As someone who was a big fan of Chase Utley, I am following the Hall of Fame voting closely this year. Maybe I shouldn’t be though. Or maybe I shouldn’t be able to follow it. The policy on Hall of Fame ballots is that if the person filing the ballot wants to release their ballot, they can. If not, they don’t have to. Maybe the policy should stay the same with one caveat. Should the ballots be kept secret until after the voting has been announced?

Here’s why I ask. The conspiracy theorist in me has been watching the voting and when Utley started to gain a little traction, it seemed that he then gained much more traction and it happened pretty quickly. It’s possible it was a coincidence. That the ballots I saw just suddenly happened to have votes for Utley. The conspirator in me wonders if some votes are being corrupted by the early release of ballots from other writers. I say this knowing that the writers who vote for Hall of Fame members take it very seriously. I believe that none of them–or at least very, very few–just peruse the list, put some check marks in some boxes and mail the thing back. First, a guy like Jayson Stark knows the game of baseball. He follows every jot and tittle of the game and wouldn’t really need much research to help guide his vote. Even so, I can see where he would put in research time, especially knowing his love for numbers and statistics.

Imagine though that you are a voter and you are undecided about a guy like Chase Utley. You start to see how his vote total – and percentage – has been climbing steadily. Then, you notice that other writers whom you respect very much are voting for him. Remember, you’re right on the edge between “yes” and “no”.

Stark was a voter with what was formerly called The Veterans Committee. Their voting takes on the feel of an old-time election at some Elks Club or something; back when men – it was only men back then – would gather in a room, smoke whatever was their preference of smoke and argue back and forth until they reached a consensus on whatever it was they were voting on. Then, they would open the doors, the smoke would bellow out followed by a bunch of overweight drunken guys and there would be a decision. In a less Untouchables description, the committee meets and discusses every candidate, they vote and then move on to the next. And who voted for which player is not known; ever. There are no social media posts and not even leaks of who voted which way or how close the balloting was on a particular player.

Hall of Fame writing doesn’t need to be that secretive, but hold the votes until after the results are official. Then, if you want to release your ballot, go ahead.

There was a movement years ago that pushed for all ballots to be released. It’s a topic every time that a player like Ichiro Suzuki is chosen on all but one ballot. Or Ken Griffey Jr. is left off of three ballots. Inquiring minds want to know who left these guys off of their ballots and why.

How do you get a vote?

First, you have to be a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). You can do that if you are an accredited professional journalist (writer, columnist, or editor) whose primary job is covering Major League Baseball for a newspaper, magazine, or major website. That membership puts you on the path to getting a vote. To get the vote you must log 10 consecutive years on a Major League Baseball beat, fill out an application, and sign a code of conduct. The BBWAA is not affiliated with the Baseball Hall of Fame in any way other than that they have their writers do the voting.

We will find out soon…

The results will be released on Tuesday January 20th. The ballots had to be returned by December 31, so those you are seeing released were turned in a few weeks ago, but are just being released now. To reach the Hall of Fame, you must be chosen on 75% or more of the ballots and if you are not chosen on more than 5% of the ballots, you are no longer eligible. Players who receive more than 5% of the vote, but do not reach the 75% threshold stay on the ballot for 10 years. After that they are dropped and would have to be considered by another means.

If you want to peak at where players stand, you can do that. The publicly released ballots are tracked and tabulated here. Remember, this is unofficial and only tracks ballots released publicly by the voter.

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