The 2024 Hall of Fame Class

In Major League Baseball by Rice Cube51 Comments

Perhaps it is coincidental that the National Baseball Hall of Fame would announce its inductees in the same week as we got the Oscar and Razzie nominations (I have opinions on those too), but the time has come to welcome more icons into the shrine of humans who were very good at this baseball thing. We know from earlier that former manager Jim Leyland was voted in by the Veterans Committee (specifically, the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for candidates who did their thing from 1980 on), and poor Lou Piniella just missed getting in.

On the ballot itself, for me it hasn’t changed since the last time, and I feel like a lot of the public ballots have generally agreed with my not-so-brilliant choices:

  • Bobby Abreu
  • Carlos Beltrán
  • Adrian Beltré
  • Todd Helton
  • Andruw Jones
  • Joe Mauer
  • Manny Ramírez
  • Álex Rodríguez
  • Gary Sheffield
  • Billy Wagner

Some of these guys have some give left, and the showing from publicly revealed ballots has been very kind to Joe Mauer on his first go-around, but Gary Sheffield’s time on the writers ballot is done. There will also be a cull of the guys at the bottom of the ballot, who despite getting a handful of token votes will not go forward in the process. The always valuable public tracker by Ryan Thibodaux and friends suggested before the announcement that Adrían Beltré should sail in despite a handful of idiots not voting for him, while Joe Mauer and Todd Helton had a bit of a buffer above the 75% cutoff, and Billy Wagner will likely need another year to earn induction. This is probably a good time to share this masterpiece from Randall from some time ago:

Appropriately, Beltré was the first announced:

Next up was Mauer, with the stick:

The last inductee of this cycle was Todd Helton, who in the final voting actually got more support than Mauer:

Billy Wagner missed by a handful of votes in his penultimate year of eligibility but should be able to surge to induction in his final year. First-timer David Wright got just enough votes to stay on the ballot, but a few guys, including fun players José Bautista and Bartolo Colon, are done, as is Sheffield (pending any Veterans Committees). The BBWAA has the vote totals and now we turn our attention to the 2025 class, which obviously will be without the new inductees but will have Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia joining the names as guys who are most likely to get a plethora of votes.

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  8. Author
    Rice Cube

    dmick89,

    The biggest non-Ohtani signing on offense so far appears to have been Rhys Hoskins just now so it seems the entire market is bleah at the moment. Cubs are still allegedly the most logical destination for Bellinger though.

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  9. Perkins

    I think Bellinger returns to the Cubs and I get that Hoyer needs to get the best deal, but it really would be nice to see something sooner than later.

    On the plus side, seems like all the other logical suitors either shot their wads on other options or are scared because of the TV deal landscape.

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  25. BVS

    Not that anyone really cares what I think, but here’s my HOF ballot:

    Beltre
    Buehrle
    Helton
    Jones
    Mauer
    Pettite
    F Rodriguez
    Sheffield
    Wagner

    The changes in the game over the last 20-30 years boosts the candidacies of Buehrle and Wagner, to me. Buerhle was a horse during a period when more and more starters went fewer and fewer innings. Lots of writers criticize his case as simply compiling based on longevity but considering how rapidly the game was changing during his career I think that’s an unfair charge. (However, I think “compiler” is a fair assessment of Bartolo Colon, even though he’s one of the most entertaining players I’ve seen.)

    Since we have closers, and they are clearly not a 10-20 year fad that is not fading away, then we should have HOF closers. Wagner counts. And based on Wagner’s stats, so does FRod. What’s interesting is the list of leaders in saves and seeing how many guys were really flashes in the pan and couldn’t maintain sustained excellence. Edwin Diaz, for example, is already in the top 50 in saves, at 205. He’s passed guys who had some very successful seasons closing, and then faded away. (Henneman, Gagne, Thigpen, Jenks, Jeff Bradley…)

    Pettite’s postseason prowess boosts his borderline in-season stats.

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  26. Perkins

    BVS,

    I generally agree with these. I don’t remember your stance on PEDs, but I could much more easily defend Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez on a ballot than KRod and Buehrle. I might also swap in Beltran for Sheffield, though Beltran’s role in the Astros’ sign stealing scheme bothers me more than any of the PED guys.

    Buehrle was majorly underrated though. And with a World Series ring, a perfect game, and another no-no, he had more highlights than might be expected. I wouldn’t be at all disappointed to see him make it.

