HOF voter submits intentionally blank ballot

Former New York Times baseball writer Murray Chass has decided that no one listed on the 2017 Hall of Fame ballot is worthy of election into Cooperstown.

Chass submitted his ballot over the weekend along with a note that said he left it intentionally blank.

"As for my HOF voting, in my first year as a voter, I voted for 10 players," Chass said on his personal blog. "By the time of my second vote, I realized that by voting for 10, I was saying I wanted to see 10 elected. What a horrible thought, to make people sit through 10 speeches in the hot July Cooperstown sun. I also realized that by having 10 players inducted on the same day lessened the honor for each. From then on I voted for only the players I considered the best of the elite."

Of the 178 ballots obtained by tracker Ryan Thibodaux as of Monday, only nine contain less than five players, while 107 voted for the maximum 10.

Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez appear to be locks to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, while Trevor Hoffman, Vlad Guerrero, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens will fall close to the required 75 percent vote.