Who would Pinstripe Alley elect to the Hall of Fame in 2018?

The first week of December occupies a special place on the baseball calendar. With the offseason fully underway, the hot stove begins to warm up. At the same time, debates rage across the internet regarding Hall of Fame votes. Eligible members of the BBWAA have until New Year’s Eve to submit their ballots, with the induction announcement taking place on January 24th, 2018.

In what has become a Pinstripe Alley tradition, I surveyed our staff to see for whom they would vote in a fictional round of balloting. Abiding by BBWAA rules, each staff member was allotted ten votes -- and they used them all. Even Josh, a vocal critic of the Hall of Fame, put together a ballot! There was no Murray Chass nonsense here. The 75% threshold also applies, meaning a candidate must receive 13 votes to make it into our Hall of Fame.

Now, without further ado, I introduce you to the PSA Hall of Fame Class of 2018:

The below chart represents an individual breakdown by staff member, in no specific order.

Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds lead the way for the second consecutive year. While some members of the BBWAA may hold PED use against them, our staff can’t have a Hall of Fame without these two generational talents. It’s very possible that they’re the best pitcher and hitter we’ll see in our lifetimes. Last year the duo pushed into the mid-50% range. Expect them to continue their upward trek towards baseball immortality. To us, though, they’re in unanimously.

A pair of first timers, Chipper Jones and Jim Thome, also received unanimous induction into our Hall of Fame. The case for Jones, the longtime Atlanta Braves third baseman, is straightforward. A complete star, he accrued an outrageous 84.6 fWAR over his 19-year career. Thome, on the other hand, slugged 612 home runs. That’s good for eighth on the all-time list. Expect both of these men to get through on the first ballot.

Our list of unanimous inductees wraps up with former Yankees ace Mike Mussina. The case for Mussina has been well documented. Instead of rehashing his extensive merits, I recommend this piece by Andrew Mearns. It may not happen this year — he cracked 51.8% in 2017 -- but we will continue to bang the #Moose4Hall drum.

Vladimir Guerrero and Edgar Martinez make their way into the Pinstripe Alley Hall of Fame with overwhelming support. Guerrero narrowly missed induction into Cooperstown last year, managing 71.7% of the vote. Historically when a player gets that close, he makes it in the following year. Keep your eyes peeled for the career 318/.379/.553 hitter.

Martinez, on the other hand, appears the victim of a crowded ballot. He accumulated 58.6% of the votes in 2017, with voters seeming to view him as a one-dimensional slugger. Our staff, however, can get behind his elite batting talent. A career 145 wRC+ and 65.5 fWAR seems worthy of induction to us.

The last player to receive enshrinement in our Hall of Fame is Larry Walker. He skated in with 76% of the vote. In terms of WAR, he stands out among the best outfielders of his era. Unfortunately, the BBWWA doesn’t see his candidacy in the same light. He appeared on just 21.9% of last year’s ballots. What explains this incongruence? I’ll let Rockies Twitter explain.

As for the near misses, we like the future odds of Manny Ramirez. He’s one of the most dominant right-handed hitters in recent history. A career 153 wRC+ backs that up, but unfortunately a pair of PED-related suspensions will likely curtail his Cooperstown chances. He received just 23.8% of the votes last time around.

Trevor Hoffman didn’t fare too well on our ballots. He appeared on just 53% of them. That’s down from last year’s 71%. Thankfully for Hoffman, he appears primed for induction in the real deal. He missed by the smallest of margins last season, falling just short at 74%. Hoffman represents one of the more contentious cases, as the SABR community appears reluctant to vote for the closer. That said, one could reasonably expect Hoffman to take Cooperstown on this year’s ballot.

As for the best of the rest, Scott Rolen received some love from our staff. The third baseman had a fine career indeed, but it will take some campaigning to get him in. Curt Schilling continues his precipitous fall from grace, picking up a meager 18%. Meanwhile former Yankees Hideki Matsui and Andruw Jones picked up a pair of votes each. They live to fight another day on our ballots.

Now that you’ve seen our selections, we want to hear from you. Let us know what you think. Do you agree or are we way off? Tell us in the comment section below!