The 2021 Hall of Fame ballot was released today, which means it is officially ARGUMENT SZN.
I kid, I kid. Mostly. Here’s a look at this year’s ballot, which includes a holdover in Sammy Sosa, and a new addition in Aramis Ramirez:
Among the players who were eligible who did not make the ballot: Grady Sizemore, Corey Hart, Adam LaRoche, Alex Rios, Dan Uggla, C.J. Wilson, Rafael Soriano, Aaron Harang.
— Ryan Thibodaux (@NotMrTibbs) November 16, 2020
Sosa remains on the faaarrr outside looking in when it comes to vote totals in recent years (just 13.9% last year), as anyone with alleged ties to the PED scandals of that era are just not getting voted in (and his career performance is not remotely on the Clemens/Bonds level). We’ll see if he and the others pick up some votes this year now that many of the obvious candidates have been voted in.
Speaking of which, this year’s crop of first-timers does not include any clear Hall of Famers, which, again, could open up some other votes. Heck, Aramis Ramirez might be the best of the new bunch, and although he was truly an excellent player for a long time, he’s not likely to get much serious Hall of Fame consideration.
The returners and their past vote totals, per MLB.com:
NAME, YEAR ON BALLOT (2020 vote total, percentage)
Curt Schilling, 9th (278, 70.0%)
Roger Clemens, 9th (242, 61.0%)
Barry Bonds, 9th (241, 60.7%)
Omar Vizquel, 4th (209, 52.6%)
Scott Rolen, 4th (140, 35.3%)
Billy Wagner, 6th (126, 31.7%)
Gary Sheffield, 7th (121, 30.5%)
Todd Helton, 3rd (116, 29.2%)
Manny Ramirez, 5th (112, 28.2%)
Jeff Kent, 8th (109, 27.5%)
Andruw Jones, 4th (77, 19.4%)
Sammy Sosa, 9th (55, 13.9%)
Andy Pettitte, 3rd (45, 11.3%)
Bobby Abreu, 2nd (22, 5.5%)