't be voting for Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz next year for the same reasons when they are eligible for the Hall for the first time.
Clemens was named on 61% of the ballots last year, Bonds on 60.7% . I don't expect them to get in Tuesday night, but I won't be surprised if they, like Walker, make it in their final year on the ballot in 2022. That's fine if that's how 75% of the voters feel. But Clemens and Bonds won't be getting my vote.
I know not everyone will agree with how I voted.
But it's my ballot, and I sleep comfortably having cast it.
