Bill Ballou has covered baseball for the Telegram and Gazette for more than three decades, and in December, he explained why he was not voting for Yankees closer Mariano Rivera -- or anybody else, out of respect for Rivera.
Ballou believes that the value of closers doesn't match that of other positions, which is hardly an outrageous argument to make. There are 30 front offices that agree with him, apparently, based on the lesser compensation they annually apply to relief roles relative to what starting pitchers are paid. Because of that perspective, he decided that he couldn't vote for Rivera.