MLB: What Might the 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame Class Look Like?

2016’s Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mike Piazza have now been enshrined. Who could join them in Cooperstown next year?

The speeches of new Baseball Hall of Famers Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mike Piazza have been entered into the annals of the game, their plaques have been hung among those of the other legends of the national pastime, and the enormous crowds have receded from the small hamlet of Cooperstown. Another induction weekend has come to a close, so naturally the time has come to begin speculating about next year’s Hall of Fame class.

While Griffey was a slam dunk, garnering the highest percentage of votes ever in just his first year on the ballot, there does not seem to be another sure-fire name in the mix for the 2017 class. A player must be named on 75 percent of the ballots cast by qualified members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

In addition to Piazza and Griffey, a trio of players narrowly missed out in 2016, and a handful of others gained momentum in the voting. Add in a new slate of first time eligible performers, and there are any number of outcomes that could take place. Over the past five years, only ten players have reached the 75 percent voting threshold, an average of two new inductees per year (not including former managers and those voted in by the Eras Committees):

2016: Griffey, Piazza

2015: Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz

2014: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas

2013: None

2012: Barry Larkin

There’s no sure thing for the Hall in 2017, but a whole lot of fun possibilities. Just who may be following in Griffey’s and Piazza’s footsteps and find baseball immortality a year from now?

Next: So close.