Toronto Blue Jays insider, Canadian baseball writer, reveals first-ever Hall of Fame ballot

Originally from the Maritimes, Chisholm is baseball columnist for the Toronto Star, and previously was the Toronto Blue Jays beat reporter for MLB.com. Writers become eligible to vote if they have covered baseball regularly for 10 years for a legitimate outlet.

Although Chisholm has been covering the Blue Jays since 2010, MLB writers were not to join the BBWAA - the voting bloc for the Hall of Fame - until 2016, which is why Chisholm didn't obtain voting privileges until this year.

In a column in the Toronto Star, he revealed his public Hall of Fame Ballot, which was then posted on Blue Sky, by Adam Dore, who helps run the Hall of Fame tracker. He is the 31st known first-time voter.

https://bsky.app/profile/shutthedore.bsky.social/post/3mc2zdbrcvc2b

Many voters, especially newer, younger ones, are releasing ballots publicly, in an effort to create more transparency. Older, more old-school voters, still choose to keep their ballots private.

Voters can select up to ten names for induction; on his first ballot, Chisholm selected eight players.

Chisholm voted for the following players for induction: Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, Mark Buehrle, Cole Hamels, Felix Hernandez, Andruw Jones, Andy Pettitte, and Omar Vizquel.

Out of the eight players that Chisholm selected, six are among the top ten vote-getters, with only former Blue Jays Buehrle and Vizquel outside that group.

The results of Hall of Fame voting will be announced on January 20th.

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