TORONTO – There are rarely Hall of Fame debates in baseball, and that’s certainly the case with the 2021 class.
Two of the greatest players to ever play continue to receive support, but Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will likely be away to watch Tuesday night when the full results are announced. If anyone is elected, it will probably be the most controversial candidate of all, Curt Schilling.
We can say for sure that Derek Jeter and Larry Walker will be there to share the stage with all of the new inductees as the class in 2020 has yet to be introduced. With them come Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller, who were also due to be part of the course last year before COVID-19 caused a change of plan.
Thanks to Ryan Thibodaux’s invaluable tracker, we now have a clear idea of which candidates have a 75 percent chance of support required for the election and which players are likely to receive less than five percent of the vote and which abandon the vote.
I don’t have a voice yet, but here are some of the stories I’ll be seeing ahead of Tuesday’s announcement…
Subscribe to the Blue Jays newsletter
Make the most of Blue Jays coverage and exclusivity straight to your inbox!
Bulletin des Blue Jays
Please enter a valid email address
Thank you for subscribing!
* I understand that I can withdraw my consent at any time.
Catalogue
×
One and done, or is Buehrle on the move?
A year ago this time, Jeter easily managed to become an eligible player for the first time. Out of the 397 votes, he appeared in 396 of them for the second highest approval rating of all time.
This year, however, no novice player will be so lucky. It is even possible that no player for the first time is registered on the ballot. Mark Buehrle (7.7 percent of known ballots), Torii Hunter (4.9 percent) and Tim Hudson (3.8 percent) are all on point.
Granted, Buehrle, Hunter, and Hudson weren’t the biggest stars of their time, but you can present a compelling Hall of Fame case for any of the three, maybe Buehrle especially. Five-time All-Star, Buehrle pitched at least 200 innings 14 straight seasons en route to 60 career wars. He was far from a casual eater, even with a 3.81 lifespan, perfect, non-hitting play, and a big role in the 2005 White Sox team that won it all.
But after covering Buehrle, it’s hard to imagine him being too stressed out at this point. In 2016, when Buehrle was less than a year retired, Blue Jays boss John Gibbons sent a half-witty text to his southpaw suggesting he return for the playoffs. Buehrle’s response was concise: a picture of a lake.
Catalogue
[radioclip id=5046005]
Helton and Rolen progress
The first poll suggests that Todd Helton and Scott Rolen stand a chance of making significant gains.
Helton, who posted 29.2% of the vote a year ago, is now posted at 50.5%. While it’s hard to quantify Walker’s influence on the election, it certainly can’t hurt the fact that Helton’s longtime teammate is now on his way to Cooperstown.
Like Walker, Helton’s offensive numbers had an advantage over Coors Field (Helton made 227 home runs with a .345 / .441 / .607 shot line at home versus 142 home runs with an impressive .287 / .386 / 469 line. race on the road). But even considering the forgiving offensive environment, Helton’s top was incredible with 37 home runs per season and a slash of .349 / .450 / .643 from 2000-04.
Meanwhile, the role is now 62.1% of the ballots, up from 35.3% a year ago. It almost certainly won’t happen this year, but the chances of entering are improving rapidly as understanding of his defensive work spreads.
On the letters
Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a lead author. Together they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering all the latest news with meaning and analysis, plus interviews with other insiders and squad members.
Listen and subscribe for free
| Ben on Twitter
| Arden sur Twitter
Schilling at the helm, creates tough conversations
On Monday night, only one candidate stood for the required 75% of the vote: Curt Schilling, 75.3%.
From a baseball perspective, Schilling comes highly recommended. He pulled out an ERA of 3.46 (127 ERA +) in the one-hitter’s time, contributed to three World Series winners and generated 80.5 WAR. The discussion here is still barely about baseball.
In recent years he has made transphobic comments that lost his job at ESPN and shared so-called jokes that supported the lynching of journalists. So, during the siege of the US Capitol earlier this month, Schilling tweeted his support for the rebels, saying they had started “a showdown for (things) that matter.”
With this in mind, voters are faced with a dilemma: to omit a skilled player from the ballot or vote for him, knowing that an introductory speech can allow him to spread more hate. So far, most voters choose the latter.
Grand final for Bonds & Clemens in 2022?
Just behind Schilling are two other well-known names: Roger Clemens (72.0%) and Barry Bonds (72.5%). In theory, both are within reach, but both generally see much less support for anonymous ballots revealed late.
Again, these players are some of the best ever, but the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs has at least delayed their introduction to Cooperstown, and depending on how next year unfolds, their out-of-court rulings could rule them out. completely. . The 2022 poll will be the tenth and last chance for Bonds and Clemens to be chosen by the authors.
No more poll chatter for 2022, two more full-time talents with ties to developing countries will soon be eligible. The last chance for bonds and Clemens will also be the first chance for Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz. Catalog
