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One player is a lock. Then the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame vote gets tricky.

Here’s how the Globe writers voted in this year’s election

January 20, 2019

Mariano Rivera is a Baseball Hall of Famer; the five Globe writers with votes in the annual election agree on that. From there it gets tricky, and that reflects the complexity of the ballot this year.

The Hall of Fame will reveal the choices made by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Those players with at least 75 percent of the votes will join Harold Baines and Lee Smith, who were elected by the Today’s Game Era Committee last month.

The Hall allows for secret ballots. But in the interest of transparency, here are the decisions made by the Globe writers with their explanations.

Players we voted for

5 votes

Mariano Rivera

1 year on ballot

4 votes

Edgar Martinez

10 years on ballot

Mike Mussina

6 years on ballot

Curt Schilling

7 years on ballot

2 votes

Roger Clemens

7 years on ballot

Barry Bonds

7 years on ballot

Omar Vizquel

2 years on ballot

Larry Walker

9 years on ballot

Roy Halladay

1 year on ballot

1 vote

Jeff Kent

6 years on ballot

Gary Sheffield

5 years on ballot

Scott Rolen

2 years on ballot

Todd Helton

1 year on ballot

Andy Pettitte

1 year on ballot

Other players on ballot: Fred McGriff, Manny Ramirez, Billy Wagner, Sammy Sosa, Andruw Jones, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Michael Tejada, Placido Polanco, Kevin Youkilis, Derek Lowe, Freddy Garcia, Vernon Wells, Tedy Lilly, Travis Hafner, Jason Bay, Michael Young, Jon Garland, Darren Oliver, Juan Pierre, Rich Ankiel

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Baines decision opens the door for Walker

Mariano Rivera
Edgar Martinez
Mike Mussina
Curt Schilling
Roger Clemens
Barry Bonds
Larry Walker
Roy Halladay
Scott Rolen

Larry Walker has been on the Hall of Fame ballot since 2011, my first year as a voter. Eight times I looked at his statistics, compared him with others, and ultimately decided against him.

But that changed this year. Walker is one of nine players I voted for, and he can thank something called the “Today’s Game” committee.

That committee, one of four subgroups of the old Veterans Committee, voted Harold Baines to the Hall of Fame on Dec. 9. Baines was a well-respected and accomplished player but certainly not close to qualified for the Hall of Fame.

That led to me giving a closer look to players such as Walker, Lance Berkman, Andruw Jones, and Gary Sheffield, all outfielders I did not intend to vote for. Maybe I missed something.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have let the Today’s Game committee influence my process. But there’s never any harm in taking a second look.

Pettitte makes the cut, but not Halladay

Mariano Rivera
Edgar Martinez
Mike Mussina
Curt Schilling
Roger Clemens
Barry Bonds
Omar Vizquel
Jeff Kent
Gary Sheffield
Andy Pettitte

While I’m tough on closers getting into the Hall because they are one-inning pitchers, Mariano Rivera’s accomplishments speak for themselves. There is a closer bias out there among voters, so I will be surprised if Rivera is a unanimous selection.

I did not vote for Roy Halladay this time because I feel very strongly that the pitchers I voted for deserve selection ahead of him and I needed to devote my other slots to positional players. And I will not succumb to a sympathy vote as a result of his tragic death.

I am big on pitchers’ records in the postseason, and I felt that Andy Pettitte pitched so well on the biggest stage. He went 19-11 in 44 postseason starts and had 256 regular-season wins as a lefty starter. Many of those years were in the AL East pitching for the Yankees.

The bar has been raised for first-time eligibles

Mariano Rivera
Edgar Martinez
Mike Mussina
Curt Schilling

OK, I get it. Johnny Damon is not a Hall of Famer, even though he is the only major leaguer who amassed 2,500 hits, 200 homers, 400 steals, 100 triples, 500 doubles, and 1,500 runs and is not enshrined in Cooperstown.

I knew when I voted for Damon last year that the Curse-busting Red Sox center fielder was borderline at best as a candidate, despite his also having won a historic World Series with the Sox in 2004 and another with the Yankees in 2009.

Damon received only eight votes, or 1.9 percent, in his first year of eligibility. Consequently, he was one and done, having failed to garner the 5 percent minimum to remain on the ballot.

I got that Damon was a transformative figure in Sox history — but maybe not a Hall of Famer.

Then Harold Baines happened. Baines, a right fielder and DH for five American League teams, was a dud like Damon in Hall of Fame voting. He lasted only five years on the ballot and was never supported by more than 6.1 percent of the voters. His career numbers were similar in many ways to Damon’s.

These eight were great, with no PED taint

Mariano Rivera
Edgar Martinez
Mike Mussina
Curt Schilling
Omar Vizquel
Larry Walker
Roy Halladay
Todd Helton

We’re not going to talk about PEDs, OK? You’re tired of that subject, anyway, I’m sure. I can’t bring myself to vote for the usual suspects. Perhaps someday. But not yet.

(Whew!)

But here are my 2019 Hall of Fame choices, in alphabetical order.

  • 1. Roy Halladay

    Some say 203 wins are not enough, but I’m looking at quality here. Check out the percentage (.659). Pretty good. Then imagine you’re his skipper. You hand him the ball and it’s almost 1948 all over again.
  • He finished with 67 complete games (young’uns, ask Dad) seven times, leading the league in that category, and four times leading in innings pitched.
  • He had 20 career shutouts. No one will ever do that again. Toss in his 2010 perfect game against Florida and his 2010 postseason no-no against Cincinnati, and to me it all adds up to a Cooperstown speech.
  • Unfortunately, he died in a solo plane crash in November of 2017. But his memory should be properly honored with selection to the Hall.

This time around, only one candidate is worthy

Mariano Rivera

One is the loneliest number

Sorry. I know we’re allowed to vote for as many as 10 players, and it’s certainly trendy to vote for the max, then protest that you wish you could vote for more, but I have never shared this feeling. In my view, we are not charged to vote for the 10 best players on the ballot. We are asked to determine who is Hall of Fame-worthy.

After much thought, debate, and consultation (I called three former players who are in the Hall of Fame), I cast a vote for one player: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

Call it the Harold Baines Effect if you want.

Baines is a fine man and was a very good hitter for 22 major league seasons. But he was not a Hall of Famer. And now he is going to the Hall of Fame thanks to the bullying tactics of White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf at a “Today’s Game Era Committee” meeting in Las Vegas last month.

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