Hall of Fame moment for Jhonny Peralta, Mike Napoli: The week in baseball
Fame #Fame
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The 2023 Hall of Fame ballot for Cooperstown was released on Monday.
The incoming class of 14 players doesn’t include a can’t-miss-candidate such as Mariano Rivera or Derek Jeter, but it did include two of my favorite Cleveland players — Jhonny Peralta and Mike Napoli. They join former Indians/Guardians holdovers Jeff Kent, Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel from the 2022 ballot.
I always felt Peralta was slighted in Cleveland. He replaced Vizquel, an 11-time Gold Glove winner, at shortstop. The front office had a chance to exercise Vizquel’s option for 2005, but chose to let him become a free agent and open the door for Peralta.
Peralta and Vizquel couldn’t have been more different. Vizquel was an acrobat defensively, a bubbling personality that the fans loved. Peralta at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, towered over the 5-9, 180-pound Vizquel. He didn’t have Vizquel’s defensive chops, but he had power, hitting 202 home runs in a 16-year career.
Personality wise, Peralta was quiet, almost shy, compared to Vizquel. One more thing, Vizquel was the last link to Cleveland’s great teams from the 1990s. The teams that dominated the AL Central, winning six division titles in seven years and going to the World Series in 1995 and 1997.
To find Peralta and Vizquel on the same Hall of Fame ballot is conflicting. Peralta’s stay on the ballot will be a one-and-done affair. He needs to receive 5% of the vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America to stay on the ballot and that almost certainly is not going to happen.
The fact that he made it on is an honor in itself. A player, to be considered by the BBWAA, must have played in the big leagues for at least 10 years.
Peralta played eight years in Cleveland, moving from shortstop to third base in his final season. The Indians traded him to Detroit during the 2010 season and manager Jim Leyland promptly moved him back to shortstop. Peralta was a two-time All-Star with the Tigers and helped them reach the World Series in 2012.
This is Vizquel’s sixth year on the ballot. The limit is 10.
He was rocketing toward the necessary 75% of the vote to be elected to the Hall of Fame, reaching 52% in just his third year on the ballot before allegations of spousal abuse from his former wife were reported in December 2020. A lawsuit was also brought against him by a bat boy while Vizquel was managing the Class AA Birmingham Barons for the Chicago White Sox.
Last year Vizquel, who denied the abuse allegations, received just 23.9% of the vote. I still believe Vizquel is a Hall of Fame player, but I can’t see him entering Cooperstown on the BBWAA ballot.
Napoli played just one year in Cleveland, but 2016 was a year to remember. He hit .239 (133 for 557) and set career highs with 31 homers and 101 RBI, helping Cleveland win the AL Central and reach Game 7 of the World Series before losing to the Cubs.
The front office and manager Terry Francona signed Napoli not only for his power, but for his ability to bring a team together. Fans always talk about the importance of team leaders, but it is a rare occurrence to find a player who actually is one. It is especially true in professional sports where egos and salaries can divide a team.
I started covering the team in 1983 and I’ve only seen two players fill that role — Napoli and Jason Giambi. Napoli, who would play only one more year after 2016, was at the end of a successful career. All he wanted to do was win.
Cleveland signed him to play first base, which upset incumbent Carlos Santana. Napoli talked to Francona and Santana about dividing the playing time at first. Santana went on to hit a career-high 34 home runs that season
Napoli worked every corner of the clubhouse. There were no cliques with him. His daily one-on-one card games with Jose Ramirez were sometimes more entertaining than the actual game that followed.
Like Peralta, Napoli isn’t a Hall of Famer. But that hardly diminishes a career which saw him hit 267 homers and play in three World Series, including 2013 when he helped Boston beat St. Louis.
Here is how the other two former Cleveland players on the ballot stand.
Kent, who played in Cleveland for part of the 1996 season, is in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He leads all second basemen with 354 home runs but has never received more than 32.7% of the vote.
Ramirez, Cleveland’s No. 1 pick in 1991, is in his seventh year on the ballot. The author of 555 home runs, Ramirez should already be in Cooperstown except he kept testing positive for steroids.
Ramirez topped out at 28.9% of the vote last year. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, tainted by steroids as well, saw their 10-year run on the ballot end in 2022. Ramirez’s vote total could rise because of that but it’s unlikely he’ll reach 75% over his final three years of eligibility.
David Ortiz was the only player voted into the Hall of Fame last year. Scott Rolen, who is in his sixth year on the ballot, received the next highest vote total (63.2%) among players still eligible.
Bonds, Clemens and Schilling are among the eight players appearing on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee that will be voted on Dec. 4, the first day of the winter meetings. Albert Belle, who hit 242 of his 381 homers in Cleveland, is also on the ballot.
A 16-person panel consisting of Hall of Famers, veteran media members and executives will vote. Seventy-five percent of the vote is necessary for induction. The results will be announced Dec. 4.
Results of the BBWAA 2023 election will be announced Jan. 24.
Guardians AL Central championship merchandise for sale: Here’s where you can get Cleveland Guardians gear commemorating their AL Central Division title, including T-shirts, hats, hoodies, and much more.
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