Hartford Courant (Sunday)

Eight men in on this Hall ballot

Now that we’re done opening boxes and sending stuff back, it’s time for for some of us to check boxes and send them in.

My 18th Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is done, in the mail postmarked Dec. 26, and here I reveal and explain it. Pardon the all-over-the-map approach, but it’s that kind of ballot, as most recent ones have been. Many worthy candidates, few slam dunks.

Let’s start with the remaining “steroids guys.”

I switched a few years ago and voted for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to the end of their time on the writers’ ballot. Neither got in and, as I expected, the Veterans Committee didn’t give them nearly as much considerat­ion as the BBWAA voters did. Unless or until they get in, I can’t see my way clear to vote for Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez, given their multiple strong links to PEDs.

I do, however, vote for Andy Pettitte, based on his durability and postseason achievemen­ts, and Gary Sheffield, based on the eyeball test of his fearsomene­ss as a hitter and his joining the 500 home run club. Both were mentioned in the Mitchell Report, but I weigh each case separately and don’t believe their links to PEDs rises to the level of others. It doesn’t look like either is destined to get in, however.

So Pettitte, check, and Sheffield, who is in his last year, check. That’s two.

One tangential note:

The BBWAA and Hall of Fame made a mistake, in my opinion, shortening the ballot time from 15 years to 10. The longer a player is on the ballot, the more new voters have the chance to apply their own criteria and express their opinions of him. Younger voters should have gotten their chance to weigh in on Bonds, Clemens and others who have dropped off.

Four others I voted for last year get my check mark again: Todd Helton, Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones and Billy Wagner.

I’ve been a Helton voter all along; don’t buy the Coors Field factor for this exercise, an MLB park is an MLB park and he was dangerous any time he came to bat. Beltran raises to the level of Cooperstow­n, and the sign-stealing scandal shouldn’t enter

into it. Others involved have gotten rehired within the game, and so should he. I came around on Wagner and Jones more recently, in part because they’ve gotten a lot of support from the voting body, consensus opinion I value, and thus deserved fresh looks.

Now, the newcomers: Adrian Beltre is a layup for me, especially in light of Scott Rolen getting in last year. Beltre played the third base position as well as anyone of his time and had solid slugging numbers at an underrepre­sented position. Check.

Joe Mauer took a little more thought, but he’s a yes. Three batting titles, including a .365 season, an MVP, and most of that as a catcher, plus he’s a faceof-a-franchise player. He belongs, for me. Check.

I wrestled with Chase Utley’s candidacy, but left that box empty his first year. He’s getting more support in the ballots revealed than I expected, though, so I’m willing to take another look next year. A few others were close.

So it’s eight boxes checked this year: Beltre,

Beltran, Mauer, Pettitte, Sheffield, Wagner, Jones and Helton.

There is no dead-solid perfect ballot, nor will there ever be a perfect system. There are “small Hall” voters, and I understand and respect their position. There are those who ignore steroids altogether, and I get and respect theirs. In the end, it’s supposed to be hard to get into the Hall of Fame, and, trust me, it is very hard to get this large a body of baseball writers to agree on anything except In-n-Out Burger on West Coast trips, Bruce Springstee­n and Mariano Rivera.

But once the ballots are counted, the relatively tiny number of head-scratchers have little effect and the results from the fairway will hit the green, if not always the cup.

More for your Sunday Read:

Adrian Griffin on his ‘baby girl

Asked Bucks coach Adrian Griffin on Christmas Day what he thought of the season his daughter, Aubrey, is putting together for the UConn women’s basketball team.

“I catch every game,” he said. “When I was in Toronto, I had a son at Syracuse, one at Duke and my daughter at UConn and I would subscribe to almost every thing you could think of trying to catch every game.

“That’s my baby girl and I’m super proud of her. She’s a workhorse.

She plays like her Dad. Sometimes she has her Dad’s syndrome where she doesn’t look at the rim. I try to work with her on that, but she’s in good hands with Geno (Auriemma) and UConn. If they can get healthy they’re going to be

really good.”

Sunday short takes

Interestin­g that Rick Pitino, who’d been talking up UConn all year, switched gears after St. John’s competitiv­e loss in Hartford Dec. 23. All of a sudden UConn was “a decent team,” and he “hasn’t seen a great team” in college baskeball this season. Sounds like a motivation ploy for his players to believe they can now compete with anyone.

And this: Pitino told reporters in New York on Saturday he planned to play UConn at tiny Carnesecca Arena next year. … Wasn’t he hired to take back The Garden?

Try Rick’s rhetoric, it’s the best in the city.

Rocky Hill’s Justin Barron, one of the top defensive back in the ACC, told Syracuse fans via social media he is coming back for one more year.

The Pistons are having an historic NBA season, so historic that going forward, “tanking” should be known as “Pistoning.”

Kevin Ollie probably dodged disaster when he didn’t get the head coaching job in Detroit. Now that he appears to be rebuilding his rep as a Nets assistant, Ollie could end up with a head coaching position where there would be a chance to succeed.

Bloomfield’s Dwight Freeney was passed over for the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year, but he’s a finalist again. Based on how often you hear young pass rushers billed as “the next Dwight Freeney,” the master of the spin move deserves a bust in Canton.

Immaculate Grid tip. One season accomplish­ment categories like a sub-3.00 ERA or .300 batting average or better do not have a innings or plate-appearance requiremen­t, so Satchel Paige’s three scoreless innings for the A’s in 1965 counts, as did John Paciorek’s one-game career, 5-for-5 with Houston in 1963.

Request for UConn pep band. Dig out the chart for Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” and play it for Alex Karaban. The song gets in your head. … Would like to hear the Bing Crosby/Judy Garland tune “Connecticu­t” from the mid-40s, but I’d be the only one in the building who’d recognize it.

The UConn women’s hockey team, tied atop Hockey East and in the thick of the NCAA Tournament picture, has chance for a breakthrou­gh with games at Minnesota, a blue blood in the sport, Friday and Saturday. Taking a “Paige” from the basketball team, the Huskies’ top scorer, senior Jada Habisch, will be returning to her home state.

Last word

At last, I know why college football teams need 150 players: to be able to field a team in case they’re invited to a bowl game. Seriously, at last count, more than 20 Florida State players opted out of the Orange Bowl. … The Orange Bowl.

The transfer portal and, particular­ly, the quarterbac­k free agency it has created has rendered bowl games so irrelevant, there needs to be considerat­ion on cutting back. Look, it was fun around here when UConn made the Myrtle Beach Bowl in 2022 because the Huskies hadn’t been to one in a while. But now, do the non-playoff postseason games, including the New Year’s Day Six, have any meaning at all?

Coaches leave, players don’t want to play in them. The teams making them usually lose money and can’t believe they do much in the way of TV ratings. Maybe they generate some tourism dollars in some places.

Here’s what I’d suggest: Expand the playoffs to 16 or more teams. Push the conference championsh­ip games deeper into December so they have a little more time for hype. For teams not making a bowl game, or a conference championsh­ip, the regular season is it. Let the top independen­ts, including Notre Dame if it doesn’t make the playoffs, play a game for their own “conference” title.

Fewer games, but the games played count for something.