{"id":10960,"date":"2016-11-24T08:51:15","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T14:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/?p=10960"},"modified":"2021-12-29T15:40:13","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T21:40:13","slug":"2017-hall-of-fame-ballot-the-holdovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/2017-hall-of-fame-ballot-the-holdovers\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 Hall Of Fame Ballot \u2013 The Holdovers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"baseballhof\"<\/a>The BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2017 on Monday. The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 18th, with induction taking place next July. After Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza\u00a0were elected in last year\u2019s voting, the new ballot contains 15 holdovers along with 19 newcomers, which may continue the logjam caused by\u00a0the current BBWAA rules\u00a0which limit the number of votes on one ballot to 10 and the ongoing refusal by some writers to vote for players tainted by PEDs,\u00a0leaving too many qualified candidates fighting for limited spots.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at the returning candidates today before moving on to the newcomers.<\/p>\n

Jeff Bagwell<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a06
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a071.6<\/p>\n

Bagwell was less than 4% away from induction last year and seems guaranteed to get elected this time around.<\/p>\n

Barry Bonds<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a04
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a044.3<\/p>\n

The all time home run champion saw his vote percentage rise for the second straight time last year, so the PED bias holding him back may be subsiding. \u00a0Whether he has enough time to get up to 75% remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Roger Clemens<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a04
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a045.2<\/p>\n

Roger Clemens, he of the 354 career victories and 7 Cy Young awards, also found himself with a second consecutive rise after his fourth run through the voting process. \u00a0For some odd reason, perhaps by having played for more teams, Clemens continues to get marginally more support than his fellow PED poster child Barry Bonds.<\/p>\n

Trevor Hoffman<\/b>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a067.3<\/p>\n

One of only 2 pitchers with over 600 saves, Hoffman came close to election on his first time on the ballot. \u00a0I would expect his to break through either this year or next.<\/p>\n

Jeff Kent<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a03
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a014.0<\/p>\n

The 2000 NL MVP earned the exact same percentage of the vote as he did the previous year, meaning the future does not look good for him.<\/p>\n

Edgar Martinez<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a07
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a043.4<\/p>\n

The longtime DH for the Mariners saw a big jump last year, but may not have enough time left on the ballot to build up to the necessary 75%. \u00a0His long career as a DH in the Pacific Northwest may be holding him back.<\/p>\n

Fred McGriff<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a07
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a020.9<\/p>\n

Another player with a decent\u00a0increase in vote percentage from the year before, McGriff seems to be destined to be on the outside looking in, thanks to PED users, the 10 person vote limit, and his missing 7 home runs, leaving him short of 500 for his career.<\/p>\n

Mike Mussina<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a03
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a043.0<\/p>\n

Mussina, who retired with 270 wins, could have hung on for a few more years to reach 300 victories and a guaranteed election to Cooperstown. \u00a0Instead, he will likely struggle to distinguish himself in the face of the other pitching talent about to come up for election.<\/p>\n

Tim Raines<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a09
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a069.8<\/p>\n

Tim Raines candidacy has started to gain momentum, falling just over 5% short last year, but this is his last year on the ballot. \u00a0One could only hope that the voters realize their wrong-headedness in excluding him to this point.<\/p>\n

Curt Schilling<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a04
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a052.3<\/p>\n

I certainly never thought of Schilling as an all-time great while he was still playing, but many people view him as an obvious Hall of Famer. \u00a0His post-season success, with three different teams, certainly helps his case. \u00a0His totals moved in the right direction last year, although\u00a0numerous suspensions and media gaffes over the past year may haunt him.<\/p>\n

Gary Sheffield<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a02
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a011.6<\/p>\n

Another case of PED use derailing what would otherwise be considered a sure-fire HOF career.<\/p>\n

Lee Smith<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a014
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a034.1<\/p>\n

A career save total that has become more pedestrian over time and his perception as a journeyman will leave Smith outside of the Hall in his last year on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Sammy Sosa<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a04
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a07.0<\/p>\n

Sammy Sosa should view this election as a success if he manages to stay on the ballot for another year.<\/p>\n

Billy Wagner<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a010.5<\/p>\n

The former Astro and Phillie closer earned little support in his first year on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Larry Walker<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a06
\n2015 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a015.5<\/p>\n

Walker seems to get a lot of support in certain corners of the Internet, which is somewhat surprising to me given his years playing in the thin air of Colorado.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2017 on Monday. The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 18th, with induction taking place next July. After Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza\u00a0were elected in last year\u2019s voting, the new ballot contains 15 holdovers along with 19 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[113,395,2933,6014,2780,1672,1535,1537,5150,44,391,4167,2791,1547,48,124,4169,2778,79,59,254,396,397,55,4161],"class_list":["post-10960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball","tag-astros","tag-barry-bonds","tag-bbwaa","tag-billy-wagner","tag-curt-schilling","tag-cy-young-award","tag-edgar-martinez","tag-fred-mcgriff","tag-gary-sheffield","tag-hof","tag-jeff-bagwell","tag-jeff-kent","tag-ken-griffey-jr","tag-larry-walker","tag-lee-smith","tag-mariners","tag-mike-mussina","tag-mike-piazza","tag-mvp","tag-peds","tag-phillies","tag-roger-clemens","tag-sammy-sosa","tag-tim-raines","tag-trevor-hoffman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10960"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11311,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10960\/revisions\/11311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}