Beltre, Mauer look to be first-ballot Hall of Famers

The Hall of Fame will announce its new class Tuesday and two players look to be locks for induction.

Two more players are in good shape and another is also possible.

On the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, candidates need 75 percent of the vote to make it to Cooperstown.

Last year, Scott Rolen was the lone player elected. The power-hitting third baseman barely made it with 76.3 percent of the vote.

Fred McGriff never received enough votes on the BBWAA ballot, but he also gained entry into the Hall of Fame last year after being unanimously selected by the 16 members on the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee.

McGriff was on the BBWAA ballot for the maximum 10 years (2010-19) but he never got more than 39.8 percent of the vote.

On July 27, 2001, McGriff was traded to the Cubs from Tampa Bay. In 2002, his one full season with the Cubs, “Crime Dog” hit .273/.353/.505 with 30 home runs and 103 RBI.

This year, two newcomers on the ballot are shoo-ins for Cooperstown.

According to the HOF tracker put together by Ryan Thibodaux and his team, Adrian Beltre had 99 percent of the early vote and Joe Mauer checked in at 83 percent.

Beltre piled up 3,166 hits over 21 major-league seasons. Mauer played his entire 15-year career with his hometown Minnesota Twins and retired with a .306 batting average.

Todd Helton (82.5 percent) and Billy Wagner (78.4) are also trending toward Cooperstown while Gary Sheffield checked in at 74.7 percent on the BBWAA tracker.

I've had a Hall of Fame ballot for 20 years, and here is my vote for the 2024 class: Carlos Beltran, Adrian Beltre, Mark Buehrle, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Joe Mauer, Gary Sheffield and Billy Wagner.

Buehrle is on the BBWAA ballot for the fourth year and he's still not close to Cooperstown. The former White Sox workhorse starting pitcher always gets my vote for one reason.

For 14 straight seasons (2001-14), Buehrle pitched 200 or more innings. In baseball's modern era, Christy Mathewson, Warren Spahn, Gaylord Perry, Greg Maddux, Phil Niekro and Don Sutton are the only other pitchers to match that feat and all six are in the Hall of Fame.

Buehrle also pitched a perfect game and a no-hitter for the Sox. He was a five-time all star, a four-time Gold Glove winner and he was a key member of the White Sox's 2005 World Series championship team.

Add it all up and that's more than good enough to get my vote.