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A total of 19 players, most prominently Vladimir Guerrero, Jorge Posada, Manny Ramirez and Ivan Rodriguez, join 15 holdovers on the 2017 Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame ballot, as announced today. The strongest potential selectees, Jeff Bagwell, Trevor Hoffman and Tim Raines, are now on the clock, each having received more than 67$ of the vote but less than the 75% required for enshrinement last year.
The results of the BBWAA election will be announced on Jan. 18. Winners will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 30, 2017.
Some quick facts on induction, per the National Baseball Hall of Fame:
– Last year marked just the fifth time in voting history that as many as five (Bagwell, Hoffman, Raines plus inductees Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza) had received 67% or more votes
– Every player who has ever cleared the 65-percent threshold in any one BBWAA election has eventually been inducted into the Hall of Fame, save for Jack Morris – who exhausted his BBWAA eligibility in 2015 and will not be eligible for the Modern Baseball Era Committee consideration until the fall of 2017.
– Twelve other players will return to the BBWAA ballot this year, including (in order of their 2016 vote percentage): Curt Schilling (52.3 percent), Roger Clemens (45.2), Barry Bonds (44.3), Edgar Martínez (43.4), Mike Mussina (43.0), Lee Smith (34.1), Fred McGriff (20.9), Jeff Kent (16.6), Larry Walker (15.5), Gary Sheffield (11.6), Billy Wagner (10.5) and Sammy Sosa (7.0). Smith is making his final appearance on the BBWAA ballot.
– Also debuting on the BBWAA ballot this year are Casey Blake, Pat Burrell, Orlando Cabrera, Mike Cameron, J.D. Drew, Carlos Guillén, Derrek Lee, Melvin Mora, Magglio Ordóñez, Edgar Rentería, Arthur Rhodes, Freddy Sánchez, Matt Stairs, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield.
For bios on each player on the ballot and more info, visit http://baseballhall.org/hof/2017-bbwaa-ballot.
