Earlier this week, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) released the 2014 ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Here's what the 36 players on the ballot look like in terms of career Player won-lost records. In a separate article, I looked at players already in the Hall of Fame and Hall of Merit and how their careers look measured by Player won-lost records. In that article, I identified Willie Stargell as perhaps the most typical Hall-of-Famer as measured by Player won-lost records and Joe Torre as perhaps the most typical player in the Hall of Merit but not the Hall of Fame (although I suspect he'll be in the latter by this time next year). I have included Stargell and Torre in the table below to give some sense of how this year's candidates compare to existing Hall-of-Fame (and Hall of Merit) standards.

		2014 Hall of Fame Ballot Player Won-Lost Records, sorted by pWORL
Player	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Barry Bonds	2,985	462.0	314.9	61.0	91.4	462.6	314.3	61.6	92.1
Roger Clemens	709	318.1	228.1	46.3	74.6	315.4	230.7	43.6	71.9
Greg Maddux	759	328.5	271.3	39.9	68.5	329.3	270.5	40.8	69.3
Tom Glavine	709	279.4	249.5	24.8	50.1	273.1	255.8	18.5	43.8
Mike Mussina	537	224.2	173.1	25.9	47.5	222.6	174.7	24.4	45.9
Frank E. Thomas	2,322	253.7	190.2	23.5	46.6	254.4	189.5	24.2	47.3
Alan Trammell	2,292	283.4	256.6	24.0	44.8	280.9	259.1	21.5	42.3
Craig Biggio	2,850	358.5	325.4	17.9	44.7	356.5	327.4	16.0	42.7
Curt Schilling	571	206.9	172.0	22.7	42.0	205.2	173.7	21.0	40.3
Jeff Bagwell	2,150	275.3	202.5	22.7	41.8	274.7	203.1	22.1	41.1
Jeff Kent	2,297	302.5	264.8	19.3	41.5	299.2	268.1	16.1	38.2
Willie Stargell	2,356	292.9	232.1	18.7	39.9	295.4	229.6	21.1	42.4
Edgar Martinez	2,055	212.2	168.6	18.3	39.4	212.9	167.8	19.0	40.1
Mike Piazza	1,911	213.0	174.2	22.7	38.6	214.3	172.8	24.0	40.0
Larry Walker	1,984	266.7	214.5	17.6	36.8	267.7	213.5	18.6	37.8
Mark McGwire	1,874	219.8	158.6	21.7	36.6	220.4	158.0	22.3	37.2
Tim Raines Sr.	2,500	313.5	276.2	10.8	34.1	316.9	272.8	14.2	37.5
Rafael Palmeiro	2,829	307.5	267.0	8.7	33.0	310.7	263.9	11.8	36.2
Joe Torre	2,209	244.1	209.4	13.5	32.0	245.1	208.3	14.6	33.0
Fred McGriff	2,458	276.7	230.4	10.3	30.8	276.6	230.5	10.2	30.7
Sammy Sosa	2,353	313.8	281.1	6.4	30.4	321.5	273.3	14.2	38.1
Jack Morris	568	224.0	208.6	7.7	28.7	218.9	213.7	2.6	23.6
Lee Smith	1,021	111.3	78.2	16.9	28.6	101.2	88.3	6.8	18.6
Kenny Rogers	763	195.1	181.7	7.1	27.8	192.2	184.7	4.2	24.9
Ray Durham	1,975	236.3	223.2	9.5	27.7	233.1	226.4	6.3	24.5
Luis 'Gonzo' Gonzalez	2,589	317.7	293.5	2.6	26.8	321.0	290.3	5.9	30.0
Moises Alou	1,941	256.7	226.3	7.4	26.5	256.9	226.1	7.6	26.7
Todd Jones	982	84.2	64.7	9.9	19.9	76.6	72.3	2.3	12.3
Armando Benitez	762	67.2	48.4	9.5	17.3	61.5	54.2	3.8	11.6
Don Mattingly	1,785	197.7	179.7	1.9	16.6	197.6	179.8	1.9	16.5
Hideo Nomo	324	129.7	129.8	3.2	16.5	125.3	134.3	-1.3	12.0
Mike Timlin	1,058	70.2	61.7	4.3	13.1	71.0	60.9	5.1	14.0
Eric Gagne	402	50.4	36.8	7.4	12.8	46.9	40.3	3.9	9.3
Richie Sexson	1,367	145.6	132.6	0.4	11.4	146.7	131.5	1.6	12.5
Jacque Jones	1,299	151.0	147.0	-0.9	10.9	148.2	149.8	-3.7	8.1
Paul Lo Duca	1,081	103.4	102.8	2.7	10.7	100.8	105.4	0.0	8.1
J.T. Snow	1,713	154.1	143.2	-2.4	9.4	151.8	145.5	-4.8	7.1
Sean Casey	1,403	131.1	127.2	-4.7	5.5	131.3	127.0	-4.5	5.7

2013 Debuts versus 2014 Debuts

The list of players making their first appearance on a Hall of Fame ballot this year is an impressive one. Players debuting this year won a total of 7 Cy Young Awards and 3 MVP awards. On the one hand, this year's debut class is one of the strongest classes ever to debut on a Hall-of-Fame ballot. On the other hand, this year's debut class is arguably the strongest class to debut since, well, last year.

