If I Had a Baseball Hall of Fame Vote: My 10-Deep 2014 IBWAA HOF Ballot.

Here's the ballot I submitted to the IBWAA for the 2014 Hall of Fame class.

Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Greg Maddux
Edgar Martinez
Curt Schilling
Frank Thomas
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker

I would have voted for more candidates if allowed, as there are easily in excess of ten HOFers on this year's ballot. The ten I selected are all clear HOFers to me, and the guys who aren't first-year players should have been in long ago.

My 2013 IBWAA MLB Awards + Updated Ryan Getzlaf 2013-2014 Season Tracker

	AL MVP	AL CY YOUNG	AL ROY	AL MANAGER	AL RELIEVER
1	Mike Trout	Chris Sale	Wil Myers	Joe Maddon	Greg Holland
2	Josh Donaldson	Max Scherzer	Jose Iglesias	Bob Melvin	Koji Uehara
3	Miguel Cabrera	Yu Darvish	Danny Farquhar	Terry Francona	Joe Nathan
4	Chris Davis	Hisashi Iwakuma
5	Evan Longoria	Felix Hernandez
6	Robinson Cano
7	Jacoby Ellsbury
8	Manny Machado
9	Yu Darvish
10	Max Scherzer

	NL MVP	NL CY YOUNG	NL ROY	NL MANAGER	NL RELIEVER
1	Andrew McCutchen	Clayton Kershaw	Jose Fernandez	Clint Hurdle	Kenley Jansen
2	Clayton Kershaw	Adam Wainwright	Yasiel Puig	Mike Matheny	Craig Kimbrel
3	Matt Carpenter	Jose Fernandez	Hyun-Jin Ryu	Fredi Gonzalez	Mark Melancon
4	Carlos Gomez	Matt Harvey
5	Joey Votto	Cliff Lee
6	Paul Goldschmidt
7	Troy Tulowitzki
8	Jose Fernandez
9	Yasiel Puig
10	Yadier Molina

In retrospect the only changes I would make would be moving Scherzer ahead of Sale for AL Cy; moving Max ahead of Darvish for AL MVP; moving Goldschmidt up some in NL MVP voting; and moving Molina up as well.

That's not to say Sale was unworthy, as I believe Scherzer, Sale, Iwakuma, Darvish, and King Felix all had great cases to be made. I've just changed my mind ever so slightly after some further examination and thought.

The AL Cy Young and NL MVP votes were by far the toughest, as each race had at least 5 excellent candidates you could make a case for.

Oh, and Mike Trout is by far the best and most valuable player in baseball, and he didn't win a major award. There's something fundamentally wrong with that. Unless you truly believe he "didn't do enough to get his team into the postseason," in which case you need help unrelated to baseball.

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In other news, I've updated the Ryan Getzlaf Season Tracker on the right sidebar so that it's aligned with the current 2013-2014 season.

My 2013 IBWAA Hall Of Fame Ballot (Hint: I Voted People In)

I had a vote for the Hall of Fame through the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, run by Howard Cole. It's set-up the same way the BBWAA runs things, where you can vote for 10 guys. I believed more than 10 guys were worthy, but unfortunately I couldn't vote for everyone. Here's the ballot I submitted with players listed in alphabetical order:

1. Bagwell
2. Biggio
3. Bonds
4. Clemens
5. Edgar Martinez
6. McGwire
7. Piazza
8. Schilling
9. Trammell
10. Larry Walker

Others who had my vote but were left off of the ballot due to the voting limit:

Larkin (who wasn't elected by the IBWAA in 2012)
Raines
Marvin Miller

The guys who are borderline in my mind but I'd have no problem voting for and kind of want to:

Gil Hodges
Kenny Lofton

A Hall of Fame without Mike Piazza is a Hall of Fame I don't respect.

Thanks, as always, to Howard for allowing me to participate and have a vote.

Greg Zakwin's 2012 IBWAA MLB Awards Ballot (#TeamTrout)

I was able to cast a ballot - for the end-of-season MLB awards - in a vote held by the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. The full list of 2012 Award Winners, as selected by IBWAA members, can be found here.

*Click either picture to embiggen.*

Thanks to Howard Cole, as always, for the opportunity to participate. Feel free to discuss the ballots and my selections, whether you agree or disagree with them. Mike Trout was by far the easiest decision for me, in both cases.

Your Real 2012 AL MVP and Best Player in Baseball, Mike Trout. #TeamTrout

I figure there is no better time than the present to post the one piece of Mike Trout swag I have. It goes without saying he was the true AL MVP, but then again, Matt Kemp was last year's true NL MVP, so it's no surprise the BBWAA would screw it up yet again. If you're the best player, you add the most value to your team. Plain and simple. Anyways, without further adieu:

I voted for Trout in the IBWAA balloting, and I'll reveal the rest of my picks tomorrow. I acquired this signed ball a couple of years ago at a minor league game between the Inland Empire 66ers and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, before they switched affiliations. All I had on me was a ball that was already signed by some Dodgers' minor leaguers, and I wasn't going to pass on meeting Trout. I hope to one day add a couple of certified autos and a piece or two of memorabilia featuring just Trout, the best player in baseball.