What my HOF Ballot would look like...if I had one

Photo credit: AP

Hall of Fame voting is underway with 15 new players on the ballot this year for consideration. Prominent among them is outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., who is a certainty, and ex-Red Sox 3rd baseman (and World Series MVP with us) Mike Lowell. Other new faces on the ballot include closer Trevor Hoffman, Jim Edmonds, Garrett Anderson, Brad Ausmus, and Billy Wangner. There are 32 players total up for consideration this year. Without further ado, here are the guys I would put in:

1. Ken Griffey Jr - This is a no brainer. He is one of the top 3 players who never won a championship, and would have easily had 3,000 hits if he hadn't had injury problems in his career. As it is, he did finish with 2781 hits, 630 home runs, 13 All Star selections and 10 Gold Gloves with the injuries. To me, that should be enough.

2. Mike Piazza - One of the best catchers to ever play the game has been hovering near the requisite 75% needed to gain entry (69.9% last year). I think he finally gets in this season.

3. Curt Schilling - For me, this is about arguably the gutsiest play-off performances in history with the bloody sock. His stats don't jump out at you with regards to the Hall - 216-146 record, 3.46 ERA, 3116 strikeouts in 3261.0 innings, but I would still put him in because he was best on the big stage.

4. Jeff Bagwell - He finished his career with 2314 hits and 449 home runs, as well as a .297 batting average. He also finished his career with a .993 fielding percentage, only committing 129 errors in his entire career. And he did it all with the Houston Astros, which was impressive. To me, he was a great all around player and he deserves the nod.

Well, there you have it. Those are the guys I would put in. You could make a case for all 32 guys on the list, but not all 32 guys will get in. I welcome your thoughts on this.  

All stats from baseball-reference.com.

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