Baseball Hall of Fame: One vote wonders
The writer who voted for Moyer is Bob Sherwin, currently writing for Golferswest.com. Sherwin is a 34-year newspaper veteran who spent many summers covering the Seattle Mariners. In his column about his Hall of Fame vote, he acknowledges that the nine players he voted for this year are the most he’s ever listed on a ballot.
He didn’t vote for the PED-tainted names like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, or Manny Ramirez. He did vote for the five players most likely to make it this year: Vladimir Guerrero, Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Trevor Hoffman and Edgar Martinez, along with the guy expected to finish sixth in the final voting, Mike Mussina.
Jeff Kent got a vote from Sherwin, as did Omar Vizquel. Sherwin describes Vizquel as “statistically the greatest defensive player—not just shortstop—in the game’s history.” He didn’t specify what statistics make that claim. Total Zone is used at FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference because it’s calculated through play-by-play data for any player in baseball history. By this metric, Vizquel is not in the top 25 among all fielders in baseball history.
Regarding his vote for Moyer, Sherwin wrote,
"“…he’s a guy who won 269 games with a fastball that couldn’t leave a bruise. He was an artist, unappreciated in this power game and someone whose career should be examined as he rolls through.”"