Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call - Happy Hall Of Fame Day

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

If you are a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, or a baseball fan in general, you have been looking forward to this day.

Today is the day that the 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame class is announced.

We have previously wondered out loud who might be the next Pirates Hall of Famer. You can check out that read right here. Today, we will take a look at how some Pittsburgh-based BBWAA writers who have Hall of Fame votes filled out their ballots.

This post would not be possible without the tireless work of Ryan Thibodaux. His Hall of Fame Tracker is an invaluable resource to show fans and observers how the ballots are stacking up. Please follow him on twitter.

John Perrotto

The “Dean” of the Pittsburgh baseball scene, John Perrotto writes for a variety of outlets, most notably Fan Rag Sports. You can read his column on his ballot here.

Perroto’s Ballot – Jeff Bagwell – Barry Bonds – Roger Clemens – Trevor Hoffman – Edgar Martinez – Mike Mussina – Tim Raines – Ivan Rodriguez – Lee Smith – Larry Walker

Perrotto’s ballot is an interesting one. His inclusion of Bonds and Clemens follows recent a trend that has developed this year in which voters are more forgiving for suspected PED users. He also shows that he sees value in the designated hitter by including Martinez.

From his column:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”John Perrotto” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]I have had former players admit privately that they used PEDs while playing and never got caught. I’ve seen married players, who were portrayed as people of highest character, pick up women in hotel bars. I was once offered amphetamines by a player because he thought I looked sleepy Bonds and Clemens are two of the greatest players in my lifetime. They should be in the Hall of Fame.[/perfectpullquote]

Rob Biertempfel

TribLive’s Rob Biertempfel also happens to be the president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the BBWAA. Rob has been on the Pittsburgh Pirates beat since 2007. Biertempfel revealed his ballot via his Twitter account.

Rob has not yet written a column on his choices, but his is a very selective ballot. Of the three Pittsburgh-based writers we are featuring here, he is the only one to include Curt Schilling on his ballot.

Apologies for the spoilers, but here is one more. All three of our highlighted ballots include Bagwell. Formerly of the National League Central, the Houston Astros were a thorn in the side of the Pittsburgh Pirates for many years, and Bagwell personally boasted a .314/.420/.561 slash against the Pirates over 807 plate appearances. He also slugged 35 home runs and 50 doubles over those PAs, or the rough equivalent of a season and a half.

Dejan Kovacevic

Kovacevic’s bracket was explained in his free column here.

Kovaevic’s Ballot: Bagwell – Vladimir Guerrero – Hoffman – E. Martinez – Mussina – Raines

Guerrero picks up his first vote among these Pittsburgh based writers with Kovacevic’s ballot. Guerrero is in his first year of eligibility, and is currently tracking at 71.5 percent (75 percent is needed for induction). While it is anything but a slam dunk that Vlad will make it in his first year, getting over 70 percent of votes in his first go-round speaks volumes for his hall chances.

Kovacevic strongly drew upon the hall’s own stated guidelines in making his choices. From his column:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]When the Hall and/or Major League Baseball decides it wants the voters to stop weighing “integrity, sportsmanship, character,” they can and must remove that from the clause. Until then, I’ll follow the guideline.[/perfectpullquote]

it is always interesting to see how baseball as a whole is viewed both within Pittsburgh and without. These ballots illustrate a small smattering of how opinions may vary wildly among those voting for hall of fame honors.

It is those differences in view coupled with the sport’s rich history that makes baseball uniquely apt to such interesting debate.

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