A look at the 2022 Baseball Hall Of Fame Ballot: Who Gets In?

It’s that time of year again for baseball fans as the 2022 Hall of Fame class is being voted upon right now by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The list of candidates is lengthy and includes PED users in their final years, plus two first-timers that appear to be shoe-ins. There’s also a lot of down ballot candidates that might and should get some love by the writers. With less than a month to go, it’s time to examine who might be joining baseball’s most elite club.

Before I begin, I’ll remind everyone about the rules and eligibility requirements for enshrinement. First, players become eligible for the Hall of Fame if they played at least ten full seasons of Major League Baseball, plus waiting until five years after they announce their retirement. Once that happens, a special Hall of Fame committee votes annually to decide which new players should be included on the Hall of Fame ballot, and then they send that list to the Baseball Writers Association of America to be voted upon. Players must appear on at least 75% of the BBWAA ballots in order to be elected in. Players who don’t receive sufficient votes must appear on at least 5% of the BBWAA ballots in order to return to the Hall of Fame ballot next year. Writers can vote for a maximum of ten players. Players can remain on the ballot for a maximum of ten years before being dropped from the ballot.

There are a lot of moving parts for this year’s list of candidates. I’ll be breaking it down into three parts.

Let’s start with the guys entering their final year of eligibility:

• Curt Schilling
  • The list of reasons as to why Curt Schilling should be voted in is lengthy
  • Schilling went to the All-Star Game six times in his career
  • He has three World Series championships. Two of them were with Boston in 2004, and 2007. The other one came in 2001 with the Diamondbacks. He was co-World Series MVP with Randy Johnson in 2001.
  • Schilling was a two-time MLB wins leader (2001, 2004), and NL strikeout leader (1997 and 1998).
  • Most notably, Schilling is a member of the 3 thousand strikeouts club. There are 19 total members, and of the Hall of Fame eligible candidates (Verlander, Scherzer, and Sabathia haven’t met the eligibility requirements yet), he is one of two that aren’t yet in the Hall of Fame.
  • Schilling’s Hall of Fame snub for the previous nine years has been due to controversial political viewpoints. This is an unfair treatment for one of the baseball greats, because political ideology should not be a contributive factor. Players should get in based on statistical merit only.
  • If there’s any glimmer of hope for Hall of Fame enshrinement, it’s that Schilling received 71.1% of the vote in 2021 (three votes shy of hitting the required 75%), and that writers have shown some sense of moral obligation towards other late ballot Hall of Famers. Look at Larry Walker in 2020 and Edger Martinez in 2019, both of whom got in in their final year of eligibility.
• Roger Clemens
  • Clemens is one of four MLB pitchers with at least 4 thousand career strikeouts, and is the only one that has yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
  • Clemens was a part of two World Series championship winning teams. Both with the Yankees (1999, 2000).
  • He won seven Cy Young awards, which is a MLB record.
  •  Clemens’ 354 wins is the 9th most in MLB history.
  • He’s been to 11 All-Star Games.
  • Clemens also pitched two Triple Crown seasons (1997, 1998).
  • On the surface, Roger Clemens’ stats would indicate him being a shoe-in, but there’s a significant number of people that don’t want PED users in the Hall of Fame. jumping from 61.8%, his 2021 total, to 75% for the 2022 ballot doesn’t seem plausible, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame.
  • A lot of players used PEDs and nobody cared because seats were being filled, and money was pouring in. The league had recovered from the 1994/95 player strike.
• Barry Bonds
  • Bonds holds several MLB records including home runs (762), and home runs in a single season (73).
  • Bonds was a 14-time All-Star, 7-time NL MVP, and 8-time Gold Glove award winner.
  • He was also a 12-time Silver Slugger.
  • Calling Bonds one of the most feared hitters ever is not an exaggeration. His offensive production explains why he holds MLB records for most career walks (2,558), and most career intentional walks (688).
  • Like Clemens, Bonds’ suspected PED consumption has kept him out of the Hall of Fame so far. He’ll need a huge boost in votes this year if he wants to be enshrined.
  • He received 61.6% of the vote in 2021.
• Sammy Sosa
  • Sammy Sosa is another player that should pop-up on the Hall of Fame radar
  • He has 609 career home runs, and 2,408 career hits.
  • Sosa is a 7-time All-Star, NL MVP, and a 6-time silver slugger.
  • He was NL home run leader twice, and NL rbi leader twice in his career.
  • Writers never really warmed up to the idea of Sosa being in the Hall of Fame, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be in.
  • Sosa received 17% of the vote in 2021, and likely won’t make the jump to the 75% threshold for enshrinement in 2022.
  • Look for Sosa to appear on a veterans era committee ballot in another couple of decades from now, but at this time, he won’t be going to cooperstown.

