Explaining my IBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

Each year, the Internet Baseball Writers Assosication of American, more commonly referred to as the IBWAA, holds a vote on who should be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Unlike the BBWAA, which actually determines who is elected to the Hall of Fame, the IBWAA allows voters to vote for up to 15 candidates, as opposed to the up to 10 that the BBWAA allows. While this rarely comes into play, the theory is that if 11 players are worthy of receiving the 75 percent of the vote necessary to be elected, writers shouldn't be stuck trying to figure out which Hall of Fame worthy player to leave off of their ballot. 

Though the IBWAA features national writers such as ESPN's David Schoenfield and FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, it also draws from candidates around the internet, which give it a mix of both veteran baseball writers and those who hope to serve as the next generation of baseball writers. This has allowed for different voting results than the BBWAA, such as Mike Piazza getting in a year earlier than he did from the BBWAA, and Edgar Martinez, Tim Raines and Jeff Bagwell all (deservedly) being elected to the IBWAA Hall of Fame. 

Below is the 2017 ballot, with first year players marked with an asterisk and my votes marked with an X. 

Some thoughts

• I don't vote for players connected to PEDs, but if I did, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa and Manny Ramirez all would have gotten my vote. I have softened my stance on PEDs, but not enough to vote for players connected. On one hand, the Hall of Fame is just a museum — an incredible one, at that — showcasing the history of the game. If you look at it that way, leaving out the home run king and a 350-game winner seems wrong. But the former athlete in me won't allow myself to reward players who took PEDs. 
• I think if you choose to vote for players connected to PEDs, you can't pick and choose. If you vote for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, than you should vote for Sammy Sosa and be campaigning to somehow get Mark McGwire a second chance on the ballot. 
• Trevor Hoffman has 601 career saves and is the second best closer in MLB history. The fact that neither the IBWAA or BBWAA elected him in his first time on the ballot in 2016 baffles me, though I expect him to get elected by both this year. 
• Vladimir Guerrero, who often killed the Phillies, has a career batting average of .313, 449 career home runs, 1,328 RBIs and one of the strongest arms that the game has ever seen. While his overall fielding may not have been as good as his arm was, the last great Montreal Expo finished with a 54.3 career WAR, which is higher than Hall of Famers Kirby Puckett and Jim Rice. He probably won't get in on the first ballot, though if I plan to vote for someone at any point, I vote for them as soon as they become eligible. That doesn't mean I don't change my mind on some people, but it means that if I think you are a Hall of Famer, I'm not going to wait until year two to vote for you just to keep you from being a "first-ballot" Hall of Famer. 
• Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling, when you factor in postseason and advanced statistics, are Hall of Famers to me. I don't hold lack of a ton of postseason experience against candidates — Hoffman is an example — but I also don't discount it for applicable candidates. Schilling is one of the greatest postseason pitchers in league history, which should count for something. 
• Larry Walker has a 68.7 career WAR, which is higher than a bunch of Hall of Fame outfielders. I'm not sure if he gets penalized for playing in Coors Field (which would be dumb) or if voters just haven't examined his case enough, but he's a Hall of Famer. 
• Billy Wagner had a career ERA of 2.31, which is actually significantly lower than Lee Smith, who had a 3.03 ERA. I think if you took Wagner's ERA and peak dominance and paired it with the longevity of Smith, you would have a Hall of Famer. On there own, I think both fall into the Fred McGriff camp of drawing serious consideration, but likely never getting in. 
• I wish there was an option to keep people on the ballot even if you don't believe they are Hall of Famers. For example, Jeff Kent has a lower career WAR than Chase Utley, so I don't believe he is a Hall of Famer. That said, players like Kent and Jorge Posada deserve to stay on the ballot, at least for some period of time, as opposed to players like Matt Stairs who are clearly not Hall of Famers. 
• Babe Ruth only got 95 percent of the vote when he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1936. There were people who chose not to vote for Babe Ruth. The Sultun of Swat. The Colossus of Clout. The Great Bambino.