For the first time since 1960, members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame will remain frozen.
No player on the Hall’s 2021 Baseball Writers Association ballot has reached the 75% limit required for consecration at Cooperstown. The voting results were announced by Hall of Fame President Tim Mead on the MLB Network on Tuesday night.
The winner of the votes was the controversial pitcher Curt Schilling, who received 71.1% of the ballots, 16 votes less than the minimum required for the selection. Schilling was followed by all-time home run leader Barry Bonds (61.8%) and 354 game winner Roger Clemens (61.6) in the vote.
All three former All-Stars were in their ninth year of eligibility on the ballot, leaving them one more chance next winter. Players have 10 chances of consecration through the vote of the writers before moving on to consideration by one of several veteran committees based on the Hall era.
However, Schilling, in a long letter to Hall that he also posted on Facebook, asked to be removed from the writers’ vote next year.
“I’m not going to participate in the last year of voting. I’m asking to be removed from the ballot. I’m going to pass it on to the committee of veterans and men whose opinions really matter and who are in a position to really judge a player,” Schilling wrote. “I don’t think it is a Hall of Fame, as I have said many times, but if former players think I am, then I will accept that with honor.”
Hall of Fame board chairwoman Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement that the board “will consider the request at our next meeting”.
Support for Bonds and Clemens has practically stabilized in recent years, as the writers’ positions on players associated with the steroid era have become largely consolidated at a level that makes them just shy of the threshold. Last year, Clemens was nominated for 61% of the ballots, while Bonds was at 60.7.
Schilling, on the other hand, saw his share of the vote rise from 45% in 2017 to 70% last year. Historically, most players who reach the 70% level eventually get enough support to land in Cooperstown. However, the reaction against Schilling’s public and social media comments appears to be limiting his support.
Among Schilling’s most controversial statements was a 2016 tweet, later deleted, in which he seemed to endorse the lynching of journalists. More recently, Schilling expressed support for the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol – although the drafters’ ballots were sent before that date.
In addition, Schilling was fired as a baseball analyst by ESPN after posting a derogatory message on social media about trans people. This followed his previous suspension via the network, after comparing Muslim extremists to Nazis in a social media post.
The field cases of Bonds and Clemens are unquestionable, as both players are among the most productive in baseball history, although their achievements have become mired in accusations of PED use that have surrounded them since they were active players. (Bonds knowingly denied the use of PEDs, while Clemens totally denied its use.) The case based on Schilling’s merit is not as open and closed, but the recent trajectory of his percentage of votes suggested that he was stuck with Hall. The fact that all three highlights remain outside, looking inward, suggests that the character clause in the criteria that Hall gives to writers seems greater than ever.
“I can say that at this point, I finished mentally. I know mathematics and I know trends and I know that I will not reach the 75% limit for induction,” wrote Schilling. “As I have said many times in recent years to those with whom I have spoken in my heart, I am at peace. Nothing, zero, none of the statements made by any of the writers have merit.”
“Whatever mine is as a player, it will be the truth, and something I won for better or for worse,” he continued. “The game made it clear that it doesn’t want me back and that’s okay, the game owes me nothing at all. It gave a billion times more than it took and I will forever be deeply indebted to it.”
The shutdown in the BBWAA vote is only part of the reason why the Hall will not receive new members this year. Hall-era veterans ‘committees usually meet just before winter meetings each year to consider candidates whose eligibility on writers’ ballots has expired. The 2020 winter meetings were held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the era committees did not meet and will not consider candidates again until the 2021 meetings in December.
Thus, Tuesday’s announcement means that no new players have won entry to Cooperstown for the first time since the Kennedy administration. During the period from 1958 to 1960, only Zack Wheat (1959) was selected.
The announcement marked the ninth time that BBWAA did not select anyone in the voting process. The last time this happened was in 2013, when three players won entry through a veterans committee. A record 14 voters sent blank ballots, surpassing the 12 sent in 2006.
The news does not mean that the 2021 inauguration ceremony, usually held each summer in Cooperstown, will be a smooth one. As the pandemic forced the postponement of the 2020 ceremony, last year’s four-man squad will be honored in July. This group includes players Derek Jeter, Larry Walker and Ted Simmons, along with legendary labor leader Marvin Miller.
Among those who won the most in this year’s poll was Scott Rolen, a longtime third baseman, whose share increased from 35.3% to 52.9% in his fourth year on the ballot. Among those eligible for the first time, the most voted was pitcher Mark Buehrle (11%). The only other candidates for the first time who reached the 5% limit to remain in the vote next year were Torii Hunter (9.5%) and Tim Hudson (5.2).
Next year’s vote will include batters Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, Philadelphia Phillies stars Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, batter Mark Teixeira and two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.