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  27. BVS

    Perkins,

    I’m pretty strict on the PEDs business, particularly after there was policy. Also happy to let baseball and HOF handle that themselves through Veterans Committees. Let them figure it out. If they think Manny, ARod, Bonds, and Clemens should be in, fine. It’s their mess. I think there are plenty of guys who deserve votes, so rather than vote for guys who flaunted the policy, I’ll vote for others. They should have held Selig out until this was cleared up. I assume someday they’ll all be in, and I’ll greet that with a shrug, not a scream.

    Beltran’s involvement in the sign stealing scandals keeps me from fake-voting for him too. A lot of writers didn’t vote for him last year and voted for him this year, saying he’d paid the price between being fired from managing the Mets and not getting in last year. I’d like him to be more honest about the whole situation. I think he’s lucky that Judge Landis or Bart Giamatti weren’t the commissioner, or he’d have been banned like Pete Rose and the Black Socks guys. But maybe if Mike Fiers makes the ballot then I can fake-vote for him with the vote I’d have given to Beltran. (dying laughing).

    I really think Buerhle is seriously being overlooked. He should be accumulating more votes as time goes on, not losing them. But maybe he’ll jump up some next year since 4 names come off and only Ichiro seems like a sure fire HOF’er. (Though I’m sure CC will get lots of votes.)

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  29. Perkins

    BVS,

    That’s fair and everyone has a different red line on cheating in baseball. I think Selig’s immediate induction dispels any good faith arguments that the BBWAA cares about the integrity of the game. For my part, I take much more issue with actions that directly impact the outcomes of games (automated sign stealing, gambling on games one plays or manages) than substances, but I respect most positions.

    Buehrle came at an interesting time. Most of his career was at the tail end of an era when pitchers more commonly threw 200, but he could always be counted on for a high volume of above average innings. CC is probably a first ballot guy due to the combo of 3000 Ks, 250+ wins, Yankees, dominant peak, and hardware.

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  30. BVS

    Perkins,

    I think Selig was inducted by a committee and not BBWAA. Pretty sure writers only vote on players.

    CC will be fun to watch. Since Mauer got in 1st ballot, he probably will too.

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  32. Author
    Rice Cube

    Random Cubs news today so far

    1. Minor leaguer I don’t know suspended for PEDs
    2. 7 Cubs prospects in MLB Pipeline top 100
    3. Carl Edward’s Jr MiLB deal

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  36. Perkins

    That’s awesome about Neris. Love seeing more quality guys in the bullpen, and I’m sure Counsell will manage their innings better than Ross had done.

    I lowkey want Edwards to make the roster just so there’s another 2016 guy on the team.

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  37. berselius

    Some meh peripherals on Neris but he still looks like a Cromulent Reliever™. A little surprising that the Cubs got him for this little in guarantees, he just declined a 8.5m option to become a FA.

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  48. berselius

    From Calcaterra’s newsletter over the weekend:

    https://twitter.com/MattOrtega/status/1750238352379666434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1750238352379666434%7Ctwgr%5Ed99ddad6731b5cead78436823321ff20607759b3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcupofcoffee.beehiiv.com%2Fp%2Fcup-coffee-january-29-2024

    As sports economist and Friend of Cup of Coffee J.C. Bradbury said yesterday morning, “Chambers of Commerce LOVE sports. It’s members are the fan cohort that buys premium season tickets. This should have been John Fisher’s crowd. We may be witnessing the death throes of the deal.” Here’s hoping.

    Second up, John Fisher is seeking minority investors in the A’s. He’s saying it’s about “creating a connection with the community,” but that’s horseshit. This is almost certainly motivated by a need to supply $1.1 billion for his portion of the stadium’s construction. Most people in his position would go to banks or other financial institutions for such funding first because they wouldn’t have to give up equity in the team to do it. Which makes me think that banks and financial institutions aren’t particularly interested in this stadium project, so Fisher is out there with his hat in his hand.

    Oh, and the stadium renderings which were supposed to be out ages ago are still not out and Fisher’s excuses for that seem to be shifting by the day.

    Reminder: the Athletics could’ve stayed in Oakland where there is (a) an existing fan base; and (b) the money being offered for a new ballpark was like three times what the A’s are getting in Nevada.

    (dying laughing)

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  49. Author
    Rice Cube

    Yeah I was gonna say that I haven’t seen any renderings besides their initial proposals which were just conjecture pictures from media and not the org itself…

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