No One Voted Into Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013

The results are in for what was perhaps the most closely watched Baseball Hall of Fame election ever, and for the first time since 1996, no players on the ballot received the required number of votes to get in.  Craig Biggio, who had over 3000 hits in his career with the Houston Astros, fell 39 votes short of the required 75% needed for enshrinement and was the closest to making it.  Biggio is in his first year of a 15 year eligibility window and is likely to make it in the future, but what is most significant are the names of those who had astounding career numbers but picked up few votes.

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa were all in their first years of eligibility, but all were selected by fewer than 40% of the electors.  All three were suspected of using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their careers, and the election was closely watched to see if the electors would vote in players whose stratospheric stats were viewed suspiciously.

The vote sent a strong message that performances during the Steroid Era would be scrutinized closely, and with such low vote totals, Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa, plus any other tainted performers who become eligible for the ballot face very long odds.  Biggio and former catcher Mike Piazza are two clean players from the era who may have been collateral damage in the message sending vote.  We think they’ll both get in eventually.

Biggio and Piazza will be joined by a very strong group of players on the 2014 ballot.  Pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Mike Mussina put up huge numbers as starters during their careers; they’ll be joined by slugger and two time AL MVP Frank Thomas, among others.  All four of these guys were clean, too.

There will still be an induction ceremony at the Hall in Cooperstown, New York this summer, for individuals selected by special committees.  Sportswriter Paul Hagen, and the late Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek will be honored, as will former New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, former player and umpire Hank O’Day, and catcher Deacon White will also go in.  If the last three are unfamiliar to you, it might be because O’Day died in 1935, and Rupert and White both died in 1939.

Maybe Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa will be voted in by a special committee after they’ve been dead for 70 or 80 years, too.