See who Newsday&#39;s writers eligible to vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame cast their ballots for this year.&nbsp;

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David Lennon

It’s the dawn of the post-Bonds/Clemens ballot for baseball’s Hall of Fame, and I for one am feeling somewhat rudderless. Those two legendary players had teamed up to be my North Star for the past decade, the annual no-brainer checkmarks on a page mostly stacked with puzzling boxes. And if they couldn’t make it past the Cooperstown gatekeepers in 10 tries with the BBWAA electorate — it’s now up to 11, counting this year’s Contemporary Era committee — then where does anyone put the bar going forward? 
The answer, to borrow another sports metaphor, has to do with the constantly moving goalposts. Some voters continue to reevaluate their own process, whether it’s determining the proper length of a PED user’s stay in purgatory or merely judging a player in the musical chairs competition for one of only 10 available spots on that year’s ballot. 
Personally, I’ve tried to be fairly consistent when it comes to those stained by steroids. If Major League Baseball chose to suspend/penalize a player for violating the PED policy, either with a positive test (Manny Ramirez) or a damning paper trail (Alex Rodriguez), then I would consider them disqualified. That never happened with seven-time MVP Barry Bonds or seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, so if MLB was fine keeping them eligible, I certainly had no problem with doing the same on my ballot. 
And yet, after navigating the PED minefield for more than a decade or so, a new conundrum arose this year: the debut of Carlos Beltran. 
Statistically speaking, Beltran belongs in the Hall of Fame. He’s a nine-time All-Star. His 435 home runs place him fifth among centerfielders (Willie Mays is first with 660), and only Tris Speaker (792) and Ty Cobb (724) have eclipsed his 565 doubles. That Adam Wainwright curveball aside, Beltran was a standout postseason performer, hitting .307 with 16 homers, 14 RBIs and a 1.021 OPS in 65 postseason games. 
Beltran finally got his World Series ring in 2017 with the Astros at the end of his 20-year career, and therein lies the problem. Two years after that triumphant moment, it came to light that the Astros used TV cameras and a trash can to engineer a very illegal sign-stealing operation during that championship run, and Beltran was singled out by MLB as one of the ringleaders along with good friend Alex Cora. 
Everyone knows the details by now. No need to rehash them here. But again, as with the PED discussion, I’m more interested in MLB’s choice of disciplinary action. 
Officially, only three people were suspended: general manager Jeff Luhnow, manager AJ Hinch and Cora, who was the Astros’ bench coach at the time. The only player named by MLB was Beltran; he was retiring and commissioner Rob Manfred had otherwise cut a deal with the union to grant amnesty to the active members of the roster. 
While Beltran was not disciplined by MLB, being named was enough, and the Mets really had no choice but to fire him after only 77 days and zero games as manager. That has turned out to be among the most severe penalties stemming from the scandal. Cora sat out only one season before returning to manage the Red Sox in 2021 and Hinch was hired to manage the Tigers the same year. 
As for Beltran, he’s made it as far as the YES broadcast booth but to this point has declined any opportunities to rejoin a team for an on-field role. 
Should Beltran’s punishment now extend to Cooperstown? I say no, considering that I’ve included him on my ballot this year along with five holdovers: Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, Todd Helton, Scott Rolen and Gary Sheffield. 
Maybe Beltran, given his extraordinary baseball IQ, indeed was the mastermind behind the Astros’ sign-stealing plot. But he had plenty of co-conspirators, and none of the players who benefited from the illicit behavior were penalized for it. The Astros got to keep their Commissioner’s Trophy along with the riches gained by the title, so where was the justice in this case? 
For that reason, I’m not going to play Cooperstown cop for Beltran. His career numbers don’t carry any PED asterisk, so we’ll consider those valid, and that resume is enough. 
As for the “character” and “integrity” clauses written into the Hall of Fame’s voter guidelines, so much of sports — from college to the pros — is governed by twisted logic these days, and those lines get blurrier by the minute. While I agree that Beltran’s behavior with the 2017 Astros doesn’t pass that test, I’d also argue that he’s done his time and doesn’t deserve to be cast out for baseball eternity. 
For now, it looks as if Beltran won’t make the cut in his first year on the ballot. According to Ryan Thibodaux, who <a href="https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=F2E5D8FC5199DFAF!47464&amp;authkey=!AOiVOHV1SzKLAR0&amp;ithint=file%2cxlsx&amp;e=YIOf3P%2f">compiles ballots made public</a> before the Hall of Fame announcement, which will take place Tuesday, Beltran was sitting at 56.4% — well short of the 75% required for induction. But he’s doing much better than Rodriguez (41.8%) and Ramirez (39.4%), so plenty more voters evidently don’t consider Beltran’s crime quite as damning as chronic PED usage. 
Whether the Astros scandal ultimately keeps Beltran out of the Hall won’t be known for a while. But his appearance on the ballot likely is prompting everyone to recalibrate their Cooperstown compass again.

