There are still more Hall of Fame candidates than room to vote for them

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Grant Brisbee did his usual offseason thing on Tuesday morning, publishing the only correct Hall of Fame ballot. Rather than vote for the 18 players he identified as worthy of a vote for Cooperstown, he was limited to just 10 selections, because the rules specify that only 10 selections can be made. That’s limiting and one-sided, as we’ve discussed in this space before: Limiting the number of votes that can be made on a single ballot leans too heavily in the favor of small-hall advocates, whereas large-hall supporters have to put a stop to their support after 10 votes. Small-hallers have no such limits, as they could vote for no one in a given year if they felt that anyone they voted for would make Cooperstown just a little too big.

You might not think that there are 18 Hall of Famers on this year’s ballot, but there are definitely more than 10. Brisbee’s fake ballot didn’t include Jeff Kent, Trevor Hoffman, Fred McGriff, Edgar Martinez, Jorge Posada, Sammy Sosa, Billy Wagner, or Larry Walker. Martinez and Walker are easy Hall of Fame choices, and if you aren’t anti-reliever, so are Hoffman and Wagner. Sosa, statistically, is a bit borderline, but you also can’t tell the history of baseball without him -- you’re going to have to, though, because there’s just no room to vote for him without omitting someone else.

It’s annoying, and it’s also intentional, as a committee was formed to explore the idea of expanding the ballot a year ago, but didn’t. Jayson Stark said it was a subtle way to limit the votes that players associated with PEDs could receive: If you gave voters that out on a crowded ballot, many would take it since there was a built-in excuse for the squeeze. This is just one more reason it’s hard to think the Hall of Fame even matters anymore, but hey, the museum is pretty cool. You should still go to that. That room with all the plaques, though? Skippable.