Look what you’ve gone and done: SSS votes Buehrle to the Hall of Fame

Well, it’s been a weird voting season for South Side Sox.

A week ago, we elected none of the 10 worthy players on our 1990s Veterans Ballot.

Moving on to the Cooperstown Class of 2023, we came up with a curious result: Mark Buehrle in the Hall of Fame — and no other candidate crept closer than 52.5%.

Oof.

We had 3,479 votes, and could only vote in a hometown favorite — and a player, with seven years left on the BBWAA ballot, very unlikely ever to reach 75% support — and nothing more.

Here’s a look at our final results, compared to the BBWAA ballot as currently tracked:

(Sorry, it’s a little hard to read, but the best I can do.)

In short, we blew it. Consider that SSS isn’t even restricted to voting for 10 players! (Granted, the percentage of 10-vote ballots by BBWAA voters is rather small, but still: No restrictions, and we couldn’t get anyone in besides ... Buehrle.)

To be fair, the public ballots by BBWAA members tend to be more optimistic than the “silent” voters; for example, Todd Helton and Scott Rolen are polling at ~79%, but factoring in the drag of the remaining ballots, neither player is projected to make it into the Hall, instead falling just short.

Credit SSS for being close to the pulse of the BBWAA with several holdovers — Manny Ramírez (+3%), Bobby Abreu (-0.8%), Jimmy Rollins (-0.4%) — along with every one of the first-year-players. But there are some big whiffs here, too, even beyond Buehrle — Helton, Rolen, Billy Wagner and Gary Sheffield among them.

The most fun vote is still to come, around the end of the month: the sixth annual White Sox Hall of Fame vote.

Till then: Congrats, Mark. And no one else.