2019 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

If the known total is only a third of ballots cast, figure many of those keeping their votes on the down low aren't eager for a potential backlash because they may not be in line with the conventional wisdom. So I would think Rivera, Halladay and Edgar are good - and the others are a coinflip at best.

 

That's only so far -- there's still another 19 days before the announcement. They will get probably around 60 percent of the total known by then. Hallday could take a nosedive but I doubt it. Rivera and Edgar are locks -- Edgar needs to do well with first-timers and get six more flips from the 300 or so outstanding ballots to be secure.

 

So the deadline is now. Why the lag?

 

Because the Hall is old school and ballots have to be mailed to Cooperstown. They had to be postmarked by Dec. 31. and then the 400-plus ballots have to be tabulated by hand because they are written out.

It used to be a week earlier but they pushed it back for some reason.

If you mean the lag on known ballots, they are revealed through columns / media organizations released their bundles as the announcement gets closer.

 

Post-Dispatch beat writer Derrick Goold's votes from Halladay to Walker:
Derrick Goold reveals his 10 picks on the 2019 Hall of Fame ballot

Interesting reasoning on Schilling.

 

Just about all of the Schilling voters who punished him for those comments have voted for him again. When there are so many candidates, only 10 slots and and a guy not that close to getting in, it makes sense. He's gained 12 more so far this year and and is within 90 votes of being elected. For a guy in Year 7 who has arguable points -- especially for the older electorate who see only 216 wins and no Cy Youngs -- he's probably right where he'd be regardless of the comments based on the ballots he's been on.

 

Interesting that Rivera is at 100 percent with this many votes. I know (I think I know) he won’t be at 100 percent at the end, but that seems high. I figured someone would have dinged him already as being “just a one-inning” guy.”

And before I go any further, I double checked some of his stats. I had no idea that his career era+ (205) was that high and so far ahead of number two (Kershaw at 159). I know it is one stat...but that is a lead. Side note, Dan Quisenberry is eighth in career era+

 

The people who don't vote for the absolute locks -- unless it is for strategic voting purposes -- never make their ballots public. The 3 people who didn't vote for Griffey are not known. The X voters who don't vote for Jeter next year won't.

 

If McGriff gets in, he's going to be wearing a Tom Emanski hat and be pointing a finger at you on the plaque, right?

 

Jokes aside, there's not enough votes left for McGriff to get in this year. The 2022 Vet Committee will do the honors.

 

10-day warning:

With 168 ballots recorded (there were 422 last year, so that is 39.8 percent of that total):

100 -- Rivera
94 -- Halladay
90.5 -- Edgar (plus 17, was 20 votes shy)
81.5 -- Mussina (plus 16, was 49 votes shy)
73.2 -- Clemens (plus 3, was 75 votes shy)
73.2 -- Schilling (plus 12, was 101 votes shy)
72.6 -- Bonds (plus 3, was 79 votes shy)
66.1 -- Walker (plus 34)
36.3 -- Vizquel (plus 14)
35.7 -- McGriff (plus 29)
26.2 -- Manny (0)
20.2 -- Helton and Rolen (plus 13)
15.5 -- Wagner (plus 7)
Everyone else under 15 percent; Pettitte as a first-timer at 7.1
Of note: Michael Young 3 votes, Oswalt, Berkman and Tejada 2 votes, Polanco 1 vote