Rox Pile’s Hall of Fame Ballot Series: Part Six

Chipper Jones

It is Chipper’s first time on the Hall of Fame ballot this year, and everyone should plan on him being a sure thing already. Through 19 stellar years of play, he was consistently dominant. Just look at his performance: .303/.401/.529 slash line, 2726 hits, 468 home runs, 8-time All-Star, 2-time Silver Slugger winner, 1999 NL MVP, and 2008 NL batting champion.

Johan Santana

Santana is one of the few pitchers to have two Cy Young awards. This doesn’t include four more seasons in the top seven in Cy Young voting. He would have a lot stronger case if he was healthy past his age 31 season but after missing his age 32 season (2011), he only made 21 starts in 2012 and he has not made an appearance in the majors since. However, I still think that those dominant six seasons warrant him being a Hall of Famer.

Omar Vizquel

Letting a player like Vizquel into the Hall of Fame would say a lot about baseball, primarily showing just how much the fans appreciate defense. Vizquel is one of the greatest defensive infielders in history, winning 11 gold gloves over the span of 24 years and 9 of those were won consecutively. Also, he is the all-time leader in double plays turned by a shortstop at 1,734.