{"id":13198,"date":"2016-12-27T10:14:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T15:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13198"},"modified":"2016-12-27T10:14:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T15:14:47","slug":"obligatory-post-on-the-2017-hall-of-fame-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13198","title":{"rendered":"Obligatory Post on the 2017 Hall of Fame class"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Throw<\/a>

“Throw another circle change so you can blow out your elbow!” Photo via zimbio<\/p><\/div>\n

The ballot for the 2017 Hall of Fame class<\/a> came out in early November 2016, and had 34 names on it. \u00a0Baseball-reference has a very \u00a0nice page<\/a> summarizing all the candidates and their career stats. \u00a0Since Ballots are due by 12\/31, and since this is the beginning of the obligatory holier-than-thou arguments about HoFame balloting, I give you my own holier-than-thou take on it.<\/p>\n

Important\/Vital link for 2017 Hall of Fame vote tracking:\u00a0Ryan Thibodaux<\/strong>‘s online tracker of all HoF votes<\/a>, which is showing some very different trends in 2017 for long-time ballot candidates. \u00a0You may have already seen some analysis of the early voting, from\u00a0Bill James<\/strong> to\u00a0Buster Olney<\/strong>. \u00a0The big shock so far is just how much support both of the major PED-tainted candidates (Bonds<\/strong> and\u00a0Clemens<\/strong>) have gained since last year. \u00a0Some (most?) attribute this to the veteran’s electing of\u00a0Bud Selig<\/strong>, who presided over the Steroid era and did little to stop it. \u00a0The thinking probably goes, “well if Selig is in, he’s just as culpable as the players, so i’m now voting for Bonds\/Clemens).<\/p>\n

With my imaginary ballot, here’s how i’d vote. \u00a0Since there’s a (ridiculous) limit of 10 players per ballot, I’ll list these players in rough order of voting priority to start:<\/p>\n

New Ballot Candidates:<\/p>\n