Baseball Hall of Fame 2022 Ballot Recap

“Thank you to all the baseball writers, all but one of you, who voted for me.”

~ Derek Jeter

Yesterday the results of the Base Ball Writers’ Association of America for the 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot were announced. The induction will take place during the Hall of Fame Weekend on Sunday, the 24th of July 2022 at 1:30p.m.

We already know that there are six new members of the 2022 Class. Buck O’Neil and Bud Fowler were elected via the Hall of Fame’s Early Era Committee. The other four were elected by the Golden Days Era Committee; they were Gil Hodges, Jim Katt, Minnie Minoso, and Tony Olivia. Each of these six men are well deserving of this honour.

Today, David Ortiz was announced as the only player who received over 75% of the vote. He will be inducted with six afore mentioned players. He was predominantly a career Designated Hitter with good regular and post-season numbers, but what I consider “on the fringe” stats for the Hall of Fame, especially as a “first ballot” guy. With no defensive stats really to claim, he was one dimensional. He seems like a nice guy, friendly to the press and fans, so I imagine that helped him. But he was on the “list” of having failed a drug test (not an “official” test, but he failed all the same) in 2003. Suspiciously his numbers prior to that were pretty average. I am very disappointed by this selection and feel the BBWAA didn’t remain consistent. Other PEDers have been snubbed and rightly so. Why is David Ortiz the exception? I have no valid answer.

Let’s take a look at the voting number:

Bobby Abreu – 34 votes, 8.6%.

Barry Bonds – 260 votes, 66%. Off the ballot as this was his 10th year.

Mark Buehrle – 23 votes, 5.8%.

Roger Clemens – 257 votes, 65.2%. Off the ballot as this was his 10th year.

Carl Crawford – 0 votes, 0%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Prince Fielder – 2 votes, 0.5%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Todd Helton – 205 votes, 52.0%

Ryan Howard – 8 votes, 2.0%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Tim Hudson – 12 votes, 3.0%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Torii Hunter – 21 votes, 5.3%.

Andruw Jones – 163 votes, 41.1%.

Jeff Kent – 129 votes, 32.7%.

Tim Lincecum – 9 votes, 2.3%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Justin Morneau – 5 votes, 1.3%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Joe Nathan – 17 votes, 4.3%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

David Ortiz – 307 votes, 77.9%. Elected.

Jonathon Papelbon – 5 votes, 1.3%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Jake Peavy – 0 votes, 0%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Andy Pettitte – 42 votes, 10.7%.

A.J. Pierzynski – 2 votes, 0.5%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Manny Ramírez – 114 votes, 28.9%.

Alex Rodriguez – 135 votes, 34.3%.

Scott Rolen – 249 votes, 63.2%.

Jimmy Rollins – 37 votes, 9.4%.

Curt Schilling – 231 votes, 58.6%. Off the ballot as this was his 10th year.

Gary Sheffield – 160 votes, 40.6%.

Sammy Sosa – 73 votes, 18.5%. Off the ballot as this was his 10th year.

Mark Teixeira – 6 votes, 1.5%. Dropped off the ballot for being under 5%.

Omar Vizquel – 94 votes, 23.9%.

Billy Wagner – 201 votes, 51.0%

I’m glad that Sosa, Bonds, Clemens, and Schilling are gone, but they can be considered for the additional voting by a committee of their peers. Perhaps, they will be considered, but I hope the players from their era shun them. My other hope is the other players that took PEDs will not get voted in either.  I know it’s about what players did on the field, we also need to consider HOW (and with what help) they did it on the field. No one is “perfect”, but that’s my line in the sand, they used, no Hall.  I’ll stick with “integrity and character” as attributes that need to be present, along with the baseball accomplishments.

How did I do? None of my three picks made it. Please tell me how your choices did.

~ Coach Mike

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