One Semiserious Rationale for Every Player on the Hall of Fame Ballot
There are 26 players on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot. All of them played at least ten years in MLB and have been retired for at least five. These baseball dignitaries include a dozen first-timers, 14 holdovers, and one player on his tenth and final ballot (Gary Sheffield).
Some baseball fans prefer to keep the Hall of Fame exclusive, while others are more sympathetic to borderline candidates. Rather than Big-Hall or Small-Hall, here’s an All-Hall approach—one reason why every player on the ballot should be inducted.
Bobby Abreu– He is one of only three players in MLB history with 50 doubles, 20 home runs, and 30 stolen bases in a season, which he accomplished in 2002.
José Bautista– The greatest bat flip we’ll ever see.
Carlos Beltrán– His 86.4% stolen base percentage is the best ever with a minimum of 200 attempts.
Adrián Beltré– Elvis Andrus would be able to touch the head on his plaque without fear of reprisal.
Mark Buehrle– He threw a perfect game on July 23, 2009, then followed it with 5 2/3 perfect innings in his next start before giving up a walk. 45 consecutive batters retired is the record by a starting pitcher.
Bartolo Colon– The ugliest, most improbable home run in baseball history.
Adrián González- His 43.5 WAR is the sixth-most by a first-overall draft pick. The five ahead of him are either in the Hall already (Ken Griffey Jr. and Chipper Jones), on this year’s ballot (Álex Rodríguez and Joe Mauer), or still active (Bryce Harper).
Todd Helton– He has 13.5 more WAR for the Rockies than any other player in franchise history.
Matt Holliday– For contributing 50% of the DNA to the top prospect in the minors, he should get half of the credit for all the value his son accumulates. That should be more than enough to put him over the top.
Torii Hunter– Anecdotally robbed home runs better than anyone else, including this famous All-Star Game grab on a Barry Bonds deep fly:
Andruw Jones– He has 24.4 dWAR. No other center fielder in history even has 20. He’s also one of only three center fielders with at least ten Gold Gloves along with Willie Mays (12) and Griffey (ten).
Victor Martinez– His .295 batting average is the eighth-best by a catcher since integration. Well, he was mostly a catcher. Sort of.
Joe Mauer- In his MVP season of 2009, he led the league in all three triple-slash categories by batting .365/.444/.587. This broke the record for single-season batting average by a catcher in AL/NL history. He’s the only catcher to ever lead the league in slugging percentage.
Andy Pettitte– Since pickoffs became an official stat in 1973, no one has more than his 92 in a career.
Brandon Phillips– He’s one of seven second basemen with 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases. Four of the others are in the Hall of Fame already (Roberto Alomar, Craig Biggio, Joe Morgan, and Ryne Sandberg), one is still active (José Altuve), and one is not yet eligible for the Hall (Ian Kinsler).
Manny Ramírez- 555 home runs? Sure. Nine Silver Sluggers? Why not. The most dedicated cutoff man ever? You decide.
José Reyes- His 131 triples are more than any other player in the Wild-Card Era (1995-present).
Álex Rodríguez- He belted 30 home runs and collected 100 RBI for 13 consecutive years from 1998-2010. In the final game of the 2009 season, he finished with exactly 30 and 100 by crushing a three-run homer and a grand slam—hitting both in the same inning!
Francisco Rodríguez– His 437 saves are the fourth-most in a career, trailing Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera (652), Trevor Hoffman (601), and Lee Smith (478).
Jimmy Rollins– His 2,306 with the Philadelphia Phillies are the most in team history. The franchise has existed since 1883.
Gary Sheffield- The bat waggle.
James Shields– He was the last person with double-digit complete games in a season (11 in 2011) and no one will probably ever do it again.
Chase Utley– His 56.9 JAWS is the 12th-best ever by a second baseman. The only two players above him who aren’t in the Hall of Fame are Robinson Canó (not yet eligible) and Bobby Grich.
Omar Vizquel– Look, the guy is a terrible human being and has an 82 OPS+ over his career, but in the spirit of this exercise, he has 2,877 hits and 11 Gold Gloves.
Billy Wagner– Believe it or not, there are no left-handed relievers in the Hall of Fame yet! His 27.8 WAR is more than any other lefty reliever, more than seven ahead of second-place Aroldis Chapman.
David Wright– He’s the New York Mets’ all-time leader in position-player WAR (49.2), hits (1,777), total bases (2,945), RBI (970), walks (762), and several other stats. Doesn’t he deserve some kind of treat for suffering through an entire career in Queens?
