One of the most crowded Hall of Fame ballots in recent memory was released today by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The biggest new names include Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Mike Mussina, and Jeff Kent, together with Jacque Jones and others. In the long run, Maddux, Glavine and Thomas are no-brainers. Maddux should be unanimous, even though you know he won’t be.
And those are just the new guys. There are also these holdovers (together with the percentage vote they received last year):
Craig Biggio (68.2)
Jack Morris (67.7)
Jeff Bagwell (59.6)
Mike Piazza (57.8)
Tim Raines (52.2)
Lee Smith (47.8)
Curt Schilling (38.8)
Roger Clemens (37.6)
Barry Bonds (36.2)
Edgar Martinez (35.9)
Alan Trammell (33.6)
Larry Walker (21.6)
Fred McGriff (20.7)
Mark McGwire (16.9)
Don Mattingly (13.2)
Sammy Sosa (12.5)
Rafael Palmeiro (8.8)
It’s a crowded ballot, indeed. A player needs to be identified on 75% of the voters’ ballots to be inducted, and each writer can name only 10 players.
Which 10 would make it on your ballot? I’d go Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Biggio, Bagwell, Piazza and Raines, for starters. From there, it’s a tough call, and I might cop out by not using all 10 slots.