Starting Next Year, All Baseball Hall Of Fame Ballots Will Be Made Public
This story got buried, because the biggest trade that we’ll likely see this offseason went down, but it’s definitely worth mentioning real quick.
I love this. This is how the system should’ve worked all along. Accountability is only going to help the process, and ensure that those who are worthy actually do get inducted, and those who turn in a shitty ballot are held accountable by the baseball community. It’s the Baseball Writers Association of America who casts these votes. It always confused me as to why these WRITERS didn’t use their Hall of Fame ballots as a subject to WRITE about. It’s baseball we’re talking about here. It’d be weird if political writers had to disclose who they voted for for president, but this is the Baseball Hall of Fame. If you’re a baseball writer, why wouldn’t you write a piece about who you voted for and why? With the research that these voters are doing (or should be doing) to complete their ballot in the first place, you’ve essentially already compiled the meat of an interesting column, so why not just write the thing? That’s your job. Good work by the BBWAA to make sure that all ballots moving forward will be made public.