You Always Remember Your First Time

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Here's the Hall of Fame Ballot Tracker, which as tallied about half the ballots prior to the announcement later tonight. The percentages tend to drop, so Wagner can't really afford to lose too may. I think Beltran will fall short. A litle surprised about Sabathia, who I did not think of as a first-ballot guy.

Public Ballots: 202

Anonymous/Unverifiable Ballots: 11

% of Ballots Known: 54.3%

Ichiro Suzuki 100.0%

CC Sabathia 92.5%

Billy Wagner 85.4%

Carlos Beltrán 81.2%

Andruw Jones 72.8%

Chase Utley 52.1%

Álex Rodríguez 39.9%

Manny Ramírez 36.2%

Andy Pettitte 31.9%

Bobby Abreu 24.4%

Félix Hernández 23.9%

Jimmy Rollins 20.2%

Dustin Pedroia 15.0%

Omar Vizquel 12.7%

Mark Buehrle 12.7%

David Wright 10.8%

Francisco Rodríguez 8.0%

Brian McCann 3.3%

Russell Martin 3.3%

Ian Kinsler 3.3%

Torii Hunter 2.3%

Ben Zobrist 0.0%

Troy Tulowitzki 0.0%

Fernando Rodney 0.0%

Hanley Ramírez 0.0%

Adam Jones 0.0%

Curtis Granderson 0.0%

Carlos González 0.0%

[Frayed Knot]

Ichiro Suzuki (one vote shy of unanimous)

Carsten Charles Sabathia

William Edward Wagner

[metsmarathon]

who is the absolute coward who anonymously chose not to vote for ichiro..?!

[Frayed Knot]

David stays alive with 8.1%

[Centerfield]

who is the absolute coward who anonymously chose not to vote for ichiro..?!

 

A guy who deserves to have his vote rescinded.

[Frayed Knot]

Ichiro still not speaking English in interviews ... which is kind of disappointing in that he reportedly speaks/understands the language much better than he lets on.

Will he speak English at his induction ceremony? Sounds like probably not despite his 19 seasons on this side of the Pacific.

[Edgy MD]

Wagner, lest it go unremembered, was in his tenth and final year on the ballot.

He will be, somewhat surprisingly, the first lefthanded reliever in the Hall of Fame.

[MFS62]

who is the absolute coward who anonymously chose not to vote for ichiro..?!

 

I'm guessing it was a dick MFY fan (that's redundant) who wants to keep Mariano Rivera as the only unanimous HOF entry.

Later

[kcmets]

No Pettitte, at least there is a smidgeon of reasonableness in the world.

[TransMonk]

Next year's first-time class is even weaker, IMO.

[fimg=500]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gh3LoN8XAAAVbP_?format=jpg&name=large[/fimg]

[TheNextMetsManager]

Ichiro still not speaking English in interviews ... which is kind of disappointing in that he reportedly speaks/understands the language much better than he lets on.

Will he speak English at his induction ceremony? Sounds like probably not despite his 19 seasons on this side of the Pacific.

 

well, he's not English. I'd expect him to speak Japanese, given that he's from there.

[metsmarathon]

Next year's first-time class is even weaker, IMO.

[fimg=500]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gh3LoN8XAAAVbP_?format=jpg&name=large[/fimg]

 

without doing much analysis, there's no hall of famers on next year's first time ballot, and probably only hamels even sticks around past a first year.

[Bob Alpacadaca]

That’s gotta help Andruw Jones and Beltran!

[The Hot Corner]

That’s gotta help Andruw Jones and Beltran!

 

I would certainly expect so.

[metirish]

Happy for Wagner , goes in as an Astro? Or no team cap ?

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Happy for Wagner , goes in as an Astro? Or no team cap ?

 

I suspect an Astro. I was hoping that Sabathia would go in with Cleveland's logos, but he actually spent more time in the Bronx and I'm not sure he never wore a Cleveland cap with the C.

[Cowtipper]

Ichiro wasn't deserving of 100 percent. 100 percent implies perfection and that latter half of his career was anything but.

A great class nevertheless.

With the weak batch of first timers next go-around, Beltran and Andruw Jones are lined up very well for election. After that, it looks like there will be some sparse elections, as none of the other holdovers are particularly close.

Sabathia probably didn't deserve the first ballot, but with Felix Hernandez getting 20 percent on his first try, you can tell the standard for starters has fallen precipitously.

[YOUTUBE]j5KS0OoRJUo[/YOUTUBE]

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ichiro wasn't deserving of 100 percent. 100 percent implies perfection and that latter half of his career was anything but.

 

 

That's nonsense. A non-vote for Ichiro is a statement that Ichiro is not a HOFer. If every voter held that absurd view, Ichiro wouldn't have gotten a single vote. Or did Mariano Rivera win the Cy Young award in his last season?

Babe Ruth didn't deserve to go in unanimously? Willie Mays? Yogi Berra? Tom Seaver?

A player is either a HOFer or he isn't.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ichiro wasn't deserving of 100 percent. 100 percent implies perfection and that latter half of his career was anything but.

 

 

That's nonsense. A non-vote for Ichiro is a statement that Ichiro is not a HOFer. If every voter held that absurd view, Ichiro wouldn't have gotten a single vote.

 

Which would have removed him from the ballot and from HOF consideration for decades.

[Cowtipper]

Well, by that logic, if every player is a Hall of Famer or he isn't, then every player that earns election should earn 100% support.

Ichiro is a great, but not an all-time great. He spent nearly ten years of his career as a total dog. And before then, though he hit for sexy high averages, he was mostly just a singles hitter.

