Minnesota Twins: My 2022 FanSided Hall of Fame Ballot, Explained
First three Votes that were Elected: David Ortiz, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens
We’ll start off with the three candidates that I voted for that were elected into the Mock Hall: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and David Ortiz. In our election, Bonds was named on 83% of the ballots, Ortiz was named on 80%, and Roger Clemens was named on 77%.
Starting with David Ortiz, my affinity for Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox players doubled up here. Big Papi ranks in the Top 50 all-time in slugging percentage, OBS, total bases, homers, walks, and is in the Top 20 for RBI, homers, doubles, and extra base hits. He’s made his mark on the game.
Throw in three World Series titles, seven Silver Slugger awards, ten All-Star appearances, and a World Series MVP award, and you’ve got a first ballot Hall of Famer. His one positive steroid test isn’t enough to deter my vote either, especially since it happened before his success. His Baseball Hall of Fame vote tracker shows most voters agree, as he’s sitting at 84.2%.
I picked Barry Bonds in his tenth year of eligibility for a similar reason to why I picked him last year: Bonds put up some of the greatest numbers of all time, and his steroid use didn’t take place until after he had already built a Hall of Fame career. In year ten, he’s waited long enough.
For Roger Clemens, he has the same case as Bonds. A steroid user with a ridiculously good resume including an MVP, two World Series titles, seven Cy Young awards, and seven ERA titles. He wasn’t juicing throughout his entire career, so I put him through here as well.
Neither player relied entirely on steroids to build a legendary resume, and with the MLB not doing enough to prevent steroid use from running rampant, both players make it into the Hall here. BHOF vote tracker currently has their ballot numbers at 77.2% and 76.1% respectively, so I think they might make it here.
Candidates that Belong but didn’t make the cut this year: Scott Rolen, Todd Helton, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, and Curt Schilling
After Bonds, Clemens, and Ortiz it gets a little murky. I used all ten of my voting slots, even on a few candidates who probably aren’t deserving right away because I would want them to remain on the ballot. There were a few that I thought should have made it, but didn’t make it in this round of voting (and may miss the official Hall of Fame as well).
The first one I bring up here is Scott Rolen. Rolen is the definition of a borderline candidate. He’s got plenty of accolades as a seven-time All-Star, the 1997 Rookie of the Year, eight-time Gold Glove winner, and one time Silver Slugger award winner. He’s got the accolades, and his defense helped him rack up an excellent 70.1 career bWAR.
With that being said, he doesn’t have incredible offensive numbers, and his lack of black ink (leading the league in an offensive category) hurts him. I don’t think he makes it this year, but with a wide open ballot next year, he should get his hard-earned spot in the Hall.
Todd Helton makes the cut here as well. Helton had an insanely good seven-year-peak of his career, the time where players are really judged for the Hall. His time in Colorado makes his numbers a little inflated, but his 61.8 bWAR and stellar fielding numbers suggest he belongs in the Hall. Similar to Rolen, I expect his odds to boost in 2023.
In addition to being a playoff hero and extremely exciting player, I also included Manny Ramirez as a Hall of Famer. If you look just at his numbers, especially his seven-year peak, Ramirez is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Twelve All-Star appearances, nine Silver Slugger Awards, a batting title 555 home runs and two rings (not to mention a World Series MVP award) is an incredible resume.
Alex Rodriguez also offers that level of a resume, but even better. Three MVP awards, fourteen All-Star appearances, ten Silver Sluggers, 695 home runs and a 117.3 bWAR that ranks sixteenth all-time. Unfortunately, both Rodriguez and Ramirez got busted for doping, which put an asterisk by their names.
It really shouldn’t matter though at this point. If Bonds and Clemens are going in, I want to see Ramirez and Rodriguez follow them in, even if it isn’t this year. Both players were far too good to be kept out of the hall.
The last person I’ll talk about in this section is Curt Schilling. Schilling was one of the best pitchers of the late 1990s and 2000s, not to mention one of the best playoff pitchers of his generation. His oft-outspoken and insensitive political views are going to cost him the Hall, but his pitching ability, especially in big moments, earns my vote here.
Minnesota Twins and some Honorable Mentions
To this point, the eight players who’ve gotten my vote are Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, David Ortiz, Scott Rolen, Todd Helton, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and Curt Schilling. Because I only get ten votes, that means that there were a few players who missed the cut.
Andruw Jones, who finished fourth in our mock Hall of Fame ballot with 69% probably won’t make the real Hall this year either, but I will definitely be casting my vote for him next year. The all-time great defender just came short of my list, mostly because he’s still got five years left.
Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield, Jeff Kent, and Andy Pettite earned consideration, but I don’t think any of them are better than the nine players I have listed above. Sammy Sosa earned a look too, but I just didn’t see him as a Hall of Famer. Same with Minnesota Twins legend Justin Morneau.
So what about my last two spots? Well, I gave them to two Minnesota Twins players who are Hall of Famers in my eyes that I knew wouldn’t get enough credit: Torii Hunter and Joe Nathan. Neither will make the hall, but I wanted them to get at least a vote.
Hunter was a defensive whiz and a powerful hitter for both the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels, and despite a lack of black ink, I wanted him to be considered. As for Joe Nathan, he was a dominant closer for a decade, and landing eighth all-time in saves despite only finishing 587 games is a true achievement.
With all that being said, who would you induct into the Hall of Fame?
Next. Minnesota Twins: Three New Additions to the Twins Hall of Fame. dark