Popular Star Leads All Players On Baseball Hall Of Fame Public Ballots
By Jason Hall
December 30, 2021
Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz is reportedly the most likely former player to gain eligibility to the Baseball Hall of Fame, according to public ballots shared by Baseball Writers' Association of America members ahead of the 2021 voting deadline.
The Baseball Hall of Fame tracker website, which is run by Ryan Thibodaux, reports Ortiz has received 82.3% of the 96 publicly known ballots cast so far, as previously reported by CBS Boston.
Baseball Hall of Fame candidates need to receive 75% approval from voters in order to earn induction.
Ortiz is among three players to receive more than 75% of the public vote, alongside polarizing legends Barry Bonds (80.2%) and Roger Clemens (79.2%), both of whom undoubtedly had Hall of Fame worthy careers, but are marred by their respective accusations during the steroid era and, therefore, are in their final year of eligibility to be voted in.
Ortiz and former MLB rival turned broadcast partner Alex Rodriguez headlined this year's list of first-time candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot.
Both Rodriguez and Ortiz are among the 13 first-time candidates and 17 holdovers to be included on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot.
The full list of first-time candidates are included below per MLB.com:
- Carl Crawford
- Prince Fielder
- Ryan Howard
- Tim Linecum
- Justin Morneau
- Joe Nathan
- David Ortiz
- Jake Peavy
- A.J. Pierzynski
- Alex Rodriguez
- Jimmy Rollins
- Mark Teixeira
All returning candidates included on this year's ballot are listed below:
- Bobby Abreu
- Barry Bonds
- Mark Buehrle
- Roger Clemens
- Todd Helton
- Tim Hudson
- Torii Hunter
- Andruw Jones
- Jeff Kent
- Jonathan Papelbon
- Andy Pettitte
- Manny Ramirez
- Scott Rolen
- Curt Schilling
- Gary Sheffield
- Sammy Sosa
- Omar Vizquel
- Billy Wagner
All votes must be cast before the deadline of December 31 and voting results will be announced publicly on January 25.
Zero players were elected by the BBWAA in last year's vote.