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Somewhere in the deep hollows within the Hall of fame, the oracular ballot committee will soon convene for their annual deliberations regarding those souls they will anoint as worthy to appear on the next BBWAA ballot for the 2013 election. Little is known about how this committee goes about reaching its decisions. After making their choices, the list of players is hermetically sealed and kept in a #2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's porch for several months. NO ONE knows the content of their decisions until some time in late November, when ALL is made known.
I've looked at the number of newly eligible players who were passed through by the screening committee each year for the past decade:
To explain, look at the totals in the second line from the bottom. From 2003 to 2012, 143 new players made the ballot. Of these, 7 (or 4.9%) were elected to the HOF in their first year eligible; 18 others (12.6%) attained 5% support and remained eligible; 83 (58%) received at least one vote but had less than 5% support; 35 (24.5%) received zero votes.
Let's see who we at BBF would put on the ballot. I've decided to ignore the 10 years played rule; if a guy is good enough to make the Hall ballot he should not be subject to the constraints of that rule. Here's a list of the top 30 retirees from 2007 who should be considered for a ballot spot:
BB-Ref provides two easy ways to research these candidates.
--This listing includes all 2007 retirees with at least 10 years played and 10 HOF Monitor points.
--This listing shows every player who last appeared in MLB in 2007. Click on column heading to sort.
So who do you think are the 10 players here who most deserve to be on the next Hall of Fame ballot? This year has a very strong class of newbies, so the actual screeners will likely choose more than ten. However, I don't think you can make a HOF case for more than ten of these, so we'll go with that.
I've looked at the number of newly eligible players who were passed through by the screening committee each year for the past decade:
Code:
Year 1st Yr elected +5% -5% 0% 2003 17 1 3 9 4 2004 15 2 0 11 2 2005 12 1 1 8 2 2006 14 0 2 10 2 2007 17 2 2 9 4 2008 11 0 1 8 2 2009 10 1 0 6 3 2010 15 0 4 7 4 2011 19 0 4 9 6 2012 13 0 1 6 6 143 7 18 83 35 4.9% 12.6% 58.0% 24.5%
Let's see who we at BBF would put on the ballot. I've decided to ignore the 10 years played rule; if a guy is good enough to make the Hall ballot he should not be subject to the constraints of that rule. Here's a list of the top 30 retirees from 2007 who should be considered for a ballot spot:
Code:
last played 2007 HOF Monitor WAR Sandy Alomar 48 11.6 Tony Batista 26 11.3 Craig Biggio 169 62.1 Barry Bonds 340 158.1 Jeff Cirillo 37 32.0 Royce Clayton 24 16.4 Roger Clemens 332 133.9 Jeff Conine 22 16.2 Steve Finley 72 40.4 Julio Franco 58 39.7 Marcus Giles 21 15.5 Shawn Green 62 31.4 Orlando Hernandez 24 21.6 Roberto Hernandez 93 17.2 Byung-Hyun Kim 11 9.5 Ryan Klesko 24 24.6 Mike Lieberthal 15 13.3 Kenny Lofton 91 64.9 Jose Mesa 113 9.6 Mike Piazza 207 56.1 Reggie Sanders 18 36.7 Curt Schilling 171 76.1 Aaron Sele 21 17.5 Sammy Sosa 202 54.8 Mike Stanton 66 13.3 Jose Valentin 9 28.8 David Wells 88 49.2 Rondell White 6 25.5 Bob Wickman 60 15.4 Woody Williams 17 28.1
--This listing includes all 2007 retirees with at least 10 years played and 10 HOF Monitor points.
--This listing shows every player who last appeared in MLB in 2007. Click on column heading to sort.
So who do you think are the 10 players here who most deserve to be on the next Hall of Fame ballot? This year has a very strong class of newbies, so the actual screeners will likely choose more than ten. However, I don't think you can make a HOF case for more than ten of these, so we'll go with that.
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