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Column: When popularity trumps defense and other factors for Baseball Hall of Fame voting

FILE - Former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz walks on the field before a baseball game against the Cleveland Indians, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, in Boston.  Ortiz, Ryan Howard, Tim Lincecum and Alex Rodriguez are among 13 first-time candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, joining 17 holdovers. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, FIle)

How much does popularity count when you vote? Does your personal viewpoint of the person trump the positions, principles and performances of the candidate?

From voting for the U.S. President to the town mayor to the baseball Hall of Fame, popularity counts. It’s inherent in all of us.

Consider this year’s Hall of Fame ballot. Results will be announced next week and indications are that David Ortiz, affectionately known as Big Papi, will be elected on this, his first, ballot.

Make no mistake, Ortiz is well worthy of induction. He had monster playoff numbers and helped lead the Boston Red Sox franchise to triple World Series titles.

Let’s put steroids aside for the moment. Ortiz was cited as a user in some reports while fellow Hall candidates Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were always assumed to have popped performance-enhancing drugs (PED). Rodriguez was even suspended for a season!

But there’s another consideration – and that’s popularity. Big Papi was – and still is – adored in Boston. Fun loving with a Hollywood smile, Ortiz could win almost any vote, not just the Hall of Fame.

But Ortiz was a designated hitter for almost all of his career, Bonds was an elite defensive left fielder with eight Gold Gloves, while Rodriguez won two as a shortstop, considered one of the most demanding positions on the field.

Seen here at the 2007 Home Run Derby in San Francisco, Barry Bonds, left, is in his last year on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, while Alex Rodriguez is up for election for the first time.
Seen here at the 2007 Home Run Derby in San Francisco, Barry Bonds, left, is in his last year on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, while Alex Rodriguez is up for election for the first time.

Bonds won 7 MVP awards, Rodriguez 3, Ortiz 0.

Bonds hit 219 more home runs than Ortiz, Rodriguez 155 more.

You get the picture.

Here comes the popularity element. While Ortiz was universally loved in the baseball world, Bonds was a surly, egotistical teammate and Rodriguez was always an outsider, marching to his own inflated drum.

The word in the baseball world is that Ortiz will have enough votes (75% of the eligible voters, who are members of the Baseball Writer’s Assn. Of America) and Bonds may will sneak in, too, on this his 10th (and last) try.

I believe it was not only the use of PEDs that kept Bonds (and right now Rodriguez, who is also on the ballot for the first time) away from Cooperstown. It was POPULARITY.

I no longer have a Hall of Fame ballot (you must be covering baseball on a regular basis for 10 years to get a vote from the Baseball Writer’s Assn. of America), but if I did my ballot this year would be Ortiz, Scott Rolen, Todd Helton and Andruw Jones.

Remember the Hall is not just for the best offensive players, but the best overall. Rolen won 8 Gold Gloves at third base (and made 7 All-Star teams), Helton won 3 Gold Gloves at first (and had a career .316 batting average) while Jones won 10 Gold Gloves and was considered one of the best defensive center fielders of all-time.

Big Papi will go to Cooperstown this summer, joining fellow designated hitters Edgar Martinez and Harold Baines. I guess defense is not nearly the factor that popularity is.

Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached at pwdonovan22@yahoo.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Baseball Hall of Fame: Will David Ortiz make it and Barry Bonds won't?