The Baseball Hall of Fame ballot was released yesterday. Fourteen new names were added to the fourteen names already present last year, forming the bulletin of 28 players.
Last year, only David Ortiz was inducted into the Temple, garnering almost 78% of the votes, 3% above the threshold required to have his name recognized forever. The 2023 vintage could give the same result, i.e. a single induction.
If it turns out, Scott Rolen would be the only one elected next January. The latter obtained only 10% of the votes in his first year of eligibility, but rose to 63% with some big names eliminated from the ballot. It is expected that he will be inducted, but it remains to be seen when.
For the other candidates, it will be difficult to obtain the necessary 75% of votes, among other things because of the steroids scandal and in the case of Carlos Beltran, the theft of signals from the Houston Astros.
It is that if Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and company have not succeeded in convincing the electorate, one can doubt that the names which are currently on the ballot will be able to do so.
But never mind, here are my choices, considering that in my opinion, the Roses, Bonds and other shunned stars should have been there during their eligibility period.
It is true that some have things to be forgiven, but we must take into context the time in which they evolved. Plus, the numbers don’t lie, and that’s against players who were also part of the steroid-era problem.
I doubt any of these will get their pass for Cooperstown in 2023 except for Rolen, but they deserve to be there.
