My 2023 IBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

Boy, this year’s Hall of Fame ballot was uninspiring. Here is my vote for the IBWAA honors (which admittedly do not mean much, but I still take the vote seriously). I already analyzed the ballot, so I won’t go into detail about every players’ for-or-against case.

As far as the first-timers, I actually voted for Francisco Rodriguez. The ex-Mets reliever will never get in, but his stats were very similar to Billy Wagner’s, and he gets my vote every year. So I thought it might be hypocritical not to vote for K-Rod.

And Wagner, obviously. He is slowly climbing the ranks towards eventual enshrinement.

And I voted for Gary Sheffield once again. As I always explain, I vote for suspected PED guys if they never tested positive or were suspended. That’s why Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez did not get my votes.

And that’s it — just those three (all former Mets, actually!). I took another look at Todd Helton, but I felt his peak was a little too short and the last half of his career was just pedestrian. However, I will revisit him again next year.

And Carlos Beltran? The cheating scandal aside, I was never convinced he was a slam duck Hall of Famer, so he does not get my vote. I might revisit him in the future, or I might not.