My FanSided 2021 mock Hall of Fame ballot explained
The Chicago White Sox have had so many great Hall of Fame players come through the organization. Well, it would be nice to see Mark Buehrle be announced for such an honor. It doesn’t seem like it is going to happen but he is on the ballot. This is the first time he is on the ballot following his retirement after the 2015 season. It would be nice to see a franchise legend like that get in but he is going to need some national help as well.
The FanSided Hall of Fame mock draft is coming, and I voted for two players to get in.
This might be one of those years that doesn’t vote anyone into the real-life Hall of Fame but you never know what happens. For my mock ballot, I voted for two players to be elected. Of course, Mark Buerhle was a pivotal part of the Chicago White Sox organization for a long time and I believe he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
Buehrle had a career ERA of 3.81 and a career WHIP of 1.281. He had 1870 career strikeouts and a career record of 214-160 over 518 games (493 starts, 3283.1 innings). All of that accumulated a career WAR of 59.1 which is very good for a starting pitcher over 16 years. He also threw two no-hitters, one of which was a perfect game. He was also the ace of their 2005 World Series-winning staff. All of that came clean (as far as we know) during parts of the steroid era.
Speaking of the steroid era, I also voted for Barry Bonds who might be the face of it. It is well known that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs and many don’t want him in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a result. It is a fair opinion, but I don’t share it. Most players who cheated to Hall of Fame numbers needed to do so. Bonds did not. He was well on his way before he started using.
In his career, he became the home run king when he passed Henry Aaron for the most all-time. He ended with 762 home runs and 1996 RBIs. His career slash line was .298/.444/.607 with an OPS of 1.051. He was an All-Star 14 times, a Silver Slugger 12 times, an MVP seven times, a Gold Glove winner eight times, and a two-time batting champion. He might have fallen off a little bit sooner in his career if he never used but he was certainly an elite player naturally.
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These two players are not the same in the eye of the public. One is beloved in his city and the other has the national fanbase split down the middle. Bonds will most likely have a higher percentage than Buehrle but you never know anymore. The official FanSided Mock Hall of Fame vote will arrive on Monday morning.