If I were a voter, I could easily understand doing a little voting strategery to keep some less-discussed players on the ballot. In doing so, I could easily see myself dropping a Suzuki—a shoo-in—for someone who is just holding on.

A lot of eventual Hall of Famers just hold on in the early going these days. Wagner earned 10% support his first two tries. Same with Scott Rolen. Todd Helton earned just 16%. Larry Walker's vote totals dropped to about 10% a few times. So I could see doing a little strategery.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Well, by that logic, if every player is a Hall of Famer or he isn't, then every player that earns election should earn 100% support.

 

 

That's right.

I get it when a player doesn't get 100% of the vote because a voter isn't sure if that player is a HOFer. And some voters come around. They believe, initially, that the player isn't HOF worthy but are persuaded over time that he is. But what's the logic for not voting for Warren Spahn? Or Rickey Henderson? Or Hank Aaron? Or Ted Williams?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Well, by that logic, if every player is a Hall of Famer or he isn't, then every player that earns election should earn 100% support.

 

 

That's right.

I get it when a player doesn't get 100% of the vote because a voter isn't sure if that player is a HOFer. And some voters come around. They believe, initially, that the player isn't HOF worthy but are persuaded over time that he is. But what's the logic for not voting for Warren Spahn? Or Rickey Henderson? Or Hank Aaron? Or Ted Williams?

 

In the entire history of baseball, Mariano Rivera was the only player who deserved to go in unanimously on his first ballot?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Well, by that logic, if every player is a Hall of Famer or he isn't, then every player that earns election should earn 100% support.

 

 

That's right.

 

 

I should've written "for the most part" instead of "that's right". On occasion, the HOF worthiness of a candidate is in reasonable doubt or question. So it's understandable when some players are inducted into the HOF with less than 100% of the vote.

But there's no reasonable argument for withholding a vote from Seaver. Or Mays. Or Mantle. Or dozens and dozens of other players. Including Ichiro. You just fabricated some standards out of thin air to rationalize Ichiro's non-vote.

[Edgy MD]

The voters who voted against many of those figures can speak for themselves, and many have. To me, it doesn't matter, because when you're in, you're in, and the percentages don't matter to me. Others feel otherwise. All people are flawed, so if you're pedantic enough, or want to distinguish yourself with a "Look at me!" minority view, no matter how strained, you can make a case against anybody.

In Ted Williams' time, the notion of distinguishing between "Hall-of-Famer" and "First-Ballot Hall-of-Famer" — which is still a distinction plenty of people still make even though nothing in the voting instructions suggests it should be there — was even more pronounced. Beyond that, there wasn't the five-year waiting period for a stretch, so players like Joe Dimaggio would lose votes from some writers based on the notion that he might un-retire, as if somehow an actual Hall-of-Famer on the field playing would be farcical.

I, actually, would love to date a person's eligibility as something like 20 years from the start of his or her professional career. That way we would occasionally have a few Hall-of-Famers still taking the field late in their careers, with a nice little patch on the sleeve to show off.

[MFS62]

I, actually, would love to date a person's eligibility as something like 20 years from the start of his or her professional career. That way we would occasionally have a few Hall-of-Famers still taking the field late in their careers, with a nice little patch on the sleeve to show off.

LOL!

Interesting idea that would have traditionalists clutching their pearls.

My view is that there are some players you look at and say "That guy's going to be a Hall of Famer". It is that obvious. But for them, no patch is needed.

The others? Let them wait.

Later

[Edgy MD]

I didn't expect that to be particularly LOL funny.

[MFS62]

I didn't expect that to be particularly LOL funny.

I know.

But my mental picture of the reaction of the traditionalists was funny (to me).

Later

[G-Fafif]

If you had Ichiro crossing paths with Kelvin Torve…BINGO!

 

Kelvin Torve, ex major leaguer and Orix Blue Wave teammate (1992-1993) – “I get to the ballpark and go down to the field to stretch. Ichiro’s standing in center field by himself. He’s got his hat over his heart and he’s facing the center field stands, screaming at the top of his lungs for 5, 10 minutes.

I asked our interpreter, ‘What’s gotten into Ichiro?’ And he said that yesterday there was a fly ball behind second base. Ichiro and our second baseman ran into each other.

So, what Ichiro was screaming was ‘My name is Ichiro Suzuki and I’m learning to use my voice.’ It was a punishment.

I coach American Legion baseball in South Dakota now and I use that story with my outfielders – that if you don’t talk, I’d hate to do what did to Ichiro. It was a teaching lesson for him and a coaching lesson for me.”

 

Mark Simon amasses an oral history on the Hall of Famer’s defense…

https://www.sportsinfosolutions.com/2025/01/23/oral-history-ichiro-suzukis-defensive-legacy/

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

That's great. Torve told me in an interview that Ichiro was so young when they were teammates that he used to ride his bicycle to the stadium.

[Cowtipper]

Well, by that logic, if every player is a Hall of Famer or he isn't, then every player that earns election should earn 100% support.

 

 

That's right.

 

 

I should've written "for the most part" instead of "that's right". On occasion, the HOF worthiness of a candidate is in reasonable doubt or question. So it's understandable when some players are inducted into the HOF with less than 100% of the vote.

But there's no reasonable argument for withholding a vote from Seaver. Or Mays. Or Mantle. Or dozens and dozens of other players. Including Ichiro. You just fabricated some standards out of thin air to rationalize Ichiro's non-vote.

 

On man's "fabrications" are another man's "hypotheticals."