Who made Morosi's HOF ballot? Breaking down his 10 picks

Adrián Beltré is a Hall of Famer. He was the easiest choice on the ballot I marked and mailed last month. I expect at least 75 percent of my baseball writing colleagues will concur, and Beltré will be among the new class of baseball immortals unveiled Jan. 23, live on MLB Network.

My remaining choices will inspire greater debate. I welcome the critiques, because they affirm the Hall’s cultural significance and my gratitude for the opportunity to vote.

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Before addressing the names, I’ll begin with a number.

Ten.

I filled my ballot to the maximum. I always do. I am a “Big Hall” voter. I wish to counterbalance the “Small Hall” advocates who would have preferred to welcome only Ken Griffey Jr., Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter over the preceding eight years. Our collective love of baseball deepens when thousands of happy travelers arrive to Cooperstown in late July. This ritual depends on an essential component: inductees.

• Leyland, postseason manager extraordinaire, elected to Hall

Some voters look at their ballot and ask which select few -- if any -- are worthy of the Hall. I frame the question differently: Which 10 candidates are most deserving? I look at statistics. I consider the importance of each player to a given generation of baseball history. I eliminate players suspended by Major League Baseball for performance-enhancing drug use.

I will, at times, vote strategically in order to boost the chances that a candidate receives the 5 percent support necessary to remain on the ballot; to remain under consideration by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for a decade is a distinction unto itself, even for those who fall short of the three-quarters support required for election.

Without further delay, my 10 names: Carlos Beltrán, Beltré, Todd Helton, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Joe Mauer, Jimmy Rollins, Gary Sheffield, Chase Utley and Billy Wagner.

Beltré’s career is characterized by sustained excellence, as opposed to the dominant peak that yields an MVP Award or two. Beltré never won an MVP, although he finished among the top 10 six times. The first of those occasions came when Beltré was 25, the last at age 37; that time span is the measure of his greatness.

Beltré didn’t reach an All-Star Game until his 13th Major League season, when he was playing for his third team. But his call to Cooperstown should come in the first year of eligibility, because 3,166 hits supersede the lack of national acclaim for much of his playing career.

Beltrán, Beltré’s teammate for a half-season in Texas, ranks fourth all-time among switch-hitters with 435 home runs. He stole over 300 bases and drove in more runs than Mickey Mantle. Voters are weighing those achievements against Beltrán’s involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme. Those actions cost Beltrán an opportunity to manage the Mets and led to diminished support on his first ballot appearance. For transgressions that occurred in his final season as an active player, when his Cooperstown credentials already were established, Beltrán deserves no further penalty.

Helton and Wagner continue to build support, year over year, and they should. Helton was one of the best hitters of his generation, and his significance to baseball history is amplified by his lofty place in the lore of the only franchise for which he played. Wagner’s dominance (2.31 ERA, 11.9 SO/9) is sufficient to offset a modest number of innings (903).

Mauer, like Helton, benefits from his association with a single team. Mauer’s candidacy hinges on two main principles: He had an historically great peak, with three batting titles in a span of four seasons; and he achieved those heights while playing the most demanding defensive position -- catcher -- through the first decade of his career.

With longtime Phillies teammates Rollins and Utley, voters have an opportunity to correct the misstep of a previous generation. Inexplicably, Lou Whitaker fell off the ballot after only one appearance, denying voters the chance to jointly consider the most enduring double-play combination in baseball history. (Alan Trammell was elected subsequently via the Era Committee.)

Thus far, Rollins hasn’t received the recognition he deserves. I’ll repeat one of my favorite facts about him: He’s the only shortstop ever with at least 200 home runs, 100 triples and 400 stolen bases. Utley had a dominant peak, enduring October brilliance, and a worthwhile coda with his hometown Dodgers.

Sheffield once told me the career milestone that mattered most to him was finishing with the most RBIs among all players from the Tampa area. He succeeded, driving in 1,676 runs. He ranks ahead of Fred McGriff, Hall of Fame Class of 2023, which tells you plenty about Sheffield’s place in baseball history. In his 10th and final appearance on the ballot, Sheffield is starting to receive long-overdue recognition as one of the greatest power hitters of his era -- with a discerning eye that enabled him to walk over three hundred times more than he struck out.

Hunter’s career deserves closer examination. He won nine Gold Gloves and was one of the defining defensive players -- at any position -- in the first decade of this century. He’s one of only nine players in AL/NL history with 350 or more home runs and at least 1,500 games played in center field.

The others: Willie Mays, Griffey, Mantle, Beltrán, Jones, Duke Snider, Jim Edmonds and Joe DiMaggio.

You’ll notice that precisely one-third of that group appears on this year’s BBWAA ballot. The concurrent brilliance of Beltrán and Jones should not diminish Hunter’s all-around excellence. Hunter is a leading member of the cohort that followed Griffey’s lead in reimagining the center field position. That makes Hunter more important to baseball history, not less.

Jones is an easy candidate to support, because the first decade or so of his career (10 Gold Gloves, 368 of his 434 career home runs) was one of the most extraordinary in baseball history. He should not be penalized for a less impactful denouement. Conversely, Hunter deserves credit for finishing with over 500 more hits than Jones — while winning only one fewer Gold Glove.