Aaron Sele on Hall of Fame vote: 'A nice tip of the cap'

• Aaron Sele received exactly one Hall of Fame vote
• Because he received less than 5% of the vote, he'll no longer be on the ballot
• Sele was a two-time All-Star who won 148 career games

Amid the raging debate about the shutout pitched by Hall of Fame voters on Wednesday, another controversy emerged at the bottom of the ballot.

Aaron Sele got a vote.

That evoked Twitter outrage in some camps, with the unidentified member of the Baseball Writers Association of America derided for wasting a vote in a ballot so loaded with strong candidates that 22 percent of the electors picked the maximum 10 players.

The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham tweeted: "Aaron Sele got a vote. That's nice. Makes the rest of us look good.''

Now, Sele is the first one to acknowledge he was no Hall of Famer. He didn't even bother looking for his name when the results came out.

But the two-time All-Star sees the nod as a reflection of more than just his numbers.

"I am surprised, and it also makes me feel that somebody out there respected the way I handled myself as a professional baseball player, that I had a lot of integrity,'' Sele told USA TODAY Sports. "Obviously, the Hall of Fame, I understand I'm well short. About 152 wins short.''

Sele, now an assistant in player development for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was a solid and at times pretty good pitcher during a 15-year career in which he registered a 148-112 record with a 4.61 ERA.

During a four-year stretch from 1998-2001, Sele averaged 17 wins and 211 innings pitched with the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners, although only once in that stretch did his ERA dip below 4.20.

Sele may not have had the talent of Roger Clemens – his teammate with the Boston Red Sox from 1993-96 – but he also wasn't accused of using performance-enhancing drugs, charged with lying about it by the feds (a case Clemens won) or accorded the questionable privilege of skipping road games when he wasn't scheduled to start.

Sele, who is busy looking after his four daughters, found out about his vote through a friend's son, who writes a baseball blog and texted him.

Later, he and buddy Shawn Green, the former outfielder who got two votes, joked with each other.

"We kind of texted back and forth a little bit,'' Sele said. "'Hey, congratulations, you got two votes.' 'Oh, you got one vote.' One, two or 200 votes, every player appreciates the acknowledgment, whether it was numbers, integrity, professionalism, however that connection was made.''

Sele, who retired in 2007 after stints with seven teams – including the Mariners twice – said he has no idea who voted for him. The ballots are confidential, although in recent years some writers have chosen to make their choices public, and can direct the BBWAA to do so.

It's reasonable to think the vote may have come from a Seattle-area writer, considering Sele enjoyed two of his best seasons with the Mariners, went to high school in Poulsbo, Wash., 22 miles northwest of Seattle, and attended Washington State University.

Regardless, Sele will be among the 19 players to drop out of the ballot for failing to receive at least 5% of the vote. He pointed out it's common for less-than-worthy candidates to draw a couple of votes.

"I am one of many people this happens to every year,'' he said. "It's a nice little tip of the cap.''