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My mock Hall of Fame ballot: multiple former Atlanta Braves named

By Alan Carpenter

MIAMI, FLORIDA - APRIL 05: Hitting coach Barry Bonds #25 of the Miami Marlins looks on during 2016 Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers at Marlins Park on April 5, 2016 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - APRIL 05: Hitting coach Barry Bonds #25 of the Miami Marlins looks on during 2016 Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers at Marlins Park on April 5, 2016 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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COOPERSTOWN NY: Harold Baines, Lee Smith, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera and Brandy Halladay, wife the late Roy Halladay, pose with their plaques during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 21, 2019. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
COOPERSTOWN NY: Harold Baines, Lee Smith, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera and Brandy Halladay, wife the late Roy Halladay, pose with their plaques during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 21, 2019. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

The 2019 Hall of Fame ballot has an interesting mix of players that allows for much discussion. And that includes the viability of multiple former Atlanta Braves.

I have been pleased to share news and opinions on the Atlanta Braves for the last 6-1/2 years on this site, and this experience with FanSided has opened many doors that would not have otherwise been available.

We recently repeated our now-annual Winter Meetings simulation in which many of our editors and contributors functioned as General Managers for a week – trying to play negotiators and team builders… and we actually had some surprisingly close results:

  • Our Gerrit Cole result was 8 years at $36.125 million (Phillies). The real-time life Yankees gave him a 9th year at almost the identical annual rate.
  • Anthony Rendon ‘received’ a 7 year, $34m contract from the faux-Nationals… just $1m per year under the actual deal from the Angels

This year, we are conducting a Hall of Fame balloting exercise for the first time and hoping that our results are just as close to those of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America once their results are revealed in January.

Each MLB site editor is being asked to fill out a ballot. We don’t have 400-500 voters like the BBWAA, but for sure it is a way to examine multiple careers and make some choices about those who have played the game.

It also has been a time to reflect on the process, the current state of affairs with the balloting, and particularly the subject of cheating in the sport – which certainly is a topic on the front burner right now.

Quickly about the balloting:  while the votes are limited to 10 per season, this is frustrating, since there have been several year (I don’t believe this is one of them) in which more than 10 deserving players were eligible.

To place that limit – and writers have historically places their own additional limits – makes the ‘club’ more exclusive than it should be.  The great players are great because of what they’ve done – not because they did that and then were lucky enough to appear on a piece of paper during a period with weaker candidates.

But that’s not the biggest problem facing the process.

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