Other down ballot candidates that should get in:

• Manny Ramirez
  • The career of Manny Ramirez was extraordinary.
  • He had a career batting average of .312 with 2,574 hits, 555 home runs, and 1,831 runs-batted-in.
  • Ramirez’s 21 career grand slams are 3rd all-time, and his 29 postseason home runs are the most all-time.
  • Ramirez appeared in 12 All-Star Games, and won 9 Silver Slugger awards.
  • He won the World Series twice with Boston (2004, 2007), and was the 2004 World Series MVP.
  • Ramirez was AL batting champion (2002), AL home run leader (2004), and AL rbi leader (1999).
  • He is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.
  • Manny Ramirez is entering his sixth year of Hall of Fame eligibility, but has had a hard time gaining the attention of the writers. He received 28.2% of the vote in 2021.
  • It’s possible that he will eventually get in, but if it were up to me, I’d vote to put him in now.
• Billy Wagner
  • Billy Wagner is not a name that screams Hall of Fame, but he’s still worth a look.
  • He had a 47-40 record as a relief pitcher with a career ERA of 2.31.
  • He accumulated 1,196 career strikeouts
  • His 422 career saves puts him at 6th all-time.
  • Wagner earned 7 All-Star selections.
  • Relief pitchers have a harder time getting into the Hall of Fame with only four of the top ten relievers in saves currently in the Hall of Fame. Those players are Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, and Dennis Eckersley.
  • Wagner is entering his 7th year on the Hall of Fame ballot. He received 46.4% of the vote in 2021.
  • Writers haven’t yet been too high on Billy Wagner, but I think he’ll eventually get in.
• Andy Pettitte
  • Andy Pettitte was a major contributor for the Yankees rotation helping them win five World Series titles including three straight from 1998-2000. They won the 1996, and 2009 World Series with Pettitte in the rotation.
  • He was the AL wins leader in 1996, ALCS MVP in 2001, and a three-time All-Star.
  • He set a Yankees franchise record for career strikeouts (2,020), third in wins (219), and tied the franchise record in games started (438).
  • Pettitte won 256 games in his career with a 3.85 ERA and 2,448 strikeouts.
  • He holds the distinction for most wins by a starting pitcher in the decade 2000s
  • Like Wagner, Pettitte isn’t an obvious pick for Hall of Fame enshrinement, but I think he has done just enough in his career to get voted in.
  • He hasn’t resonated well with the writers receiving just 13.7% of the vote in 2021.
  • He is entering his 4th year on the ballot, and has a lot of ground to make up.
• Omar Vizquel
  • Omar Vizquel is an interesting Hall of Fame candidate.
  • Vizquel’s career has been largely defined by his defense.
  • He’s won 11 Gold Glove awards.
  • Vizquel also put up good numbers at the plate with a career batting average of .272, 2,877 career hits, and 951 runs-batted-in. He hit just 80 home runs.
  • He also earned three All-Star selections
  • Writers, and fans love seeing offensive production numbers when considering players for Hall of Fame enshrinement, but if you could look for one player that demonstrated how important defense is to the game of baseball, Vizquel is your guy.
  • It’s time for writers to do the right thing, and put one of the best defensive players ever into the Hall of Fame.
  • Omar Vizquel is in his 5th year of eligibility, and received 49.1% of the vote in 2021.

Players in their first year of eligibility that should get in right away:

• Alex Rodriguez
  • A-Rod is one of the most prolific hitters all-time.
  • He is a 14-time All-Star, 10-time Silver Slugger, five-time AL home run leader, two-time MLB rbi leader, and the MLB batting champion in 1996.
  • A-Rod has a career .295 batting average with 3,115 hits, 696 home runs, and 2,086 runs-batted-in.
  • He was also a three-time AL MVP and a two-time Gold Glove Award winner.
  • A-Rod led the Yankees to a World Series title in 2009.
  • Alex Rodriguez should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but the writers might not be excited about putting him in due to suspected PED use.
• David Ortiz
  • David Ortiz, more affectionately known by his nickname Big Papi, is another name that screams Hall of Fame.
  • He spent the majority of his career as a designated hitter for the Boston Red Sox.
  • He played a big role in the three World Series titles for Boston in 2004, 2007, and 2013. He was the 2013 World Series MVP.
  • Ortiz made it to ten All-Star Games, and was a seven-time Silver Slugger.
  • He finished his career having a lifetime batting average of .286 with 2,472 hits, 541 home runs, and 1,768 runs-batted-in
  • Designated hitters have had a difficult time getting into the Hall of Fame. Edger Martinez had to wait until his last year of eligibility before being voted in as part of the 2019 Hall of Fame class. Big Papi shouldn’t have that problem though.
  • David Ortiz is a no-brainer, and the writers should do the right thing and put him in immediately.

These are the ten candidates that I would vote for, If I had a say. It’s important to note that writers don’t typically fill all ten spots on their ballot, which is why getting in is so tough.

The results of the 2022 BBWAA balloting will be announced on January 25th, and the candidates who receive 75% of the vote will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 24th.