Congratulations Adrian Beltre (And Todd Helton and Joe Mauer)!

Time for my Hall of Fame recap.  First of all, I want to recognize the newest Red Sox in Cooperstown: Adrian Beltre.

Beltre of course only spent one season in Boston and is the greatest One-Year Wonder in team history.  I will do a much longer post (my usual Red Sox in Cooperstown post) after he is officially inducted.  I am pretty sure he will wear a Rangers cap on his plaque.  This was his first year on the ballot.

And next, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer were also elected.  Helton was in his sixth year on the ballot and only ever played for the Rockies.  Mauer was in his first year on the ballot and only ever played for the Twins.  

Congratulations to all three new members of the Hall of Fame!

We should have had two Red Sox One-Year Wonders get elected, but apparently we can't have nice things.

I am disappointed that Billy Wagner was unable to join Beltre, Helton and Mauer.  He ended up at 73.8% of the vote, just five votes shy.  He was in his ninth year on the ballot, so he gets one more crack at it.  It is a not a sure thing that he will make it in.  There are going to be three strong first-year candidates next year (Ichiro Suzuki, C.C. Sabathia and Felix Hernandez), as well as Dustin Pedroia, who could build a case like Helton did.  Hopefully Wagner gets in.

And now, how did I do on my predictions?  I feel like I made some really bold predictions this year and did not do terribly well with the specifics.

PREDICTIONS:

1. Adrian Beltre gets in nearly unanimously. Two voters will not vote for him.

As noted above, Beltre got in, but it was not really all that close to unanimous.  He was elected with 95.1% of the vote, meaning 19 people did not vote for him.  That is ridiculous.  

2. Todd Helton and Billy Wagner squeak in.

Well, I got Helton, though with 79.7% of the vote, he did not really squeak in.  It wasn't a large margin, but it was comfortable.  I talked about Wagner above.  He missed it by five votes.

3. Gary Sheffield makes a big gain, but doesn't make it.

Sheffield gained 32 votes and increased almost nine percent, but at 63.9% total, he did not make it.  I was correct here.

4. Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran gain big and position themselves for potential election next year.

Jones was only a modest gain, but he is at 61.6%.  That is not an imminent election, but with three years left, he could get there.  Beltran had a huge gain, 39 votes and nearly an 11% increase, but he is at just 57.1%.  Beltran has a lot more time left though, this was only his second year on the ballot.

5. Chase Utley and Joe Mauer have very strong first years but neither get in this year, both in position to get in next year.

I was legitimately surprised at Mauer.  He didn't make it by much (76.1%), but he made it in on his first ballot.  Utley was significantly less (28.8%).  He may take awhile.

6. David Wright has a reasonable first showing, breaking 40%.

Wright did not come close to 40%, he ended up with 6.2%.  He stays on the ballot, but he has a long way to go.  That does not bode particularly well for Dustin Pedroia next year who is far more like Wright than Utley or Mauer.

7. All other first-timers drop off the ballot.

This was correct.  Only Wright and Utley stay on the ballot for next year among those not elected.

8. Omar Vizquel continues to drop.

Vizquel was on his seventh ballot.  Last year, he received 76 votes, 19.6%.  This year, he received 68 votes, 17.7%.  He is going backwards, not that I am that upset about that.  I thought he was an overrated candidate before the allegations of domestic abuse and sexual harassment.