Sportswriters spend their entire careers pushing for access and transparency. Yet when it comes to voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame, a veil of secrecy exists.

Yes, a fair amount of voters reveal their ballots However, the vast majority don’t.

And for that matter, fans also deserve to know exactly who is voting and their credentials.

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) currently doesn’t disclose that information. However, that could change.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is among those pushing for transparency in the vote. He writes:

Transparency is essential. The BBWAA should list the names of every voter, just as it does for its annual awards. Likewise, every voter should be required to publish his or her ballot. Many of us are choosing to do just that, and our ballots will be accessible on BBWAA.com starting Friday morning.

Ken Gurnick of MLB.com received heavy criticism for voting only for Jack Morris. Well, at least Gurnick revealed his vote and provided an explanation, however illogical it might have sounded. Fifteen other voters failed to vote for Maddux. And we don’t know who the heck they are.

If baseball writers are going to continue to vote for the Hall of Fame, which I am against, then the BBWAA needs to address this matter immediately. In fact, their editors should insist on transparency. At the very least, we would find out who is Jacque Jones’ friend.

It’s pretty simple: How can writers ask MLB and teams to open their windows, if they don’t do the same for Hall of Fame voting?

Also, regarding the issue of who is voting, Rosenthal writes:

Let’s clean up the voting body and remove those who are not actively covering the game. Let’s reduce the 10-year membership requirement to five to allow newer writers to vote sooner.

Indeed, Rosenthal is right here. Transparency also would show the voters who have no business participating in this process.