Voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2020 is open and ballots are getting submitted. One of the biggest names on the ballot this time is Derek Jeter, and that is the only player a particular BBWAA member supports.
We reported on Wednesday how the first ballot was made public and how that particular writer supported six players on his ballot. Writers can vote for up to 10 players on each ballot, but some people vote for fewer than that.
Today, Steven Marcus from Newsday made his ballot public, revealing all the players that he wants to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. An image of his ballot is shared below.
My Just Jeter Hall of Fame ballot for 2020. #keepthehallsmall pic.twitter.com/lFEOfqLhxO
— steven marcus (@newsdayalum) November 21, 2019
It’s not really a secret that Marcus submitted a ballot that looks like this. When he was writing about the 2019 HOF class, he noted that it was very likely he would only be voting for Derek Jeter on the 2020 ballot.
And that’s exactly what he did.
2020 Baseball Hall of Fame class mysterious
It’s going to be very interesting to see how things shake out this winter, as a lot of names came off the ballot last year. It cleared up what some voters had called a logjam of players, possibly leading to this year having far fewer inductees.
The best players on the ballot are easily Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, but their links to PEDs and the suspicions that continue to follow them into retirement aren’t going away. And that’s how some voters prefer it to remain.
There are a lot of fans who disagree with Marcus and the ballot that he submitted.
He's not even the best Yankee on the ballot for God's sake.
— B (@HansenB27) November 21, 2019
What waste of a ballot. I hope you lose your vote
— Patrick Edwards (@pcedwards) November 21, 2019
Marcus definitely knew what he was doing and he won’t be the only member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America who submits a ballot with very few names on it this year. He’s just one of the first.
Voting for the 2020 HOF class will remain open until the end of December, so there is a lot of time for fans and analysts to continue debating things.
Maybe the most interesting component will be whether or not Derek Jeter can become only the second player to ever be unanimously inducted. Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was the first.