Cooperstown will Deck the Halls with Ichiro and CC

Pair of first-year candidates shoo-ins with Wagner and others possible

The toughest Hall-of-Fame in sports

The Baseball Hall-of-Fame balloting period for the 2025 class of immortals ends on New Year’s Day, with more than 450 votes expected from a genuinely-invested-in-their-task panel of baseball writers. The eligible voting group of scribes is comprised of BBWAA member for 10-plus years that must then raise their hand and choose to participate. The integrity of the Hall-of-Fame process is underrated.

Much as it may outwardly seem to fans of certain former players, certain teams, the perception that the writers never get it right, it must be remembered this is a subjective vote for baseball immortality, as such there is no right or wrong. This negativity towards the process is only amplified by social media and, don’t underestimate, the still-shifting valuation of traditional statistics to the alphabet soup of the here and now, led by WAR and its variations.

Moving past that, the candidates include the best MLB players that left the active ranks five years earlier. They are added by a select committee to the ballot sent out to voters in early December. Candidates can remain on the ballot a maximum of 10 years, dropping off after a decade, or if they receive less than 5-percent support in any year. Voters can add their checkmark to a maximum of 10 names on their returned ballot.

Cooperstown historical perspective

While the eligibility and voting rules have pretty much remained the same, the process has changed a lot. I joined the Toronto Star as its baseball columnist in 1995, leaving a previous gig as Director, Media Relations for the Montreal Expos. Following my first 10 years as a BBWAA member, I was offered my first Hall ballot, in time for the 2005 election. It was a personal goosebump moment.

The year before I received that vote, back in 2004, I had written about the event and had shaken my head at the impressive list of those that received less than 5% and were thus eliminated from the ‘05 ballot that I received. The list of the dearly departed from ‘05 consideration included: Fernando Valenzuela, Keith Hernandez, Joe Carter, Dave Stieb, Dennis Martinez, Jimmy Key and Cecil Fielder.

There have also been some outstanding players and pitchers on the ballot, receiving zero votes. That shutout doesn’t need to happen. That personal belief explains some of my votes in recent years for candidates that clearly were never going to Cooperstown unless they bought a ticket. This year I voted for catcher Russ Martin. He caught for four different teams for seven straight years and led his team to the playoffs every season, including two years in a row (2013-14) with a Pirates team that had not even finished above .500 since Barry Bonds left for the West Coast. Martin is not going to the Hall, but being on the ballot he should be able to tell his kids that he wasn’t shut out. With room for 10 names, it often allows for those decisions of the heart.

One popular criticism on social media is that if you have 10 votes, use 10 votes. That is flawed. In fact, it’s only over the past 15 years that it has been considered normal for voters to fill in all 10 names on their ballot. When I began voting in 2005, most grizzled, veteran scribes chose to put a checkmark next to just 3-4 names, with some even pitching a shutout, based on their own cantankerous principles.

Consider that over the 10 voting periods, since 2015, the BBWAA has approved three or more candidates five times, 2015-17-18-19 and 2024. In the prior 78 years, between 1937 and 2014, the writers gave their immortal blessings to three or more candidates, in the same year, five times, 1937-39-47-54 and 1955. We won’t include the ’36 ballot, since that was the debut year of the Hall-of-Fame and they inducted five of the greats of the game. Extra generosity was included in the last three, 3+ inductions, maybe because the U.S. needed to celebrate, emerging from WW II and the Korean War.

It should also be noted that, in 1937, the legendary righthanded pitcher Cy Young (511-315, 2.63 ERA, 749 CG) was only voted in his second year of eligibility and garnered just 76.1% of the votes cast. Famers need 75% to qualify. Of course, you could argue he never won a Cy Young Award. The point is, does anyone remember that it was Cy’s second-year selection, or, more importantly, does anyone care? A Hall-of-Famer is a Hall-of-Famer and having to wait doesn’t make you any less so.

In 2010, the year Andre Dawson was the only selection by the writers, 11 of the next 14 in the final rankings were eventually enshrined, so all is not lost for players that don’t earn the nod in 2025.

The Griffin 2025 Ballot

Including the years being listed on the ballot in parentheses, here is an alphabetical summary of my seven 2025 selections: Carlos Beltran (3); Felix Hernandez (1); Andruw Jones (8); Russell Martin (1); CC Sabathia (1); Ichiro Suzuki (1); Billy Wagner (10).

The results will be announced on the MLB Network on January 21, with the induction ceremony held outdoors at Cooperstown on Sunday, July 27 with every Hall-of-Famer invited to attend. For families, with attendance being free, the trip is well worth it. But book early.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

*Exit Philosophy podcast with Mal Romanin returns later this week.

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