My 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot (If I Were a BBWAA Member)

On Tuesday, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will announce the Class of 2024 as voted upon by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). To be inducted into Cooperstown, a player must receive 75% of the BBWAA vote. BBWAA members can vote for up to 10 candidates. 

If I were a BBWAA member, this would be my 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot:

1. Adrian Beltre

2. Joe Mauer

3. Todd Helton

4. Billy Wagner

5. Francisco Rodriguez

6. Torii Hunter

7. Andruw Jones

8. Jimmy Rollins

Beltre and Mauer are in their first year of eligibility while the remaining players have been on previous ballots. Helton, Wagner, K-Rod, Hunter, Jones and Rollins were on my "ballot" in 2023. So, I will focus my commentary on Beltre and Mauer both of whom are widely expected to be inducted possibly along with Helton and Wagner according to the BBWAA voting tracker.

Beltre is a slam dunk. In his 21-year big league career during which he played with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers, Beltre collected 3,166 hits which is 18th on MLB's all-time list just ahead of fellow third baseman George Brett. Beltre also belted 477 HR and drove in 1707 runs. The Dominican born Beltre also collected 5 Gold Gloves at the hot corner along with two Platinum Gloves. 

I have to admit I was more on the fence where it concerned Mauer. Although the AL's premier catcher for the better part of a decade, of his 1858 career games less than half (921) were played behind the plate with the rest split between first base and DH. There are extenuating circumstances though. The Twins moved Mauer to first base after the 2013 season due to his long history with concussions. In so doing, the Twins both extended Mauer's career and quite possibly prolonged his life.

Although Mauer played fewer than half his games behind the plate, he is the only catcher in AL history to win a batting title and he won three of them. When Mauer won his first batting title in 2006, he was the first catcher to win a batting title since Ernie Lombardi won his second career batting title in 1942 in his lone season with the Boston Braves. Lombardi won his first NL batting title four years earlier with the Cincinnati Reds. He, too, has a plaque in Cooperstown. In this sense, Mauer is virtually in a class by himself. 

Mauer also has the advantage of having played his entire career with the Minnesota Twins. Along with Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Kirby Puckett, Mauer is on the Mount Rushmore of all-time Twins greats. Killebrew, Carew and Puckett are in Cooperstown and Mauer belongs there too.

Of course, Mauer's longtime teammate Torii Hunter is also among the greatest players to ever wear a Minnesota uniform spending 12 of his 19 seasons in the Twin Cities. Yet despite earning 9 Gold Gloves (7 while with the Twins), Hunter is in danger of falling off the BBWAA ballot at 4.8% of the vote. Contrast this with Andruw Jones, who is at 70.7%. Jones won one more Gold Glove than Hunter, but his offensive numbers aren't as good as Hunter's. Both are on my ballot. So why isn't Hunter on more BBWAA ballots? That is something I would like to know.

In any case, I shall give my thoughts on the 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees when they are announced on Tuesday night.