If you thought the 2021 Hall of Fame vote was a controversial debate over stats, character, and PEDs, just wait for Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz to join next year. Not only will it be the first chance for writers to get into Rodriguez and Ortiz, it will also be the last time on the ballot for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling (although Schilling asked to be removed from his senior year on the ballot) and Sammy Sosa.
While Bonds and Clemens have seen their vote percentage rise in recent years, the BBWAA has not chosen them, despite their status as two of the statistically most accomplished players in the game’s history. Sosa, who hit 609 home runs, hasn’t even cleared 20%. Schilling, with 216 wins and his record as one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time, had the highest number of votes of any player this year, but fell just short – no doubt in part due to his controversial behavior on social media.
Now Rodriguez and Ortiz will join the fray, making the vote in 2022 perhaps the hardest yet to clarify where we’re headed with all of this.