One voter might be changing tune on Mike Piazza and the HOF

The official Hall of Fame ballot, with Mike Piazza‘s name on it once again, will be released on November 24. Results of the election will be announced on January 6. Could this year be the one where Piazza rightfully gains entry?

Writes Ron Chimelis about the claims about Piazza and illegal performance enhancing drugs:

"Do bad skin and Reggie Jefferson constitute substantial evidence, or are they just handy excuses to lash out at an old steroid scandal by keeping another guy out?I could keep voting against him while secretly hoping he reaches the needed 75 percent for election. That would get me off the hook without compromising my principles. But I have reached the point where I feel I am stalling. My ambivalent, wait-till-next-year approach to Piazza is the coward’s way out.I think I am going to vote for Piazza this time. But the ballot is not due until December, giving me a few more weeks to ask myself the same questions about the same doubts."

The baseless claims against Piazza have been written about in this space and elsewhere.

While I vehemently disagree with Chimelis for not voting for Piazza during his first two years on the ballot, he should at least get credit for being honest with his readers and appearing as if he’s ready to change his mind.

While Piazza received 62.2 percent of the vote this past January, trending up from the 57.7 percent he received in 2013, there are still many voters who are keeping Piazza out while providing laughable reasoning.

Dan Shaughnessy thinks Piazza “didn’t look right.”

Rob Parker said that Piazza didn’t have any “magic numbers.”  Using his logic, none of the catchers who are in the Hall of Fame deserve to be there, since Piazza is the best offensive player among all who have ever played the position.

Ken Gurnick made a fool of himself by voting for only Jack Morris.  His reasoning was that he wouldn’t vote for anyone who played during the steroid era.  The problem with that?  Morris (who retired after 1994) played during the steroid era.

Jon Heyman didn’t vote for Piazza, and claimed that he voted for 10 “surely clean” players, a statement he can’t ever prove.

While there will almost certainly be writers who continue to withhold their vote for Piazza without any good reason, if the thought process of Ron Chimelis is shared by a chunk of his colleagues, Piazza may finally get his due in six weeks.