{"id":4970,"date":"2013-11-27T08:05:30","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T14:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/?p=4970"},"modified":"2013-11-27T08:00:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-27T14:00:51","slug":"2014-hall-of-fame-ballot-the-holdovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/2014-hall-of-fame-ballot-the-holdovers\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mlb_hof\"<\/a>The BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2014. \u00a0The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 8th, with induction taking place next July. \u00a0After nobody was elected in last year’s voting, the new ballot contains 17 holdovers along with 19 newcomers, which may start to cause a bit of a problem. \u00a0The current BBWAA rules limit the number of votes on one ballot to 10, and there may be more than 10 deserving candidates. \u00a0As they start to pile up, and even more deserving candidates become eligible, the BBWAA and the Hall may find themselves with a mess on their hands.<\/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> 3
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong> 59.6<\/p>\n

Bagwell is going to be one of those candidates that, I think, gets hurt due to 10 vote limit. \u00a0He would have been elected already were it not for seemingly unfounded PED rumors.<\/p>\n

Craig Biggio<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a068.2<\/p>\n

Biggio was the highest vote getter in last year’s election, only 39 votes shy of getting elected. \u00a0You would think he could make up that total this year as voters who have some inane theories on when someone deserves to be elected add him to their ballot. \u00a0It would be a boost to the Astros if both he and Bagwell were to go in together.<\/p>\n

Barry Bonds<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a036.2<\/p>\n

Barry Bonds, he of the 7 MVP awards and 762 career home runs, found himself on the outside looking in after his initial run through the voting process. \u00a0Due to his connection to BALCO and PEDs, he’s unlikely to do much better this year.<\/p>\n

Roger Clemens<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a037.6<\/p>\n

Roger Clemens, he of the 354 career victories and 7 Cy Young awards, also found himself on the outside looking in after his initial run through the voting process. \u00a0The interesting thing is that, despite his inclusion in the Mitchell Report and his connection to Andy Pettitte’s PED confession, Clemens picked up 8 more votes than Bonds.<\/p>\n

Edgar Martinez<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a04
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a035.9<\/p>\n

The longtime DH for the Mariners has had plenty of support from the Internet but not as much from the BBWAA. \u00a0His long career as a DH may be holding him back.<\/p>\n

Don Mattingly<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a013
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a013.2<\/p>\n

Back in 2010<\/a>, I said that “being the best Yankee in a decade of bad Yankee teams does not a Hall of Famer make.” \u00a0Nothing that has happened since then would change my, or, seemingly, the voters, mind.<\/p>\n

Fred McGriff<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a04
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a020.7<\/p>\n

A very good argument could be made that Fred McGriff has been hurt by the PED users more than anyone else. \u00a0Had he stuck around to hit an additional 7 home runs, he would likely have been elected thanks to his 500 home runs. \u00a0Without them, he gets penalized for not putting up better numbers than the PED users, who are also being penalized. \u00a0Doesn’t seem right.<\/p>\n

Mark McGwire<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a07
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a016.9<\/p>\n

McGwire finds himself over 100 votes behind fellow PED users Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. \u00a0Even if the voters do start to reverse track and start to vote for the convicted users, I think McGwire might still have trouble getting elected.<\/p>\n

Jack Morris<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a014
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a067.7<\/p>\n

Morris enters his final year on the ballot needing only 42 additional votes to get enshrined, but with the influx of new, and exceptionally deserving, candidates, \u00a0I don’t see how he gets them. \u00a0Not that I would be too disappointed in that, as Morris, while a very good pitcher, falls short in my estimation.<\/p>\n

Rafael Palmeiro<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a03
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a08.8<\/p>\n

Despite over 500 home runs and 3000 hits, Palmeiro struggles to even stay on the ballot. \u00a0His crime seems to be getting popped for PEDs just months after emphatically testifying in front of Congress that he would never do such a thing.<\/p>\n

Mike Piazza<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a057.8<\/p>\n

As possible the greatest offensive catcher of all time, Piazza will make it eventually. \u00a0The only question is how long does he have to wait.<\/p>\n

Tim Raines<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a06
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a052.2<\/p>\n

If it weren’t for Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines would have been the greatest leadoff hitter and base stealer of his generation. \u00a0That, combined with playing over half of his career in the vast media wasteland that is Montreal, are the only things that could account for his astounding lack of support in his first 6 years on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Curt Schilling<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a038.8<\/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.<\/p>\n

Lee Smith<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a011
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a047.8<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Smith, I only see 2 more closers being elected to the Hall of Fame: Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. \u00a0Smith’s career save total pales in comparison to those who have passed him by after he retired.<\/p>\n

Sammy Sosa<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a01
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a012.5<\/p>\n

Sosa pulled in the lowest total of any suspected PED user not named Rafael Palmeiro. \u00a0Things do not look good for him going forward.<\/p>\n

Alan Trammell<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a012
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a033.6<\/p>\n

Trammell’s vocal support seems to be increasing, though his vote totals do not seem to rising at the same rate. \u00a0He only has three shots left, and with the influx of new candidates, things do not look good for him.<\/p>\n

Larry Walker<\/strong>
\nYears on ballot:<\/strong>\u00a03
\n2013 Percentage:<\/strong>\u00a021.6<\/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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2014. \u00a0The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 8th, with induction taking place next July. \u00a0After nobody was elected in last year’s voting, the new ballot contains 17 holdovers along with 19 newcomers, which may start to cause […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1546,4160,113,4158,395,2933,2770,2780,1536,1535,1537,44,390,391,1547,48,266,124,56,2778,4159,59,1542,4157,396,397,55,4161,51],"class_list":["post-4970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball","tag-alan-trammell","tag-andy-pettitte","tag-astros","tag-balco","tag-barry-bonds","tag-bbwaa","tag-craig-biggio","tag-curt-schilling","tag-don-mattingly","tag-edgar-martinez","tag-fred-mcgriff","tag-hof","tag-jack-morris","tag-jeff-bagwell","tag-larry-walker","tag-lee-smith","tag-mariano-rivera","tag-mariners","tag-mark-mcgwire","tag-mike-piazza","tag-mitchell-report","tag-peds","tag-rafael-palmeiro","tag-rickey-henderson","tag-roger-clemens","tag-sammy-sosa","tag-tim-raines","tag-trevor-hoffman","tag-yankees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4970","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4970"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4975,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4970\/revisions\/4975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learningturkey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}