There are many Halls of Fame for pretty much any conceivable thing in the world today. A Hall of Fame can be anything these days from a giant physical location to a simple database. It has to be an honor to be enshrined in any Hall, but there is one that stands above all the rest. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is the most prestigious, and most hotly debated, Hall of them all. But for the first time in a while, the class entering baseball’s most hallowed ground in 2016 seems just right.
Each year we discuss the candidacy of eligible players. There are the locks. It isn’t whether or not these legends of the diamond are getting in to the Hall of Fame, it is by what margin.
There are also the fringe players. These men have either been on the ballot for a long time, seeing their percentage inch closer and closer to the 75% level necessary for entry. They are also players who accumulated impressive statistics over time but prompt you to hesitate when asked “Is Player X a Hall of Famer?” Sometimes these fringe players last the full ten years on the ballot because said hesitation by the majority of voters is too overwhelming.
The newest group to crop up in recent years is what can be referred to ask the “dark cloud” contingent. Whether it be players who were directly linked to PEDs over the years, or have had enough speculation surrounding them to put doubt in voters minds to the validity of their accomplishments, they stick around the ballot like lint to your jeans.
Finally there are “glad to be here” players. These are the fine gents who were eligible but had no real shot of getting the requisite 5% of votes to stay on the ballot another year. It was a pleasure to be nominated for Jim Edmonds (11 votes), Nomar Garciaparra (8 votes), Mike Sweeney (3 votes), David Eckstein (2 votes), Jason Kendall (2 votes), and Garret Anderson (1 vote). Not even a single vote was cast for Brad Ausmus, Luis Castillo, Troy Glaus, Mark Grudzielanek, Mike Hampton, Mike Lowell, and Randy Winn.
When you look over the voting for the 2016 Hall of Fame, you see these groups line up to a T. Every individual voter has a personal favorite they champion, or a specific market that they will fill the ballot up for. But the 2016 Hall of Fame class, while only two people, is rock solid. We’ll break it down by the tiers.
THE LOCKS
This year had one mortal lock to get in. That man was the possessor of the sweetest swing in baseball history, Ken Griffey Jr. While nobody can deny that in an era riddled with cheats and liars, the accomplishments of “The Kid” became super amplified. He was the prototypical five-tool player, a term that became more of a cliche than an actual description of a prospect’s skill set over time. 630 home runs, 13 All-Star nods, 10 consecutive Gold Gloves, and the 1997 AL MVP are the accolades that embodied the label, and which made him a shoo-in for induction. Junior garnered the highest percentage of votes ever for an inductee. His 99.3% (437 out of 440) bested the previous best of Tom Seaver at 98.84% (425 out of 430) from 1992. The three culprits who neglected to put Griffey on their Hall of Fame ballots are still at large.
While it was his fourth year of eligibility, Mike Piazza was another lock for Cooperstown. He stood at the closest edges of the “dark cloud” guys, but never had anything concretely (or even half-heartedly) linked to him in that regard. Piazza’s rise from being drafted in the 62nd round as a favor to Tommy Lasorda in 1988 to becoming the premier hitting catcher of the 1990’s will never be replicated. While Griffey made history being the first #1 pick ever enshrined, Piazza’s draft status was 40 rounds below the previous low set by John Smoltz last year (22nd round). Though Piazza’s best statistical seasons came in Dodger blue, he became his most beloved during his time with the Mets. The 2000 Subway Series and the post-9/11 work done by him and the rest of the Mets in New York are memories that will never exit any Mets fan’s mind. Those 427 home runs (a record 396 as a catcher) and 1335 RBI didn’t hurt his cause either.
THE FRINGE GUYS
Three guys fell just shy of election this year while a few more fell by the wayside. The voting process sometimes ends up like blocking merchandise in a supermarket, bringing the oldest items to the front.
That is the case of Tim Raines. “Rock” was one of the quintessential leadoff men in history, never mind his generation. His blend of patience at the plate (1330 BB/966 K) and aggressiveness on the basepaths (808 SB, 5th all-time). His accomplishments have been unjustly overshadowed though by the proliferation of power numbers in baseball and the fact that his career coincided with Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter baseball has ever seen. He has one year left on the ballot, and having received 69.8% of the vote this season, should break through in 2017.
The two other near-misses were Jeff Bagwell and Trevor Hoffman. Bagwell fell 15 votes shy in his sixth year on the ballot. His vote getting had been an up and down process before hitting a critical spike this year of 71.6%. He was one of the most complete hitters of the 1990’s at first base and if you look at JAWS (the sabermetric algorithm not the Bond villain) you would see Bagwell lumped as the meat in a Hall of Fame sandwich.
Hoffman was more of a compiler than a dominant force which makes his 67.3% on his first go of it very intriguing. He could get you 50 regular season saves, but in a big spot (case in point the 1998 World Series or 2007 NL play-in game) he couldn’t be trusted. For years relievers got very little love in the Hall of Fame voting. Lee Smith, the career saves leader upon his retirement, will get his final crack at Cooperstown next year netting just half of Hoffman’s support. Did voters just see Hoffman’s big save total (601) and vote off that? If so, it’ll be interesting to see how the voters take into account his peripherals and penchant for shrinking on the grander stages when the great Mariano Rivera comes up for induction.
These guys knocking on the Hall’s door are most likely going to get in. There are other players that fall in this fringe category that are also making huge strides towards getting on that doorstep. Curt Schilling, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina all made double digit percentage jumps. Each has plenty of time to go on the ballot so if these strides can be reproduced in the coming years, they too will be on the same cusp as Raines, Bagwell, and Hoffman.
THE “DARK CLOUD” CONTINGENT
Mark McGwire is still involved in baseball as a hitting instructor, but he’s going to need the Veteran’s Committee to get him into the Hall of Fame. The first man to break the 70 home run plateau finished his final year on the ballot with just 12.3% of the vote. 500 home runs is no longer the magic number it used to be for Hall of Fame voters. Sammy Sosa and Gary Sheffield still have time, but they couldn’t even break 20% combined.
Then there is the home run king. The man who many believed to be a first ballot Hall of Famer before his run at the record books even began: Barry Bonds. Though Bonds gained seven percent, the same amount that fellow ‘roid lightning rod Roger Clemens was boosted, he still seems ways away from getting into Cooperstown. It seems fitting to see a guy of Bonds’ ilk squirm as he teeters on the fence of immortality, but in reality can it truly be a Hall of Fame if the home run king and the hit king are both on the outside looking in?
While this year didn’t provide much controversy, next year has the chance to be a total clown car of a class. There is only one true “first ballot guy” in Pudge Rodriguez, leaving many a ballot wide open to stuffing for some of the fringe guys from above as well as some first timers like Vladimir Guerrero. Is Manny Ramirez, a two time PED offender, going to go the road of McGwire? Or will he be slowly dragged up the voting ladder like Bonds? We’ll wait until next year for that one. Until now, let us give another hardy congratulations to Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, the two right picks for the class of 2016.