Mastrodonato: Baseball Hall of Fame ballot revealed, and Joe Mauer isn’t on it

You must have an opinion. That was the very sound advice I received the first time I went on live TV as a sportswriter in Boston many years ago. I found myself thinking about it while I was filling out my ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, my first as a voter after completing my 10th year in the Baseball Writers Association of America.

If you don’t have an opinion, the process of selecting worthy candidates becomes impossible. It might be wrong. It might be right. Who’s to say? That’s why there are about 400 ballots sent in each year; the sum of 400 people creates an opinion that has worked quite well over the nearly century long process of voting.

A little less than half of the 270 players who have been inducted into Cooperstown were selected by the BBWAA; and a little more than half were selected by other processes, mostly the veterans committee, which is a group made up of former players and executives who get a chance to right the wrongs of the BBWAA.

The system works. And because of that, it allows us to make mistakes. If I make a vote that most of my colleagues don’t agree with, it won’t matter. Players need to be on 75% of the ballots to gain entry. I want my ballot to be reflective of my opinion, my unique experiences watching the game, covering the players, traveling the country with one team for a decade and learning the characteristics of a Hall of Fame player.

And yes, I believe in the clutch gene. It’s why I almost voted for Andy Pettitte, who so often came up big for the New York Yankees while pitching in 14 postseasons and winning five World Series titles. He ranks first all time in postseason wins (19) and innings (276 2/3). But his career 3.85 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in the regular season aren’t quite good enough.

With time, I might change my mind on Pettitte, just as I might change my mind on a few others I left off my ballot, most notably, Joe Mauer. I suspect he’ll do quite well in his first year on the ballot. My problem is that he was only elite for six years, from 2005 10, when he hit .328 with an .886 OPS while winning three Gold Gloves as one of the best catchers in baseball.

He only caught part time for the next three seasons, then stopped catching completely and moved to first base, where his offensive ability no longer sparkled. Over his final eight seasons he posted a .777 OPS, 18th behind qualified first basemen such as Lucas Duda, Brandon Moss and Adam Lind during those years.

A short window of Hall of Fame production is why I also couldn’t vote for David Wright or Chase Utley. Longevity is why I voted for Gary Sheffield, who hit .292 with a .907 OPS and 509 home runs over 22 seasons. Sheffield, who briefly during his career, never failed a drug test and was never suspended, and he continued as one of the game’s best sluggers well into his late 30s, years after formal testing began.

Why Sheffield but not Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez? Ramirez failed three drug tests in an , while Rodriguez’s lengthy PED scandal and subsequent attempts to cover it up were . He was originally suspended for a jaw dropping 211 games in perhaps the most substantial punishment since the Black Sox scandal.

Remembering the way it rocked the baseball world, I have a hard time thinking he should be celebrated in Cooperstown. There are two players I voted for who I don’t expect to be popular choices: Torii Hunter and Jimmy Rollins. I see Hunter as a very similar player to Andruw Jones, an easy vote for me as he was one of the game’s most electric roamers of center field who also averaged 34 home runs a year during his nine year prime.

Jones: 1,204 runs, 434 home runs, 1,289 RBIs, 152 stolen bases, .254 average, .823 OPS, 10 Gold Gloves. Hunter: 1,296 runs, 353 home runs, 1,391 RBIs, 195 stolen bases, .277 average, .793 OPS, nine Gold Gloves. Looking at their careers side by side, I’m surprised Jones was on 58% of the ballots last year while Hunter was only on 7%.

The three easy votes for me were Adrián Beltré, Carlos Beltrán and Billy Wagner. I expect Beltré to get in easily as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Todd Helton was a trickier vote, and I ultimately decided that he shouldn’t be punished for playing his home games in Coors Field, and that his other worldly offensive ability wasn’t solely reliant on home runs.

He is one of the few modern players who finished his career with more walks (1,335) than strikeouts (1,175). The hardest vote for me was also the easiest: Jimmy Rollins. It was easy because I always knew I wanted to vote for him. It was hard because I asked myself the same question others surely will: why vote for Rollins but not fellow Phillies greats Utley or Bobby Abreu? In a he wrote for The Athletic in 2022, Jayson Stark detailed some facts that stunned me: Rollins is the Phillies’ all time hits leader, the only shortstop ever in the 200 homer, 400 stolen base club, his 857 extra base hits rank third all time among shortstops behind Cal Ripken Jr.

and Derek Jeter and the three of them are the only shortstops ever with 2,400 hits and 200 home runs. And he was a four time Gold Glover. More than anything, this one was just a feeling. Rollins feels like a Hall of Famer to me. That’s just my opinion. Beltrán, Beltré, Helton, Hunter, Jones, Rollins, Sheffield, Wagner.

Abreu, José Bautista, Mark Buehrle, Bartolo Colón, Adrián González, Matt Holliday, Víctor Martínez, Mauer, Pettitte, Brandon Phillips, Ramirez, José Reyes, Alex Rodriguez, Francisco Rodríguez, James Shields, Utley, Omar Vizquel, Wright..