The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum released this year's ballot this week, and while the debates over Cooperstown consideration will never regain their innocence, the conversation gets comparatively lighter after this year's voting period. Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa will fall off the ballot one way or another after this year due to their expiring eligibility, with only Alex Rodriguez causing a comparable amount of controversy (although David Ortiz will have his share of detractors due to his rumored inclusion on a 2003 survey of failed tests).
Even including the warts of the new guys, it's hard to surpass the ignominy at the top of the list of holdovers ranked by last year's ballot support. Four of the top five vote-getters may have peaked due to off-field troubles (former White Sox in bold).
- Curt Schilling, 71.1 percent (10th)
- Barry Bonds, 61.8 (10th)
- Roger Clemens, 61.6 (10th)
- Scott Rolen, 52.9 (5th)
- Omar Vizquel, 39.1 (5th)
- Billy Wagner, 46.4 (7th)
- Todd Helton, 44.9 (4th)
- Gary Sheffield, 40.6 (5th)
- Andruw Jones, 33.9 (5th)
- Jeff Kent, 32.4 (9th)
- Manny Ramirez, 28.2 (6th)
- Sammy Sosa, 17.0 (10th)
- Andy Pettitte, 13.7 (4th)
- Mark Buehrle, 11.0 (2nd)
- Torii Hunter, 9.5 (2nd)
- Bobby Abreu 8.7 (3rd)
- Tim Hudson, 5.2 (2nd)
Schilling's degeneration into an extremist troll has exhausted the patience of plenty of voters who didn't mind looking the other way for years. Bonds and Clemens are the poster boys for the PED era, and Vizquel's rising candidacy should get derailed by the domestic abuse and sexual harassment allegations he faces. Rolen would rather not have you judge him by the company he keeps, and hopes he can get an even bigger surge in support than the 17.6 percent hike that shot him over 50 percent before reaching the halfway point of his eligibility.
Rodriguez faces the same obstacles as Bonds and Clemens. Ortiz should theoretically encounter the headwinds as Sosa, but Rob Manfred has urged voters to be lenient about the reported failed test, which is the kind of grace others could've used. Beyond them, the list of first-timers is pretty stacked with very good players who took home a lot of awards among them.
- Alex Rodriguez
- David Ortiz
- Mark Teixeira
- Jimmy Rollins
- Carl Crawford
- Jake Peavy
- Justin Morneau
- Prince Fielder
- Joe Nathan
- Tim Lincecum
- Jonathan Papelbon
- A.J. Pierzynski
- Ryan Howard
None of the guys listed below Ortiz merit serious consideration, but one of the pleasant things about even unpleasant Hall of Fame ballots is how it generates at least one more widespread discussion of an excellent career. I'm especially looking forward to the summaries of Pierzynski's wild ride, because he's one of only 10 catchers with more than 2,000 hits in his career, and with Ted Simmons finally getting his ceremony last year, seven of those players are Hall of Famers. The others are Yadier Molina, Jason Kendall and Pierzynski. I'd bet on Molina getting in, barring an off-the-field complication. Kendall appeared on the 2016 ballot and received only two votes, and I'm guessing Pierzynski's path will more closely resemble that one.
Looking at those results, Larry Walker finished 15th with 15.5 percent of the vote in his sixth year of eligibility, yet found his way to 75 percent in his time remaining. That's not positive news for Pierzynski, but it's more of a role model for Mark Buehrle, whose 11 percent in his first year on the ballot was a decent start.
Then again, Walker was on a ballot that included nine other eventual Hall of Famers. Buehrle doesn't quite have that excuse, so the next two years will be big for his bid. The only newcomer worth serious discussion in 2023 is Carlos Beltran, whose borderline career is probably hampered by the Astros scandal. Depending on the reception received by Ortiz, it's possible that the voters could pitch three consecutive shutouts before Adrian Beltre makes everything easy on everybody in 2024. Basically, this would be a good time for Buehrle to get a boost, and with no American League pitcher throwing 200 innings this season, perhaps people will be more impressed by Buehrle doing it 14 years in a row (and falling four outs short of a 15th).
PERTINENT: Mark Buehrle's Hall of Fame plaque could tell one helluva story
It would also be a great time for the Golden Days Era committee to hone in on a couple of favored candidates. Minnie Miñoso isn't the only one who merits a long look -- Dick Allen and Ken Boyer should be next in line -- but with the reclassification of the Negro Leagues as a major league changing some key numbers of his career, there's one distinct reason to use this particular year to right that wrong.
PERTINENT: Now with 2,110 hits, Minnie Miñoso back on Hall of Fame ballot
