Colorado Rockies: Our hypothetical Hall of Fame Ballots (Part 2)

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COOPERSTOWN, NY – JULY 24: The plaque of Ken Griffey Jr. is seen at Clark Sports Center during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 24, 2016 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

Editor’s Note: We here at Rox Pile have all decided to make our own hypothetical Hall of Fame ballots. Yesterday, we started with editor/co-expert Noah Yingling’s hypothetical Hall of Fame ballot. He decided on a few players that would may not be the first ones you’d think of but after some research, he said that he would put them in there in a strategic move to prevent the player(s) from dropping off the ballot due to the five percent rule, in which if any player receives less than five percent of the vote on the ballot, that player is dropped from future consideration on the ballot.

Today, we feature the hypothetical ballot of Brady Vernon, one of our contributors here at Rox Pile, in our second installment in our Hall of Fame ballot series.

The Baseball Hall of Fame at times is often one of the most controversial topics in baseball. Whether it be on what players should or shouldn’t be on the ballot orballots that are submitted by actual voters that are just mind boggling, like Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer voting for only Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel (you can see all of the ballots released thus far, including Livingston’s, here), it always proves to be an interesting time in the offseason.

Here at Rox Pile, we wanted to have our own takes on the ballot for the most prestigious honor in baseball. This is who I would vote for.

Vladimir Guerrero

Vladimir Guerrero seemed like he could hit anything no matter where the pitch was. Guerrero ranks 40th on the all-time home run list with 449 where he’s tied with Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell. Include that with a career slash line of .318/.379/.553 puts together one of the most impressive offensive careers in baseball. Over his 16-year career, he was a nine-time All-Star, eight-time Silver Slugger winner, and took home the 2004 AL MVP as part of the Anaheim Angels.

Other All-Time ranks career for Guerrero:

Hits: 2590 (86th)

Batting Average: .318 (55th) tied with Hall of Famer Arky Vaughan

OPS: .931 (32nd)

RBIs: 1,496 (57th)

Chipper Jones

Chipper Jones was the cornerstone of the Atlanta Braves for 19 years. Jones ranks amongst the best of third basemen in the history of baseball. Comparatively, Jones is only behind Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Adrian Beltre, Wade Boggs, and George Brett in WAR at the position. Everyone but Beltre is enshrined in Cooperstown. Chipper Jones was an eight-time All-Star, won multiple Silver Sluggers, the NL MVP in 1999, and was part of the 1995 World Series winners.

Jones all-time career ranks:

Hits: 2726 (60th)

Home Runs: 468 (33rd)

OPS: .930 (37th)

RBIs: 1623 (34th)

Trevor Hoffman

The Colorado Rockies heard the AC/DC song “Hells Bells” a lot during Trevor Hoffman’s career. Hoffman spent the majority of his career with the San Diego Padres had 54 career saves against the Rockies. Hoffman is second on the all-time saves list behind Mariano Rivera with 601 total. Even though he was a reliever, Hoffman in 1998 and 2006 finished 2nd in the NL Cy Young Award voting. As well as putting together nine seasons of 40 plus saves. Of course, the best reliever in the National League is given the Trevor Hoffman Award.

Jim Thome

Jim Thome never won an MVP. He also only won one Silver Slugger. Nevertheless, he still had one of the greatest hitting careers of all-time. Thome is on a list that only contains nine baseball players, and being on the list of having 600 home runs is quite the accomplishment. Of course, being 8th on the all-time list should be a big deal but Thome did it very quietly. This is partially due to him playing most of his career with teams that don’t get a lot of national media coverage (Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the Chicago White Sox). Also, Thome holds the record for the most walk-off home runs with 13.

Other Thome career ranks:

WAR: 72.9 (83rd)

RBIs: 1699 (26th)

OPS: .956 (18th)

OBP: .402 (46th)

Larry Walker

Notably, it is time for the Rockies to have a Hall of Famer. It is also time to put Larry Walker in Hall of Fame. In addition to winning the 1997 NL MVP with the Rockies, Walker has three Silver Sluggers, three batting titles, and seven Gold Gloves to his name. It’s very rare to find players with that many accolades to their name and not be in the hall of fame. Of course, a lot of people hold playing in Coors Field against Walker, but they shouldn’t because he was a very good player for a long time.

Walker career ranks:

OBP: 400 (50th)

OPS: .965 (16th)

WAR: 72.6 (86th)

Edgar Martinez

Edgar Martinez is the greatest designed hitter of all-time. The best DH each season is given the award named after him. Many will believe that David Ortiz is the best, but comparatively, Martinez’s numbers are just better. After all, Martinez has five Silver Sluggers to his name and won the batting title twice during his career in Seattle. He is also one of the few hitters ever with the career slash line of .300/.400/.500. To be exact, his career slash line was .312/.418/.515, so he was well over .300/.400/.500 in each of the three categories.

Martinez career ranks:

BA: .312 (92th)

OPS: .933 (32nd)

WAR: 68.3 (112th)

Scott Rolen

Rolen never appeared to be the flashiest player on the field, but he was very productive in his 17-year career. Winning the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year was only the start for him. Besides his one Silver Slugger, he wasn’t the most feared hitter. Although, he made his name as a defender at the hot corner with eight Gold Gloves. Only Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt have more at the position. Rolen ranks 10th all-time in WAR among 3rd basemen.

Rolen career ranks:

WAR: 70.0 (98th)

DWAR (Defensive WAR): 20.6 (48th)

MIAMI, FL – FEBRUARY 22: Former Marlins hitting coach Barry Bonds during a Miami Marlins workout on February 22, 2016 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images) /

KISSIMMEE, FL – FEBRUARY 27: Roger Clemens at Houston Astros Spring Training at Osceola County Stadium on February 27, 2008 in Kissimmee, Florida. The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Clemens committed perjury while testifying in front of the committee. (Photo by Scott A. Miller/Getty Images) /

Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds

Rounding out my nine-player ballot are Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. These two are the most conversational on the ballot because of the steroid era. Despite being considered “cheaters” by some they should be included in the Hall of Fame. Bonds and Clemens both dominated their respective positions. Bonds is, of course, the all-time home run leader as well as the single season leader with 73 in 2001. On top of that, Bonds won seven MVPs, two batting titles, eight Gold Gloves, and 12 Silver Sluggers. Clemens is one of the few pitchers to win an MVP as he won it in 1986 as well as the addition of two pitching triple crowns, seven-time ERA title and seven-time Cy Young Awards.

Bonds career ranks:

Hits: 2,935 (37th)

RBIs: 1,996 (5th)

Intentional Walks: 688 (1st), Albert Pujols is 2nd with 307

Clemens career ranks:

Wins: 354 (9th)

SO: 4672 (3rd)

WHIP: 1.1725 (97th)

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