Columnists

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Carlos Beltran, the Baseball Hall of Fame and another ballot conundrum

Lennon: Beltran and the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot conundrum

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Erik Boland

Newsday's Erik Boland&nbsp;recently submitted his ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2023. Here are his selections in alphabetical order: 
<div data-oembed-url="https://twitter.com/eboland11/status/1607418924458549248"> 
 <blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet"> 
 Here you go, ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/NotMrTibbs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NotMrTibbs</a>⁩ . Appreciate the annual work you do on this. Hope everyone is having a nice holiday season and has a great New Year’s. Thank you for following all season and see you in 2023 <a href="https://t.co/twaaPEkLfk">pic.twitter.com/twaaPEkLfk</a> — Erik Boland (@eboland11) 
 <a href="https://twitter.com/eboland11/status/1607418924458549248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 26, 2022</a> 
 </blockquote> 
</div> 
 Bobby Abreu 
 Carlos Beltran 
 Todd Helton 
 Andruw Jones 
 Jeff Kent 
 Manny Ramirez 
 Alex Rodriguez 
 Scott Rolen 
 Gary Sheffield 
 Billy Wagner

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Erik Boland's Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the Class of 2023

Boland's 2023 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

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Anthony Rieber

Newsday's Anthony Rieber recently submitted his ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2023. Here are his selections in alphabetical order: 
 Carlos Beltran 
 Andruw Jones 
 Andy Pettitte 
 Manny Ramirez 
 Alex Rodriguez 
 Scott Rolen

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Anthony Rieber's Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the Class of 2023

Rieber's 2023 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

Andruw Jones, the hero of Game 1, can only smile after being called out on strikes in the second inning.

Brian Heyman

Every November for about the last 15 years, a postal worker has placed a cherished envelope in my mailbox. The return address is 25 Main Street, Cooperstown, New York. 
 I opened the latest one and inside, as usual, was a page entitled “BBWAA Rules for Election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame,” along with my ballot, another page with the previous year’s results and the candidates’ total years on the ballot, and a form letter from the Hall’s president, Josh Rawitch. 
 That included some basic details and this sentence: &quot;Your participation in Hall of Fame voting is greatly appreciated.” 
 It’s the ultimate honor for a former player to be voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. But it’s also a pretty big honor to be one of the writers who vote. 
 I take it very seriously. The deliberations in my head often aren’t easy. 
 We get to vote for as many as 10 each year. I usually only check off a few. I’ve been a hard marker. 
 I’m also not big on rewarding the cheaters, be it those whose names had been credibly associated with performance-enhancing substances or a candidate who was identified by Major League Baseball as a key figure in an epic fraud known as the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. 
 Which brings me to rule No. 5 that we are given for guidance: 
 “Voting — Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.” 
 I interpret this to mean that I shouldn’t vote for those I feel violated the “integrity, sportsmanship, character” clauses during their playing days — as in the circumstances above. 
 But I wouldn’t anyway. 
 I concentrate on the candidates who didn’t fail in those areas. 
 In the end, I felt just two were worthy for Cooperstown’s Class of 2023 — Todd Helton and Billy Wagner. 
 Helton’s career slash line came out to .316/.414/.539 in a 17-year career spent entirely with the Rockies. He finished with a .953 OPS along with a 133 OPS+, which sets 100 as a league average and takes into consideration outside factors like the stadium. 
 The five-time All-Star first baseman, who’s in his fifth year on the ballot, got to hit in the thin air at Colorado’s Coors Field, but his road numbers were also more than credible. 
 In all, Helton batted better than .300 12 times, including .372 in 2000. He also helped the cause defensively, leading NL first baseman in fielding percentage six times and claiming three Gold Gloves. 
 Wagner posted some historic numbers over his 16-year career pitching for the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and Braves. The closer’s career 2.31 ERA is the best among retired lefty pitchers with at least 500 innings in the Live Ball Era. 
 His career WHIP is also the best for any retired reliever with at least 700 innings thrown. That walks-plus-hits-per-innings-pitched ratio? Try 0.998. 
 The seven-time All-Star, who’s in his eighth year on the ballot, posted 422 saves, second among lefties and sixth among all relievers. Wagner had nine seasons with at least 30 saves, including two with at least 40. 
 So now I will wait for Jan. 24 to find out the results with everyone else, and for the mail to arrive next November.

