When it comes to Hall of Fame voting, there is rarely agreement. That’s why Mariano Rivera is the only player unanimously elected. It’s what makes the 75% hurdle a difficult one to overcome.

Some of the debate we’re currently having is very interesting. Should Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens be inducted into the Hall of Fame despite their steroid use? Does their having potentially Hall of Fame careers prior to the assumed time they started doping move the needle in either direction?

If they’re eventually inducted, what impact does that have on Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa?

While we are on the subject of the character clause to what extent should it apply to Curt Schilling and his actions from his post playing career?

These are all good and worthwhile debates. These lead to different opinions and ballots.

When we see these ballots the debates should be interesting a fun. That said, there needs to be serious homework done as we are discussing the legacies of real human beings.

As long as that is done, we should respect the process no matter how much we disagree with the underlying premise. There should be room for people to look at things completely differently and rely on different information. We can disagree, and seeing the year-to-year results, we do.

That said, everyone should agree what Anthony Rieber of Newsday did was flat out wrong, and his vote should be discarded.

In 2018, he voted for Bonds, Clemens, Ramirez, Schilling, Andy Pettitte, and Omar Vizquel, who remained on the ballot, in addition to Rivera, Edgar Martinez, and Mike Mussina, all three of whom were inducted.

This year it was just Derek Jeter.

If you think it was an absurd reason, you’re completely right. Effectively, Rieber said the other players on the ballot don’t deserve to share the day with Jeter:

I don’t have a vote on that 16-person committee, which is different from the BBWAA setup. So if someone is voted in from that group and joins Jeter on the stage, so be it.

For me, I could only consider the 32 names on the BBWAA ballot. Last year, I voted for nine players. This year, my ballot says No. 2 is the one and only.

As absurd as that was, he actually thinks Jeter belongs on a Mt. Rushmore with Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan.

Going back to the ballot, Rieber admits he thinks six returning players were worthy Hall of Famers, but he didn’t vote for them as they aren’t Jeter level Hall of Famers.

There are players like Bobby Abreu, who actually had a better career WAR than Vladimir Guerreo, in danger of getting five percented. Abreu lost one vote partially because Rieber couldn’t be bothered to do the necessary work as in his estimation, Abreu wasn’t worthy of Jeter status, and as such, not worthy of a vote this year.

There’s also Larry Walker who is in his last year on the ballot. Despite his having a higher WAR than Jeter, he’s not up to Rieber’s arbitrarily set Jeterian standards.

Remember, this isn’t someone looking at a ballot and saying Jeter was the only worthy candidate. We can disagree about that, but its also a plausible determination. However, this isn’t that.

No, Rieber decided Jeter shouldn’t have to demean himself by sharing the stage.

If you think about it, the BBWAA has the vote because they cover the teams and are supposedly more capable of being objective. This latter premise fails when we see fanboy ballots like this.

More than that, there’s no separate wings of inducted players. You’re only grouped with those players you’re inducted. That’s next to the previous and subsequently inducted players. There’s no separate wings for first ballot, percentage, or amount of time players inducted with you.

No, there’s just one Hall of Fame. That’s something everyone but Rieber seems to know.

In the end, the players left off his ballot deserve better. Those players purposefully overlooked deserve better. The players in the Hall deserve better. Finally, Jeter deserves better.

After all, when he is inducted, the focus should be on him and his great career instead of a gimmick ballot which was submitted.