Royals Review 2018 Hall of Fame voting results

Barry Bonds might just be the best baseball player of all time. By the time he was 27 years old, Bonds had accrued 984 hits, 176 home runs, 611 walks, and 251 stolen bases in just over 1000 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates. According to OPS+, his hitting production was 47% above league average, that number dragged down by his comparatively human first two seasons in the league. Over those septet of years he won two National League MVP awards, three Gold Gloves, and three Silver Sluggers.

After signing with the San Francisco Giants for the 1993 season, Bonds spent the next eight years doing more of the same. His OPS+ was a ridiculous 81% better than league average during that time, and in a little over 1100 games he notched 1173 hits, 318 home runs, 936 walks, and 220 stolen bases.

Of course, Bonds will be known more for his later years’ production than his decade and a half of five tool dominance. In 2001, Bonds slugged .863, which is not a typo, and crushed 73 home runs, which is also not a typo. From 2001 to 2007 Bonds hit an otherworldly 127% above league average, winning four consecutive MVP awards and posted video game numbers in every category possible. Performance Enhancing Drugs were probably a part of his success in his late 30s. But you know what? They were commonplace, and nobody was as great as Bonds was in those years. Nobody.

You might wonder why I spent my 244-word introduction talking solely about Bonds. Well, first, this is my article about an inconsequential internet poll that affects nothing, so deal with it. Furthermore, 43.7% of you who voted in last week’s Hall of Fame voting did not vote for Bonds, and I am content with spending as many words as necessary to shame you for your choices.

But, second, Bonds is an excellent example of the plight of Hall of Fame voters. Bonds is one of the greatest players of all time, but he played during an era where many players used PEDs. If Bonds can’t get in, then that presents somewhat of an existential crisis for anybody who played during the late 90s and early 00s.

I closed our digital voting booth after an even 350 votes. Like in real life, voters could vote for up to 10 players on the ballot. All players with greater than 75% of the vote got in; those with less than 5% of votes drop from the ballot.

The results are in. Here’s the breakdown:

Hall of Fame Inductee

• Chipper Jones

Almost there (60-74.9% of the vote)

• Vladimir Guerrero
• Jim Thome

A few steps away (40-60% of the vote)

• Barry Bonds
• Roger Clemens
• Edgar Martinez
• Trevor Hoffman
• Mike Mussina
• Curt Schilling

Stayin’ alive (5-40% of the vote)

• Johnny Damon
• Andruw Jones
• Jeff Kent
• Jamie Moyer
• Manny Ramirez
• Scott Rolen
• Johan Santana
• Gary Sheffield
• Sammy Sosa
• Omar Vizquel
• Billy Wagner
• Larry Walker

Booted from the ballot (<5% of the vote)

• Chris Carpenter
• Livan Hernandez
• Orlando Hudson
• Aubrey Huff
• Jason Isringhausen
• Carlos Lee
• Brad Lidge
• Hideki Matsui
• Kevin Millwood
• Kerry Wood
• Carlos Zambrano

You’ll notice ‘Andre Jones’ and ‘Gary Scheffield’ at the bottom - those are just two name mispellings I didn’t catch until it went live, and when I changed their names it kept the votes for those mispellings intact.

But, yeah. The vote was awfully split. That’s a function of the field being truly stacked, a large enough portion of the voting populace who have taken a moral high ground, and a limited number of votes set by the ten player cap that it makes it almost impossible to squeeze through multiple players through the 75% needle.

Thoughts? Comments? Leave them below. And vote for Barry Bonds next time.