With the unneeded lockout still in full effect, the baseball world had nothing to distract it yesterday from the small hamlet of Cooperstown in upstate New York, where the votes were tallied, and the 2021 Hall of Fame class completed with one additional member. Former Red Sox DH David Ortiz scored 77.9% of the vote to earn enshrinement in his first election.
Six others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Barry Bonds, who jumped up to 66% in his final go around on the ballot. Roger Clemens was right behind him at 65.2% and will also leave his fate to the veteran’s committee. Scott Rolen saw another big jump, rising to 63.2% and looks like he’s on track to eventually make it. Curt Schilling, who threw a temper tantrum after not getting elected last year, saw a bit drop and ended his 10-year run with 58.6% of the vote. Todd Helton and Billy Wagner continued to make strides, coming in at 52% and 51%, respectively, though Helton has more time on his side to make a good run towards induction.
On the local front, former White Sox outfielder Andruw Jones saw a large increase, going up to 41.1%. Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox, stayed about even, finishing with 28.9% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions. The disgraced Omar Vizquel, who added sexual abuse of an autistic teen to the spousal abuse charges that had popped up the previous year, dropped even further, to 23.9%. In his last go-around, former Cub superstar Sammy Sosa saw a small increase to 18.5%. Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 9.4% in his first go-around. Mark Buehrle saw his percentage cut in half, to 5.8%. but lives to fight another day. Justin Morneau, who spent the final 58 games of his career with the White Sox, picked up 5 votes. A.J. Pierzynski scored 2, while his former battery mate Jake Peavy was tossed a shutout.
Fifteen players will fall off the ballot, either due to reaching 10 years or failing to score 5% of the vote.
As for the newest Hall of Famer, I’ve seen Ortiz play 24 times, including the 2005 ALDS. He joins Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva and Buck O’Neil, who were elected by the veteran’s committees in December, in the class of 2022. They will all get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 24.
David Ortiz’s numbers in games I’ve attended were: Continue reading →
