For the first time since 2013, no player received enough votes to make it into Cooperstown. What were the surprises and disappointments — and what does it say about the ballot?
For the first time since 2013, no player received the 75% of votes needed for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Curt Schilling came the closest, appearing on 71.1% of ballots and three other players were over the 50% mark. Despite nobody getting in this year, there was still good news for some eligible players along with plenty of questions for others. We asked ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield to examine the biggest surprises, disappointments — and what Tuesday night’s results say about the current state of Hall of Fame voting. Gonzalez: Andruw Jones went from just 7.5% support in 2019 to 33.9% support in 2021, and he still has six years remaining on the ballot. His prime didn’t extend into his 30s, but it included an.852 OPS,337 home runs,130 stolen bases and nine Gold Gloves from ages 20 to 29. He is one of the best defensive center fielders of all time, was a well-above-average hitter in his prime, and his Hall of Fame stock is surging amid a thinned-out ballot. Schoenfield: Scott Rolen, who made a big leap from last year in his fourth year on the ballot and is now on a strong path to eventual election after getting to 52.9%. The argument against him is largely, „Well, he didn’t feel like a Hall of Famer when he was playing,“ but that misses his all-around brilliance (eight Gold Gloves,316 home runs, nearly 1,300 RBIs). Even if his case is more sabermetric (70.1 career WAR) than gut, he’s one of the top 10 third basemen of all time. Doolittle: Pretty clearly Rolen. Jumping from just over a third of ballots to well over half in his fourth year of eligibility is huge. He seems like a sure bet at this point, and soon. Gonzalez: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. They have made steady progress, but not quickly enough. Their penultimate year on the ballot resulted in 61.8% and 61.6%, respectively, and one has to wonder if they have basically maxed out their support among current members of the BBWAA. The „Today’s Game“ committee can review their case, but an older, more traditional voting body is probably less likely to induct them than a BBWAA that has become increasingly lenient toward players connected to PEDs. Schoenfield: Curt Schilling. With a weak ballot other than the PED guys — and he was clearly the best pitching candidate aside from Roger Clemens — this should have been his year, especially after getting 70% last year. But some voters stopped voting for him due to offensive comments he made on Twitter, and it’s not a lock he gets in next year, his final one on the BBWAA ballot.
