THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The absurdities of Baseball Hall of Fame voting

The case of the missing vote rumbles along. 

You know about this, right? 

Somehow, 393 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) included the name of Ichiro Suzuki on their Hall of Fame ballots. 

One voter did not. 

By that slimmest of margins, then, Ichiro failed to become the first position player to be inducted into the Hall by unanimous acclimation. 

It goes without saying that the voter who snubbed Ichiro — one of the game’s all-time, slam-dunk inductees — had some interesting reason for his/her ballot. 

There are old-timers who feel that no one should be granted Hall of Fame status on the first ballot (although Yankees closer Mariano Rivera became the one and only exception). 

There are other writers who are peeved about someone making into the Hall (or some other grievance), and they submit a blank ballot the following year. 

In case you aren’t familiar with the process, voters get a list of players who are eligible, and they put a little check next to anyone they feel worthy of Cooperstown — up to a total of 10. 

Players who make it to 5 percent of submitted ballots are allowed to return for another try the following year. 

NOW, YOU surely think that anyone who barely appears on 5 percent of the ballots has, well, zero chance to make the Hall. 

Not so. 

Stay tuned. 

Longtime national baseball writer Jayson Stark is fascinated by such numbers, and keeps close track of what happens from year to year. 

In other words, Jayson is willing to overlook the absurdity of the voting. 

If you follow my columns, you probably know that I disagree with that view of things. 

I think the whole arrangement is nuts, and worse, it has become a punishment that the baseball establishment can use to hammer hundreds of players. 

Specifically, stars who made their name (or even competed) in the “steroids era” are judged guilty of tarnishing the sport. 

The irony is that baseball was losing fans after the horrible lockout of 1994, and the home run chases of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire just a few years later got people excited again. 

There were whispers about steroids, and nobody really cared. 

They wanted to see the long balls. 

But now, Sosa and McGwire have been exiled, and neither will ever see Cooperstown. 

OK, BACK to the Hall of Fame voting, and the kindest reaction I can offer is to laugh at it. 

I mentioned earlier that Jayson Stark digs into the ballots every year, and he’s come up with some numbers that he finds curious. 

I find them absurd. 

Here’s an excerpt from a story Jayson wrote about players getting increased voting support from season to season. 

“As recently as 2019, Andruw Jones was still nearly 300 votes away from getting elected with just 7.5 percent. “Think how hard it is to flip 300 votes in an election in which there aren’t even 400 voters. That’s never been done.  

“But. 

“As the ballot cleared between 2020 and 2023, Andruw started flying up the board. He rocketed from under 8 percent to more than 58 percent in just four elections, adding nearly 200 votes. But then a funny thing happened last year. His rocket never left the pad, and he added only 11 votes — the smallest increase of anyone on the upper tier of the ballot. 

“So, this looked like a pivotal year. It was his eighth spin through this electorate. And he’s running short of time. But he bounced back, adding 4.6 percentage points and 24 votes.  

“So, he’s right there now, just 35 votes away.” 

Jayson believes that Andruw Jones will likely be voted into the Hall of Fame next year. 

Now, you may believe the former Braves outfielder deserves the honor, or you might not. 

Either way, what’s crazy here is that five or six years ago, almost none of the writers believed Jones was worthy of being checked on the ballot. 

Remember, you can vote for 10 players, so in 2019, only 7.5 percent felt Jones should be in the Hall — not even belonging on a ballot with 10 names. 

And now he’s almost a cinch to make it. 

I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense. 

If Jones was one of the best players of his generation, he would have had serious support right from the start. 

Instead, he was basically ignored. 

How did he become worthy of Cooperstown in that short span of time? 

Like I said, the best way to approach all this is to giggle. 

That’s what Ichiro did, inviting the mysterious writer who didn’t vote for him to come around for a drink. 

Another hit for the man who made it an art form. 

Email: scameron@cdapress.com 

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens (like now, for instance). 

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”