O Captain, My Captain

The Baseball Hall Of Fame announced the ballot for the writers' vote this week and there's no suspense about one thing: Derek Jeter will be elected. The only question will be if he gets a unanimous vote like his teammate, Mariano Rivera, did last year. Now that that precedent has been set, it's possible, although there are some who say Jeter wasn't that great a defensive shortstop, or that his reputation for being a clutch hitter isn't true, yada yada yada. As a person who always rooted for the Yankees to lose, Jeter was a player that I loved to hate, but there's no denying his greatness. He had over 3,000 hits, the only Yankee to do so (that's saying something) and was the captain of a team that won five world championships.

Of the other newcomers to the ballot, it's doubtful if any of them will even get enough votes to return for next year. Jason Giambi has the numbers to bear some consideration, but his association with PEDs should doom his candidacy. Josh Beckett and Cliff Lee both performed like Hall of Famers for brief periods, but did not sustain an entire career worthy of induction.

What's interesting is what will happen with the returning players. Curt Schilling had the highest vote total of anyone returning, with just over sixty percent. He's on his eighth year on the ballot, and has climbed with the kind of progress that would indicate an eventual election. His numbers are certainly reasonable for a HOFer, especially concerning his post-season exploits, but of course his caveat is his repugnant politics. That shouldn't bear on his qualifications, but it must be hard for some people to vote for him, given his positions (he tweeted a photo of a t-shirt that called for the lynching of journalists). I imagine some have to hold their nose while checking off his name.

Below him are the PED pair, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who of course are eminently worthy of enshrinement on numbers alone, as they are two of the greatest players who ever put on a uniform. They have steadily climbed over their seven years on the ballot, both getting fifty-nine percent last year (the writers who vote for one probably vote for the other). Their support may be tapped out, but they have three years before they expire and are handed over to the "Eras" committee. Who knows how they will respond. I wouldn't count them out just yet.

Larry Walker is in his tenth and last year on the ballot. He got to fifty-four percent last year, but a jump to seventy-five may be out of reach. I think he should be in, but his gaudy numbers, 383 homers and a .313 lifetime batting average, are not judged the same as other players because he hit in the thin air of Colorado much of his career. I call bullshit, because a player can only play where he's told to play. What numbers does a Colorado player have to get to be worthy? One thousand home runs? Todd Helton is being similarly punished, methinks.

Another player not getting enough love is Jeff Kent, who is straggling with only eighteen percent last year. Kent, as a second baseman, has some of the best hitting numbers ever for a person playing that position. His disagreeable personality and his jumping from team to team (which also might be hurting Garry Sheffield) may be costing him votes. If he was a sweet guy who played his career with only one team I think he'd already be in. I'd also vote for Omar Vizquel, one of the greatest defensive shortstops of all time but who also garnered 2877 hits and a .272 lifetime batting average, better than Ozzie Smith, who was voted in his first year of eligibility. It's all about PR.

So Jeter will be in, but questions are many about anyone else. If no one else is elected, next year promises to be even more interesting, because there is no first-time player who is even in sniffing distance of getting elected.