It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Mariano Rivera belongs in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. But if you’re Bill Ballou, you don’t think the former New York Yankees closer even deserves a vote.
Ballou on Saturday posted a long piece on the Worcester Telegram’s website detailing why Rivera doesn’t deserve the vote.
Until he came forward, Rivera “had received votes on 100 percent of publicly released ballots and was still in line to become the hall’s first unanimous entrant, an achievement that has become a point of controversy around Hall of Fame time every year,” according to the New York Post.
Ballou writes the save is the “lowest-hanging fruit of the game’s statistical tree” but won’t “deny Rivera a chance to be the first unanimous Hall of Famer” because he’s going to hand in a blank ballot.
It’s certainly a bizarre argument considering Rivera is one of, if not the most dominant closers to ever step on the mound. He boasts a career 2.21 ERA with 1,173 strikeouts and 652 saves over his 19-year career — all spent with the Yankees. Rivera also is a 13-time All Star.
But somehow, Ballou doesn’t think he’s Hall of Fame worthy.
