Aside from Big Papi, Hall of Fame voters were hard on ballot rookies
By Bill Felber
The success of David Ortiz notwithstanding, this was a rough year for first-timers on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.
Of a dozen first-time candidates other than David Ortiz, only Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins met the 5 percent threshold to remain on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.
Who got dumped in the process? How about 55 All-Star Game appearances, nine World Series wins, five MVPs, 2,377 home runs, 8,266 RBI, 367 wins, 746 saves, and three Cy Young Awards?
The victims of the Hall’s 5 percent rule were: Mark Teixeira (who recently suggested MLB needed some changes), Carl Crawford, Justin Morneau, Prince Fielder, A.J. Pierzynski, Ryan Howard, Jake Peavy, Tim Lincecum, Joe Nathan, and Jonathan Papelbon. Peavy, Pierzynski, and Crawford failed to get as much as one vote.
And it’s questionable whether either of the two first-time ballot survivors showed enough to ever make it with the writers. Rodriguez, burdened with the baggage of PED test failures, got just 34.6 percent of the vote. Rollins was only named on 9.4 percent of ballots despite an MVP award, four Gold Gloves, a World Series ring, a reputation as a skilled all-around competitor, and a squeaky clean reputation.
Since 2000, only three people have been elected to the Hall after getting less than 30 percent of the vote in their ballot debut. None debuted in single digits, as did Rollins. And all three (Bert Blyleven, Mike Mussina and Larry Walker) had reputations that were pristine, in stark contrast with Rodriguez.
Tuesday’s results mean that there will only be 11 holdovers on the 2023 writers’ ballot. That will make it one of the slimmest list of returnees in Hall history. The 11 who will join Rollins and Ramirez on that ballot, along with their 2022 percentages, are: Scott Rolen (63.2), Todd Helton (52.0), Billy Wagner (51.0), Andruw Jones (41.1), Gary Sheffield (40.6), Jeff Kent (32.7), Omar Vizquel (23.9), Andy Pettitte (10.7), Bobby Abreu (8.8), Mark Buehrle (5.8), and Torii Hunter (5.3).
Kent will be in his 10th and final year of eligibility. He started at 15 percent in 2014 and this year got 32.7 percent.
dark. Next. The one-and-done team of Hall of Fame rejects
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa all will fall off the ballot due to having exhausted their 10 chances. Second-year eligible Tim Hudson will also be dropped because he failed to reach the 5 percent threshold.