{"id":15238,"date":"2023-01-14T12:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-14T18:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballroundtable.com\/?p=15238"},"modified":"2024-01-26T09:24:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T15:24:39","slug":"baseball-roundtable-fan-hall-of-fame-ballots-in-readers-throw-a-shutout-scott-rolen-top-vote-getter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballroundtable.com\/baseball-roundtable-fan-hall-of-fame-ballots-in-readers-throw-a-shutout-scott-rolen-top-vote-getter\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball Roundtable Fan Hall of Fame Ballots In – Readers Throw a Shutout – Scott Rolen Top Vote-Getter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scott Rolen, top vote-getter in Baseball Roundtable Readers’ Hall of Fame Balloting. Photo: User Darwin’s Bulldog on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

The Baseball Roundtable (unofficial) Fan Hall of Fame Balloting is closed and the\u00a0 votes are counted.\u00a0 The end result? Roundtable readers threw a shutout \u2013 with no player reaching the 75 percent support needed for induction in the official balloting.<\/p>\n

In this post, I\u2019ll pass on the results of the reader voting, as well as share a few observations on the differences between the Roundtable fan ballots and the publicly announced (to date) Baseball Writers Association of America official balloting (as reported by the Baseball Hall of Fame Vote Tracker).<\/p>\n

For those interested in a deeper dive into Hall of Fame voting, I would recommend the BBHOF Vote tracker (at bbhoftracker.com). The site offers an updated listing of public votes (total and individual ballots), as well as commentary on voting trends and implications.\u00a0 All of the official ballot \u00a0totals used in this post are as of January 14, with 39.4% of ballots made public.<\/p>\n

Roundtable Side Note<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Roundtable reader (and voter) Ralph from North Carolina won the randomly drawn Fan Ballot prize package, which included: a complete 1993 Topps set (with Derek Jeter\u2019s rookie card); a Bob Gibson replica Cardinals jersey; a Tony Oliva HOF bobblehead; a replica Ernie Banks Wrigley Field flag; and a Bert Blyleven HOF “How to Throw a Curve Ball” baseball.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, on to a few observations. No player received the necessary 75 percent support in the fan ballot, while Scott Rolen<\/strong> and Todd Helton<\/strong> have each drawn more than 75 percent support among the official ballots made public (again via bbhoftracker.com) as of January 14.<\/p>\n

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As you can see, the top five in the fan ballot mirrored the top five in the public official balloting (to date). The only exceptions being that fans placed Jeff Kent<\/strong> in the top five, while Gary Sheffield<\/strong> was\u00a0 the top five in the BBWAA public ballots.<\/p>\n

Voting percentages tend to fall in the official balloting when final results are reported.\u00a0 At this point, it appears Rolen has the best chance of making it into the Hall in 2023, while Helton may end up very close.\u00a0 Below are the full results of the Baseball Roundtable reader voting.<\/p>\n

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Overall, readers tended to spread out their ballots among more players (some home-team bias, perhaps). Reader voters cast votes for 6.23 players per ballot, as opposed to 6.42 among the writers. Thirteen players on each ballot did not receive enough votes to remain on the ballot for 2024.\u00a0 However, only two players received \u00a0zero votes on the fan ballot, as opposed to 12 on the official ballot (again, that is on ballots made public to date).<\/p>\n

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Carlos Beltran, top vote-getter among first-timers.\u00a0 Photo: Jeffrey Hayes, CC BY 2.0 <https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

The strongest newcomer to the ballot (among both groups) was Carlos Beltran<\/strong> – at 53.5 percent (sixth) among readers and 57.1 percent (sixth) in \u00a0the official balloting. Reader votes and the public official votes to date indicate only two ballot first-timers will carry over to next year (Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez<\/strong>) on the ballot (5 percent minimum support).<\/p>\n

Among the \u00a0biggest differences (beyond Rolen’s and Helton\u2019s totals) between the reader ballots and the public \u00a0official ballots to date are:<\/p>\n