The next table compares the players who debuted on last year's Hall-of-Fame ballot with the players who debut on this year's ballot, sorted by career pWins over replacement level.

	2013 Debuts					2014 Debuts
Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Barry Bonds	462.0	314.9	61.0	91.4	Greg Maddux	328.5	271.3	39.9	68.5
Roger Clemens	318.1	228.1	46.3	74.6	Tom Glavine	279.4	249.5	24.8	50.1
Craig Biggio	358.5	325.4	17.9	44.7	Mike Mussina	224.2	173.1	25.9	47.5
Curt Schilling	206.9	172.0	22.7	42.0	Frank E. Thomas	253.7	190.2	23.5	46.6
Mike Piazza	213.0	174.2	22.7	38.6	Jeff Kent	302.5	264.8	19.3	41.5
David Wells	206.9	179.7	14.8	35.5	Kenny Rogers	195.1	181.7	7.1	27.8
Kenny Lofton	268.9	242.0	12.1	32.3	Ray Durham	236.3	223.2	9.5	27.7
Sammy Sosa	313.8	281.1	6.4	30.4	Luis 'Gonzo' Gonzalez	317.7	293.5	2.6	26.8
Steve Finley	309.1	291.9	4.5	28.1	Moises Alou	256.7	226.3	7.4	26.5
Julio Franco	264.8	256.8	6.4	28.0	Todd Jones	84.2	64.7	9.9	19.9
Reggie L. Sanders	224.8	194.4	8.4	25.1	Armando Benitez	67.2	48.4	9.5	17.3
Ryan Klesko	185.8	156.6	7.6	21.3	Hideo Nomo	129.7	129.8	3.2	16.5
Roberto M. Hernandez	87.2	67.2	10.0	20.3	Mike Timlin	70.2	61.7	4.3	13.1
Jose Mesa	106.1	94.0	6.0	18.4	Eric Gagne	50.4	36.8	7.4	12.8
Aaron Sele	130.5	123.0	4.2	18.0	Richie Sexson	145.6	132.6	0.4	11.4
Shawn Green	236.5	222.7	-0.3	17.9	Jacque Jones	151.0	147.0	-0.9	10.9
Gregory 'Woody' Williams	134.1	137.5	2.1	16.1	Paul Lo Duca	103.4	102.8	2.7	10.7
W. Mike Stanton	65.0	53.3	6.0	13.8	J.T. Snow	154.1	143.2	-2.4	9.4
Jeff Cirillo	160.1	158.0	0.1	13.0	Sean Casey	131.1	127.2	-4.7	5.5
Rondell White	169.4	166.2	-2.2	11.7
Royce Clayton	214.9	238.5	-7.1	10.7
Jeff Conine	207.5	207.7	-7.3	9.4
Todd Walker	128.1	139.3	-4.8	6.0
Sandy Alomar Jr.	99.2	111.8	-2.5	5.8

The 2014 ballot is impressive. But it's no 2013.

Performance-Enhancing Drugs and the Hall of Fame

Unfortunately, lately, it has become impossible to talk about the Hall of Fame without bumping up against the subject of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). This is not a topic that I'm particularly keen on discussing here. My interest is in the data and, as far as the data are concerned, a home run is a home run and a Player win is a Player win, regardless of what a player did to hit that home run or earn that Player win. I gave my opinion on PEDs in baseball in my article last year about the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot if anybody cares about my opinion.

The Individual Players on the 2014 Hall of Fame Ballot

Over the next several weeks, I will write up an article about each of the 36 players on the 2014 Hall of Fame ballot. For the most part, these will not be advocacy articles: plenty of other people will post plenty of those. But hopefully, they will be interesting articles that may reveal something new and/or interesting, or at least a little fun, about these players, using Player won-lost records. I hope you enjoy them.

Links to these articles are posted below.

2014 BBWAA Hall-of-Fame Ballot

Moises Alou
Jeff Bagwell
Armando Benitez
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Sean Casey
Roger Clemens
Ray Durham
Eric Gagne
Tom Glavine
Luis Gonzalez
Jacque Jones
Todd Jones
Jeff Kent
Paul LoDuca
Greg Maddux
Edgar Martinez
Don Mattingly
Fred McGriff
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Mike Mussina
Hideo Nomo
Rafael Palmeiro
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Kenny Rogers
Curt Schilling
Richie Sexson
Lee Smith
J.T. Snow
Sammy Sosa
Frank Thomas
Mike Timlin
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker

2014 Veterans' Committee Hall-of-Fame Ballot

Dave Concepcion
Steve Garvey
Tommy John
Billy Martin
Dave Parker
Dan Quisenberry
Ted Simmons
Joe Torre

Impact of the Ballot Cap on 2014 Hall-of-Fame Voting

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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