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Brian Heyman's Class of 2023 Hall of Fame ballot

Heyman: My Class of '23 Hall of Fame ballot

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Roger Rubin

Filling out my Baseball Hall of Fame ballot this year turned out to be a journey. Embarking, I had a pretty good idea of where I was going. That wasn’t where I ended up. 
 Some could see the ballot I’ve cast for the Class of 2023 as a sea change on how I evaluate candidates. It’s an understandable conclusion, given that I voted for four players that I had not voted for previously.&nbsp;&nbsp;That's really not the case. 
 More, it’s about a change in attitude. Allow me to explain. 
 It’s natural to have seen a player during his career, think “this guy is a Hall of Famer” and then contemplate when they will retire and subsequently reach the ballot. That might have happened for me with Carlos Beltran when he played for the Yankees. 
 It felt right. He was consistently among the best players in the game and strong in virtually every department – hitting, power, speed and defense. He was a nine-time All-Star; his aggregate postseason numbers showed he performed well on the biggest stage; he finished with 565 doubles, 435 homers and 312&nbsp;stolen bases and was the most-successful base stealers of his era at&nbsp;86.4%. 
 But in his final season in 2017, he was part of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, a huge affront to anyone who cares about the game. In MLB's report on the scheme, Beltran was the only player named because he was retired when the report was released in 2020. Beltran apologized for his role in the scandal, and it cost him his job as manager of the Mets before he ever managed a game. 
 To this voter, Beltran had been the only newcomer to the ballot that deserved consideration.&nbsp; 
 A year earlier my ballot had four entries: David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (I’ve not voted for players disciplined for PEDs and, after five seasons of withholding votes on Bonds and Clemens and seeing other suspected users inducted, I wasn’t going to hold two guys responsible for the entire so-called &quot;Steroid Era&quot;). 
 Ortiz got in. The other three are no longer on the ballot. And now the thinking was not to vote for Beltran. So where did that leave me: sending in a blank ballot? Not sending a ballot at all? I decided to give Beltran some more thought. 
 I spoke to several voting colleagues, who&nbsp;suggested that I’ve been gripping the bat too tightly when stepping into the box to vote. And so I decided to revisit some decisions I’d made in past years. 
 It started with taking another look at Todd Helton. One could make several arguments against Helton, among them earning All-Star sections just five times in 16 full seasons and mediocrity in the postseason. But my biggest issue had always been his home/away splits – how much better he performed at Coors Field than when his Rockies played road games. 
 After reconsidering his candidacy in total, it occurred that it’s not fair to hold a player's&nbsp;team and home field against him. His career .316 batting average (.345 home, .287 away) and career .953 OPS (1.048 home, .855 away)&nbsp;both clearly rank with the best who have played the game. And it didn’t hurt that he’d won four Silver Sluggers at a premier&nbsp;offensive position and three Gold Gloves for defense. A new look changed my mind about Helton. 
 Scott Rolen has been an interesting case since he first appeared on the ballot, especially because he played third base and the list of Hall of Fame-worthy third basemen has been fairly short. While no one has been the fielder in the hot corner that Brooks Robinson was, few have been as good as Rolen. That deserves a hard think. He also was an All-Star nine times in 16 seasons and a very good hitter with an .855 career OPS. 
 The counter-point was two-fold: he missed a lot of games due to injuries and he was never “the guy” on the teams he played for. If one looks at how he played in his prime seasons, he statistically sits right in the center of the crop of Hall of Fame third basemen. History will see him as having belonged in the Hall and so I voted for him. too. 
 Next was Billy Wagner. There are only eight relief pitchers in the Hall, and the candidacy of the position&nbsp;is evolving. Wagner ranks sixth all-time with 422 saves,&nbsp;however the value of that stat is very subjective. Now look at some Wagner numbers that are not subjective. He struck out 33.2% of the batters he faced for a clip of 11.9 per nine innings and both of those numbers are among the best of all-time. Opposing hitters batted .187 against him, which is outstanding. His ERA was 2.31, also outstanding. Add to that he was an All-Star seven times in 15 seasons. 
 The arguments that he wasn’t the best reliever of his era – impossible when Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman were playing – and that he only pitched 903 innings? They’re starting to seem silly. The Hall needs more closers – they’ve been part of the game for decades now. 
 I also voted for Gary Sheffield this time around. Always in his favor were&nbsp;the .907 career OPS, the 509 home runs, the six top-10 finishes in MVP voting and the nine All-Star selections. And most of all, he struck fear into opposing teams. But he has been followed by his association with Bonds and close links to the BALCO scandal. He was never disciplined by MLB for PED use and, for the same reasons I changed my mind on Bonds, I am changing it on Sheffield. 
 And that brings us back to Beltran.&nbsp;My guess is that the electorate feels he belongs but can’t vote for him on this first-ballot appearance. Why go through the ceremony of leaving him off a time or two? I’d always planned to vote for him, so I checked that box.

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Roger Rubin's Class of 2023 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

Rubin: Change in attitude in Baseball HOF voting

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Steve Popper

Newsday's Steve Popper recently submitted his ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2023.&nbsp;Here are his selections in alphabetical order: 
 Carlos Beltran 
 Todd Helton 
 Andruw Jones 
 Scott Rolen 
 Gary Sheffield 
 Billy Wagner

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Steve Popper's Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the Class of 2023

Popper's 2023 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

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Newsday's Baseball Hall of Fame voters cast their ballots

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