2017 Hall of Fame vote urgent for some with loaded '18-'19 looming
Hall of Fame holdovers better hope for huge increases next season, because in '18-'19, Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay and a host of others join the ballot.
By
Matt Snyder
•
1 min read
We now know that Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza are Hall of Famers and that Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines are close. Others, such as Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina seem to be moving closer, too, after the 2016 BBWAA Hall of Fame vote was revealed. First-timer Trevor Hoffman is also in very good shape at 67.3 percent of the vote.
So for those with a legitimate shot to one day get 75 percent of the vote and gain enshrinement to the Baseball Hall of Fame, 2017 looms very large.
Why?
Because the 2018 and 2019 ballot is loaded with strong newcomers.
In 2018, Chipper Jones comes onto the ballot for the first time. Do we even need to discuss? He's in the .300/.400/.500 club, was the centerpiece of a team that went to the playoffs every single year, won an MVP and had the following counting stats: 2,726 hits, 549 doubles, 468 homers, 1,623 RBI, 1,619 runs. Next!
Jim Thome also joins the ballot in 2018. He has 612 career home runs (seventh all-time) and has a stellar .402 on-base percentage thanks to ranking seventh in career walks (and 29th in intentional walks). He had the fear factor and worked great counts to his advantage.
Scott Rolen has a case. Many will scoff, but he compares favorably with the established average Hall of Famer at third base. Omar Vizquel, Johnny Damon, Andruw Jones (check his career through age-30 before laughing) and Johan Santana could receive varying levels of support, too.
Still, Jones and Thome alone seem easy.
In 2019, Mariano Rivera and Roy Halladay join the party. Those are rather obvious, no? I don't even need to discuss Rivera, in my opinion, because I think the voting bloc has already made up its mind. On Halladay, I offered this up the day he retired.
I don't believe the following are Hall of Famers, but they also join the ballot in 2019: Todd Helton, Andy Pettitte, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt and Miguel Tejada.
So while the 2017 class might only produce one Hall of Famer in Vladimir Guerrero, the following two years seem pretty loaded.
(And, shhhhh! There's a dude named Derek Jeter on the 2020 ballot.)
The message: The likes of Bagwell, Schilling, Mussina, Bonds, Clemens and Martinez better hope for a pretty huge leap next year.
[Note: Hoffman's got plenty of time and Raines' last shot is in 2017.]
