2017 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

Livingston's column on this.

Why I abstained on my Baseball Hall of Fame ballot: Bill Livingston (photos)

 

"I felt well over half of the players"

 

Jesus that column is a grab-bag of unbaked thoughts. Submitting a signed ballot means it will count, I imagine. Get off your high horse, Bill.

 

Correct. The rules say sending in a blank ballot counts as a vote for no one. Not sending one is an abstention.

 

24 hours till announcement and 232 ballots counted, which would be 53.3 percent of the total

89.7 percent Raines (plus 29 over same voters, was 23 shy in 2016)
88.4 percent Bagwell (plus 20 over same voters, was 15 shy in 2016)
78 percent Pudge (has lost 2.0 percent in 32 ballots)
72.8 percent Hoffman (plus 21 over same voters, actually is plus 29 and minus 8, was 34 shy in 2016)
71.6 Vlad ( has lost 2.9 percent in 32 ballots)
66.8 percent Edgar (plus 41!!!!)
62.9 percent Bonds
62.1 percent Clemens (Bonds is plus 22, Clemens is plus 23 so far)
59.5 percent Mussina (plus 22, actually plus 30 and minus 8)
50.9 percent Schilling (minus -12 so far, actually plus 15 but minus 27)
Next best under 50 percent is Lee Smith at 30.6 percent (plus 4 in last ballot)
Manny and Walker at 23.3 percent (Walker is plus 14)
Posada has gotten 10 votes, needs double that to be safe to stay on ballot. Only other first-timers with votes so far are Renteria (1) and Varitek (1)

 

What is probably the final update before announcement -- 246 ballots counted, which would be 56.6 percent of the total

88.6 percent Raines (plus 29 over same voters, was 23 shy in 2016)
88.2 percent Bagwell (plus 21 over same voters, was 15 shy in 2016)
79.3 percent Pudge (gained 1.3 percent in last 14 ballots)
72.8 percent Hoffman (plus 21 over same voters, actually is plus 29 and minus 8, was 34 shy in 2016)
72 Vlad
65.9 percent Edgar (plus 42)
64.2 percent Bonds
63.4 percent Clemens (Bonds is plus 22, Clemens is plus 23 so far)
58.9 percent Mussina (plus 22, actually plus 30 and minus 8)
51.2 percent Schilling (minus -12 so far, actually plus 15 but minus 27)
Next best under 50 percent is Lee Smith at 30.5 percent (plus 4 in last ballot)
Manny at 24.4
Walker at 22.8 percent (plus 14)
Posada has gotten 10 votes, needs double that to be safe to stay on ballot. Only other first-timers with votes so far are Renteria (1) and Varitek (1)

 

So Raines and Bagwell are locks. Pudge is a definite maybe. Looks like next yet for Hoffman and Vlad?

 

So there are people out there, and a lot of them, who aren't voting for Bonds and Clemens because of PEDs but waved Pudge Rodriguez home?

That's a huge LOL. I guess they don't remember when he showed up at spring training after what looked like three months of famine.

 

Meh. Bonds and Clemens getting in next year (if momentum is any indication).

 

Have there ever been 2 players over 70% who didn't get in?

 

Hoffman and Vlad are maybes for this year -- private ballots give Hoffman a pretty good boost -- last year it was 3.8 percent -- so he could sneak across the line. Vlad is outperforming what a lot of people thought and since it's first year no one knows how the private ballots will treat him.

I think it's a class of three -- Raines, Bagwell and one of the three, but I have no idea which one.

 

Bonds and Clemens are at least two ballots away. They are over 60 percent right now but I'd be stunned if they are over 55 in the final balloting. They aren't going to make up the last 20 percent they need next year.