Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez deemed worthy of Hall of Fame picks by Bill Ballou

Hall of Fame classes are like the amateur draft.

The No. 1 pick one season might be No. 8, 9, or 10 a year later. It takes a while for everything to shake out.

This year’s Cooperstown class is a relatively weak one, with Carlos Beltran being the most significant addition. That says nothing about the baseball talent pool in general, only about how it has been distributed. Last year, for instance, I voted for five players, only one of whom was selected — David Ortiz.

I also voted for another first-time candidate, Alex Rodriguez as well as holdovers Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez. Bonds and Clemens are off the ballot after 10 years, their hopes now resting with one of the Hall’s Era Committees, the contemporary players one.

MORE: Carlos Beltran, Jeff Kent and Andy Pettitte among Joe McDonald's 10 Hall of Fame picks

This year’s personal ballot includes no newcomers. It does include Rodriguez and Ramirez, both of whom have been sanctioned by Major League Baseball for using steroids. That has been written about for years in this space, and the bottom line is that it does not affect my vote.

Baseball has determined what their punishment is. Unlike Pete Rose, it does not include being banned from the Hall of Fame. Both Rodriguez and Ramirez have a lot of ground to make up, though. Rodriguez has more time left than Ramirez, and as the BBWAA voting members evolve and generally get younger, he might get in.

Jeff Kent is a last-year candidate. Gary Sheffield has two years left. Both were fine players. Neither crossed the imaginary line to Hall of Fame players. Scott Rolen is getting close and has four more years. Todd Helton has done well and has five more years. They are both similar candidates to Kent and Sheffield.

Beltran was better than merely fine, but does not cross my personal threshold to Cooperstown. Would I, as an out-of-town fan, buy a ticket just to say I saw him play?

There always have been some strange inconsistencies in Hall of Fame voting, and the last couple of elections demonstrate that.

I am not a fan of closers. This has been documented, but they are on the ballot and have to be considered. Billy Wagner, who was 47-40 with 422 saves and a 2.33 career ERA, got 51 percent of the votes last year and has a chance at getting in down the road.

Ex-Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon, who was 41-36 with 368 saves and a 2.44 career ERA, is off the ballot after one try because he got less than 5 percent of the vote last year. Agreed — Wagner was better than Papelbon, but not 10 times better.

But that’s a closer for you. They are very hard to evaluate.

Wagner, Ramirez, Bronson Arroyo, Jacoby Ellsbury, John Lackey and Mike Napoli are the former Red Sox players on ths year’s ballot. Thank goodness that Curt Schilling is finally off the ballot. Interesting thing about Schilling and Clemens being off this year’s ballot — with them gone, Ellsbury is the only player on the ballot who came up to the major leagues through the Red Sox farm system.

Chances are he won’t be on it next year.

I voted for both Bonds and Clemens every year they were on the ballot. That said, I hope they are not voted in by the Contemporary Committee. The Contemporary Committe should not exist. It took baseball a long time to recognize the talent that had been underestimated, and under-recognized, in the Negro Leagues.

There was, and is, a need to review those players. There is no such need to review players who have had 15 — now 10 — chances at being voted in by the BBWAA. Nothing about their careers has changed or will change. Perspective may alter those perspectives, but that should work both ways.

If, from a distance, somebody is better than he seemed, someone else also could be worse than he seemed. The Hall of Fame is not about to start ripping plaques off the walls. Players arrive in Cooperstown via a one-way street.

The Baseball Hall of Fame remains the greatest such institution in professional sports. Just type “Hall of Fame” into a search engine and see what comes up. That is one reason why it should remain nearly impossible to get into.

—Contact Bill Ballou at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillBallouTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Bill Ballou deems Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez worthy of enshrinement