A primer on this year's quite controversial ballot:
The Baseball Hall of Fame will announce the results of the Baseball Writers Association of America voting Tuesday, and it's a winter tradition that has become as much fun as shoveling wet, heavy snow that sits atop a layer of super-slick ice. Hall of Fame debates are no longer just about who was a better baseball player, but weighing whose transgressions voters are willing to look past and whose they won't.
Last year, 401 members of the BBWAA participated in the voting, meaning players needed 301 votes (75%) to get elected. Despite a ballot that featured 10 players with at least 60 career WAR -- a total that roughly makes a player a viable Hall of Fame candidate -- the writers didn't elect anybody, with Curt Schilling coming closest at 71.1% of the vote and leaving him 16 votes short of election.
Schilling, facing his final year of eligibility in 2022, then asked to be removed from the ballot. "I'll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player," Schilling wrote on his Facebook page. The Hall of Fame's board of directors voted unanimously to leave Schilling on the ballot. The response from the BBWAA? A player usually receives a final-year boost, but Schilling -- no stranger to controversy, of course, even before his little pique of anger -- has seen his support decline. Via Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame tracker, we know Schilling's percentage on public ballots (voters who reveal their selections before the results are announced) dropped to 60.7% (through 168 ballots revealed). He's not getting in.
To be fair, it's not like the writers are against electing anybody. Last year, the average ballot contained 5.86 names, despite 14 blank ballots. So far this year, the average ballot contains 7.63 names. They just can't agree on which players are Hall of Famers.
That gets us to this year's announcement. It's the final time on the ballot for Schilling, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa -- along with the first for Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, the two newcomers with the strongest credentials. Some things to watch for heading into the 6 p.m. ET announcement.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33117280/what-know-2022-baseball-hall-fame-vote-ortiz-getting-bonds-clemens-fall-shortOne can read the story if you so desire.
But my opinion goes here. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are two of the very best baseball players I've ever witnessed both in person and on TV. Their connections to performance enhancing drugs have kept the baseball writers, who decide which player will be inducted, from voting for them despite their on-field dominance. Whether they actually did dabble in PED's, even in their first 10-15 years before they were using these guys were incredible players.
It ain't happening, but they both deserve to be inducted. They may have been rotten human beings in some ways (similar to Ty Cobb). But no one is campaigning yet to remove him from the Hall of Fame. O.J. Simpson is still in the college and pro football halls of fame despite his indiscretions.
Now the 3rd guy on the ballot who almost got in last year with over 70% is Curt Schilling. In a normal society, he was trending to be damn near automatically elected in his final year on the writers ballot. But, he has posted a number of "problematic" Twitter posts and is apparently an unabashed Trump supporter. That disqualifies him immediately for a segment of the woke baseball sports writers.
A few other guys on the ballot:
David Ortiz "Big Papi" - Tainted with a bit of PED accusations
Sammy Sosa - Actually suspended for using the 'roids
Alex Rodriguez - Belongs with Bonds and Clemens on the talent and performance level, but PED's
Gary Sheffield - See above...
Other more dubious guys are on the ballot, but was hitting the highlights.
Thanks for letting me opine, I'm curious to see if any other baseball fans have their own views.