Kovacevic: My 2016 ballot for Baseball Hall of Fame

In the continuing spirit of the honesty and transparency this site works to forge with our subscribers, we as a staff will always disclose to you any votes that we're privileged to have for any sport's Hall of Fame or major awards.

Today at 6 p.m., the Baseball Writers Association of America -- of which I've been a proud member for 11 years, and will continue to be a member despite the sad, misguided recent efforts led by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to keep this site out of the local chapter -- will announce which players will be part of the next class. It will be televised on MLB Network.

There were 32 players on this ballot, 15 of them new. As always, 75 percent of the vote is required for induction.

The following is my ballot:



Ken Griffey Jr.
Trevor Hoffman
Jim Edmonds
Curt Schilling
Mike Mussina
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Jeff Bagwell

A few explanations:

• A voter can choose up to 10 names. I obviously chose eight for the simple reason that I saw eight of them as qualified by the Hall's clearly stated criteria.

• The first three names up there are the only first-timers on the list. I'm not a believer in the concept that the a player's first ballot should be something special. If you belong, you belong. I chose the only three from the list of 15 first-timers that I felt deserved it. I underscore that especially with Edmonds, who probably won't be a popular choice until further down the road, given that his case is best made by advanced metrics.

• I made two changes from last year's ballot, and I feel particularly compelled to explain these: I was guilty in my first ballot of convicting Bagwell by appearance rather than through reasonable suspicion or evidence. We all watched Bagwell balloon over the years in Houston. We all saw his power totals swell in proportion. It looked awful. But appearances don't and shouldn't convict. The hard fact is that Bagwell has never been even remotely connected to any PED case. Until he is -- and there's no statute of limitations on that sort of thing -- he'll have my vote. And regarding Sheffield, I just flat-out blew it last year. Yes, his connection with PEDs was disputed by the athlete, but so was the case with most others. The connection is real. He shouldn't have gotten my vote, and he won't again.

• I'm aware it's become the cool thing to dismiss PEDs as if they shouldn't matter to the Hall, just as it's cool to bash the BBWAA for acting as holier-than-thou or judge, jury and executioner. This is, of course, nonsense. The BBWAA is given clear voting guidelines by the Hall, and one of those guidelines is as follows:

"5. Voting: Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."

Read it for yourself. I didn't write it. The BBWAA didn't write it. In fact, it's mostly unchanged since 1939. It's right there in black and white.

When Major League Baseball doesn't want PED-suspected guys kept out, it can urge the Hall to make a change. That hasn't happened. When the Hall doesn't want the BBWAA to include "integrity, sportsmanship, character" among its criteria, the Hall could unilaterally make that change. It hasn't.

So both Major League Baseball and the Hall shamefully pass the buck to the writers.

Well, OK, fine. I'll just work with that. For as long as I'm entrusted with this vote, I'll follow the guidelines precisely as written and weigh "integrity, sportsmanship, character," with an inclusion of those connected to PEDs.

In short, I'll vote for Bonds and others when Major League Baseball and the Hall change the guidelines. But I'm not holding my breath. Because the hard fact is this: They're all too happy to watch the writers vote exactly as we've been voting. They don't want Bonds in the Hall, either. Just ask the commissioner who essentially refused to acknowledge Bonds breaking his sport's most hallowed record.

• A final point: If Griffey doesn't receive a wholly unanimous ballot, there will be an Internet witch-hunt conducted for whichever voter decided against him or decided to submit a blank ballot in some sort of protest. And the hunt will be vicious, as most of them are.

Which is so ridiculous. A vote is a vote. People vote for the Easter Bunny on their presidential ballots. Anytime you have a lot of people involved in a process, weird stuff will happen. But you still have the vote, and the only aspect of the vote that truly matters is the result.

Griffey will get elected. He might even top Tom Seaver's all-time percentage total. That will be wonderful, and in no way, shape or form will it be marred by one or two voters exercising their right to vote -- let me underscore that it's a vote, which we should understand better in a democracy than in most places -- however he or she wishes.

• I'll be equally transparent with my upcoming votes for some of the NFL's postseason awards. And yes, I'm still a member of the Pro Football Writers Association, too.

Which reminds me, if you want to know more about the Trib thing, ask in comments.