Marc Narducci spent 37 years covering all sports for The Philadelphia Inquirer before retiring in July 2021. He covered everything from high school games to the Phillies winning the World Series and the Eagles winning the Super Bowl. A lifelong New Jersey resident, she is a freelance writer and broadcaster. Once again, Marc reached out to see if MLB Trade Rumors would be interested in publishing his Hall of Fame vote. I’m happy to do it and I hope it can be an interesting topic of debate for our readers. Here is Marc…
It is always an honor to be published by MLBTradeRumors.com, one of baseball’s most respected publications. For those who haven’t studied in years, it’s just a little housekeeping. I don’t vote for those associated with steroids, that is Alex Rodriguez again Manny Ramirezdon’t get my vote.
I haven’t voted for him either Carlos Beltran who was admittedly the mastermind behind the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, which changed the perception of that World Series-winning team. Those actions cost him his job as manager and now, this vote. I don’t feel that all of the Astros should be punished, but as mentioned before, that’s a story for another day.
I have never criticized how another voter votes. That doesn’t mean our votes aren’t subject to criticism, including mine. Each voter should do what they think is best.
Now, here is this year’s vote, which includes five names.
Holdovers
There are three awards that I voted for last year and I got my vote back this year.
Chase Utley
There’s no question that injuries slowed Utley and many felt he didn’t have the stats, but he was a six-time All-Star and only four second basemen in the HOF have more home runs than Utley’s 259. there is Rogers Hornsby (301), Craig Bigio (291), Ryne Sandberg (282) and Joe Morgan (268). I’m the second lowest player who shows great potential, that’s why I voted Jeff Kent (377 home runs) while on the ballot. Also, we tend to look for efficiency, even if it is short term. As mentioned last year, from 2005-2009, Utley’s slash line was .301/.388/535 and he averaged 29.2 home runs, 110. Runs. 101.4 RBI, 151 games and 675 plate appearances. His BWAR during that time was 7.7. Just nine other HOF second basemen have a higher career B-War than Utley (64.5).
Utley won the World Series in 2008 with the Philadelphia Phillies and the following year he hit five runs in the 2009 World Series against the Yankees, tying the MLB record with. Reggie Jackson in 1977 again George Springer in 2017. He was a career .275/.358/.465 hitter with an 823 OPS and a 117 OPS+. Utley also won four Silver Slugger Awards. Will it be enough? Last year in his first season on the ballot, Utley received 28.8% of the vote, so he still has a long way to go.
Billy Wagner
This is Wagner’s 10th and final season in office after coming close last year with 73.8% of the vote, missing out by five votes. Those who don’t feel Wagner is a HOF player point to his low number of appearances and World Series statistics. Both are valid.
Wagner only threw 903 innings. His postseason production, though it only included 11 1/3 innings over 14 appearances, was underwhelming to say the least. He had a 10.03 ERA.
The reason for voting for Wagner was his popularity. According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, his career WHIP of 0.998 is the lowest among all retired pitchers with at least 700 innings, and his career 2.31 ERA is the lowest among left-handed pitchers with at least 500 are included in live football. period. His 187 ERA+ is second all-time Mariano Rivera.
According to HOF expert Jaffe Jaffe, Wagner’s 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings (minimum 900 innings pitched) is the best in MLB history. There are now others ahead of him, but they have pitched less than 900 innings.
Wagner finished with 422 saves, second among left-handed relievers and 8th overall. According to MLB.com, he converted 422 of 476 save opportunities (.887).
He was a seven-time All-Star and played on teams that advanced to the postseason seven times.
David Wright
Wright falls into Utley’s non-statistical category due to injuries. This is his second year on the ballot, and he only got 6.2% of the vote last year. Still, Wright had great potential when he was healthy. Wright was a seven-time All-Star during a nine-year span from 2005-2013. During that time, his slash line was .302/384/.505 with a 138 OPS+. He hit 23 home runs, 90 runs scored and 93 RBIs while also winning two Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards. Wright finished in the Top 10 in MVP voting four times. During that nine-year span, he was among the best players not only at his position, but in baseball.
According to the baseball HOF, Wright is one of our four third basemen in history (and Hall of Famers George Brett, Chipper Jones again Mike Schmidt) who retired with at least 350 doubles, 200 home runs and 150 stolen bases. He finished with 390 doubles, 242 home runs and 196 stolen bases.
He was a career .296/376/.491 hitter with a 133 OPS+. Only seven lower third HOFs have a higher OPS+ than Wright. Due to injuries, he never became a full-time player past his 31st season.
The New Arrivals
CC Sabathia
This is one player that is sure to create a debate. Among his biggest selling points were his career wins (251) and winning percentage (.609) in an era when winning was often overlooked. He is tied for 47th all-time in career wins.
Some will use his 3.74 ERA against Sabathia, which is fair. His career ERA+ was 116, solid but not spectacular.
On the bright side, he was the ace of the three teams he played for (Cleveland, Milwaukee and the NY Yankees) and led all three to the postseason. (Later in his career he wasn’t the best hitter for the Yankees, but in his first five years in New York, he was an ace).
The lefthander was a six-time all-star in 2007 Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland. He finished in the top 10 of Cy Young voting four times. He was an active player, having made 30 or more starts 12 times. Sabathia helped lead the Yankees to the 2009 World Series championship in his first year with the club. That year he was the ALCS MVP, going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two games against the Los Angeles Angels. In 10 of his 19 seasons he has played on playoff teams and has a career record of 10-7 and a 4.28 ERA in 26 postseason appearances. Sabathia is one of three lefties with at least 3,000 hits. He recorded 3,093 hits, which is 18th all-time.
Ichiro Suzuki
Just as Adrian Beltre was a first-ballot pick last year, so is Ichiro this year. He has information that he was elected unanimously. Probably the best stat is that Ichiro had 200 or more hits and won a Glove in his first 10 seasons with Seattle. In 2001 he became the second player to win the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards in the same season. Even more impressive is that he didn’t make his MLB debut until he was 27 years old. In those first 10 seasons, his slash line was .331 / .376 / .430. Prior to playing with the Seattle Mariners, he had 1,278 hits while playing in Japan. He finished with 3,089 MLB hits and a .311/.355/.402 slash line. Ichiro won two batting titles when he hit .350 in 2001 and .372 in 2004. He also stole 509 bases in 626 attempts (83%) in his career and was a 10-time All-Star, all coming in his first 10 seasons. . In 86 plate appearances, he hit .346/.400/.436. Primarily a right fielder, Ichiro played 1,970 career games in right field, 322 in center and 117 in left field. He also had a great streak, playing 150 or more games 13 times and 160 or more nine times.
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