2024 Baseball Hall of Fame thread

He will be the next candidate du jour. This class is either Beltre and Helton or Beltre, Helton and Wagner.

I want to see where Beltran's number is this year but I think Utley is the next cause people rally around. Sheffield's going to fall off the ballot. No one is going to vote for Manny or A-Rod, Pettitte or Vizquel

Unless Mauer gets a some sort of crazy low number, Utley is an easy choice for like the 2026 or 2027 ballot which is devoid of locks

 

The leg injuries hurt Utley's case more than anything. From 2005-2009 he never posted an OPS below .905 while never playing in less than 147 games. After than he only played in more than 130 games while posting an OPS over .800 once until retiring in after the 2018 season.

 

I don't know how anyone could vote for Utley who didn't vote for Kent. Utley never won a GG, never finished higher than 7th in the MVP voting. Kent has way better counting stats, won an MVP (though arguably it was bc of Bonds fatigue ala Charles Barkley over Jordan), holds the career record for HRs by a second baseman, and has a superior slash line. He finished with a .500 career slugging percentage; Utley didn't surpass a .500 SLG percentage after his age-3o season. I know they're different ballots, but if Utley goes in before Whitaker, it'll be a travesty.

 

CAUSING a leg injury hurts Utley with me. Fuck that guy. Signed, Bitter Mets Fan.

(Yes, I would’ve loved him if he was on my team. But the Ruben Tejada broken leg was a completely dirty play.)

 

Kent will never get a sniff for the same reason Albert Belle will never get a sniff.

People didn't like them.

That's not to say that either would have been a slam-dunk anyway. But personality sways voters.

Personality and "morality" was not in the front of the minds of early Hall voters (see: Ty Cobb). But it's taken on an outsized priority now.

 

Jim Leyland gets elected with 15 of 16 votes

Piniella falls one vote short for second straight time.

Bill White is two votes shy

 

That’s brutal. Not sure how he and Leyland could get so much more support than Davey (5 0f 16 votes). Gotta be personalities alone bc nothing else makes sense.

 

A little surprised Davey Johnson didn't get more love, but no qualms with the balloting. Leyland was barely over .500, had that terrible stint in Colorado and never got that second title, but pennants in both leagues thing pretty much cements a manager for me. Piniella is close but just not there. I think White was closer than Piniella. Still, it's tough to see 80-somethings get so close knowing the next balloting is at least three years away.

 

Johnson may maybe been less than five. They don’t release totals unless you get more than that

 

Piniella would be a month shy of 84 if he were to make it to induction day as class of 2027

 

Can Jim Leyland’s plaque in Cooperstown have a continuously burning cigarette protruding? Like his own eternal flame?