Mark Buehrle gets enough votes to stay on the Hall of Fame ballot

Mark Buehrle

For the first time since 2013, nobody got elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America were revealed Tuesday, and no player received the 75% necessary to earn induction.

That doesn't mean that nobody will go into the Hall this year -- the Class of 2020, which includes Derek Jeter, Larry Walker and Ted Simmons, will get its induction ceremony this summer after COVID-19 ruined everything last July.

In this 2021 ballot, pitcher Curt Schilling came the closest. He got 71.1% of the vote, followed by outfielder Barry Bonds (61.8%) and pitcher Roger Clemens (61.1%). Schilling, Bonds and Clemens were all in their ninth year on the ballot, which means they'll get one more kick at the can in 2022. If a player isn't inducted after 10 years, he falls off the ballot.

The biggest takeaway for White Sox fans? Well, good news for Mark Buehrle. He received 44 of a possible 401 votes to lead all first-time candidates. That's 11% of the vote, so it's nowhere near enough to secure induction into the Hall, but Buehrle was comfortably above the 5% threshold needed to remain on the ballot for a second year.

I'm not prepared to say Buehrle belongs in the Hall, but I'm pleased to see him receive a decent level of support. Getting 44 votes means some people outside of Chicago noticed his name on the ballot and voted for him.

At the very least, my hope for Buehrle is that the voters give his career a fair audit in the years to come. How do we judge a starting pitcher's worthiness for the Hall anyway? Most starting pitchers in the Hall have 300 wins; 3,000 strikeouts or both. Almost nobody does that anymore, so new standards need to be applied to starting pitchers.

For Buerhle, let's start with this: Between 2000 and 2015, nobody pitched more innings, and nobody won more games. Buehrle and CC Sabathia both had 214 wins during that period. And as we've noted in the past, Buehrle had iconic moments in his career: two no-hitters, including a perfect game; five All-Star appearances, including an All-Star Game start; and a World Series championship with the Sox in 2005.

It may or may not have been a Hall of Fame career, but it was a career that should not be dismissed easily. I'm happy Buehrle's name will be on the Hall ballot again in 2022.

Hall of Fame thoughts: Derek Jeter and Larry Walker

Derek Jeter

Does it really matter who the one person is who didn't vote for Derek Jeter in this year's Hall of Fame balloting?

I am not among the righteously indignant who needs to know the answer to the question. I also don't care why that person didn't vote for Jeter. All that really matters is the former New York Yankees shortstop got 99.7 percent of the vote, easily clearing the 75 percent threshold for election, and there's certainly no shame in that.

Maybe I'm not bothered by this because I was never a huge Jeter fan. Don't get me wrong: The guy is the best offensive shortstop I've seen in my lifetime, bar none. Through the years, I simply got tired of ESPN analysts insisting that Jeter was a great defensive player, when he was merely adequate at his position.

Again, nothing wrong with being adequate. But it's not unfair or wrong to say Jeter didn't stand out for his defense.

What set him above the crowd was his bat. In the past century, Jeter's 96.3 offensive WAR is the best among shortstops by a wide margin -- Robin Yount's 83.1 is second.

Jeter had eight 200-hit seasons. No other shortstop in my lifetime has had more than four. Jeter had nine seasons of 120 OPS-plus or better. He batted .300 or better 12 times. No other shortstop in my lifetime has batted .300 more than six times. (There are three that have done it six times: Nomar Garciaparra, Alan Trammell and Alex Rodriguez.)

Jeter's career OPS-plus is 115. That's even better than Cal Ripken Jr. (112), who is the second-best offensive shortstop I've seen in my lifetime.

So, yeah, Jeter was an easy Hall pick because he was just tremendous, historically great, with a bat in his hands. Just don't try to tell me how allegedly awesome he was with the glove. I won't buy it.

Joining Jeter in the Hall is Larry Walker, the former Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder. This was Walker's 10th and final time on the ballot, and here's the thing that's so curious about his election: Only four years ago, he received just 15.5 percent of the vote.

This week, he cleared the 75 percent threshold by six votes. That's a slim margin, but it counts. It's just kind of strange how people didn't think Walker was a Hall of Fame four years ago, but now they do. He's still the same man; his career accomplishments have not changed.

Walker is a three-time batting champion who finished his career with a .313/.400/.565 slash line. He was the National League MVP with the Rockies in 1997, when he hit .366 with a league-best 49 homers and 130 RBIs. He also won the Gold Glove in right field that year, one of seven times in his career he earned that honor.

The main knock on Walker? He played a lot of his career at the offensive paradise known as Coors Field in Denver. No doubt that career .965 OPS benefited from the thin mountain air, but the thing is, Walker's .865 career OPS on the road is still higher than several notable Hall of Famers, including Ken Griffey Jr. (.860), Dave Winfield (.841), Eddie Murray (.838), Rickey Henderson (.836) and Tony Gwynn (.835), among others.

Would I have voted for Walker? Ehh, probably. I think playing in Montreal and Colorado for most of his career hurt his profile. If he had played in an East Coast media market, chances are he wouldn't have been waiting 10 years to get into the Hall.

Here is the 2020 Hall of Fame ballot

Paul Konerko

Below is a list of every player on the 2020 Hall of Fame ballot. Names are listed alphabetically:

Bobby Abreu, Josh Beckett, Heath Bell, Barry Bonds, Eric Chávez, Roger Clemens, Adam Dunn, Chone Figgins, Rafael Furcal, Jason Giambi, Todd Helton, Raúl Ibañez, Derek Jeter, Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, Paul Konerko, Cliff Lee, Carlos Peña, Brad Penny, Andy Pettitte, J.J. Putz, Manny Ramírez, Brian Roberts, Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Alfonso Soriano, Sammy Sosa, José Valverde, Omar Vizquel, Billy Wagner, Larry Walker.

Of note for White Sox fans, Konerko is on the ballot for the first time. I do not expect Konerko to make the Hall this year or any other year, but hey, I didn't expect Harold Baines to get in either, but he did.

Jeter is the only sure bet to get in among the other first-timers. Other notables making their first appearance on the ballot include Soriano, Giambi, Dunn, Lee and Abreu.

Me personally, I hope Giambi doesn't get in. He's a steroids guy, and I hold a grudge against him for cheating to win the 2000 American League MVP award. (Frank Thomas was more deserving.)

Walker is on the ballot for the final time, and we'll see if he can get the votes necessary for induction on his last kick at the can, much like Edgar Martinez did last year.

Players must appear on 75% of the ballots in order to be inducted. Last year, there were 425 ballots cast, so 319 votes were necessary to cross the 75% threshold.

Hall voters are required to submit their votes by the end of the calendar year, and this year's class will be announced Jan 21 on MLB Network. The 2020 induction will be July 26.