David Ortiz Voted Into Baseball HOF as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens Get Shut Out
Congrats to Big Papi, but are Bonds, Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa getting a raw deal?
The Baseball Hall of Fame tapped a new member of their 2022 class in Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, but MLB legends Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa all fell short in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s voting tally.
Ortiz was the only member of the class to pass the 75-percent threshold required for entrance on the BBWAA ballot. Bonds, Clemens, Schilling and Sosa — all fan favorites in their 10th and final year on the writers’ ballot — failed to make the 75-percent mark.
Clemens and Schilling both responded to the baseball writers’ slight on Twitter:
Ortiz, who batted .286/.380/.552 with 541 home runs and made 10 All-Star Game appearances over a 20-season MLB career, will join a group of six others in the 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame class, reports CBS Sports.
The rest of the class is made up exclusively of veterans committee selections: Buck O’Neil, Bud Fowler, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Gil Hodges and Minnie Miñoso. The 2022 Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, July 24.
The full ballot can be viewed here. For posterity’s sake, it should be noted that players are eligible for the ballot after five years of retirement. Players then have to earn 75 percent of the vote in order to be enshrined.
Those who fall short of that mark can remain on the ballot for upwards of 10 years provided they receive at least 5 percent of the vote share each winter. Voters are allowed to cast their votes for anywhere from zero to 10 players each ballot.
Ortiz, who also played for Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins, didn’t transform into a “Big Papi” superstar until he joined the Red Sox, where he won three World Series and two MVP awards.
Ortiz’s late-career surge saw him hit 483 homers after beginning his age-27 season, which is the fifth-most all-time. The only players to hit more home runs are Bonds, Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, and Rafael Palmeiro.
Below, the complete voting breakdown (courtesy of the BBWAA):
2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Results
- David Ortiz: 77.9 percent
- Barry Bonds: 66 percent*
- Roger Clemens: 65.2 percent*
- Scott Rolen: 63.2 percent
- Curt Schilling: 58.6 percent*
- Todd Helton: 52 percent
- Billy Wagner: 51 percent
- Andruw Jones: 41.1 percent
- Gary Sheffield: 40.6 percent
- Alex Rodriguez: 34.3 percent
- Jeff Kent: 32.7 percent
- Manny Ramirez: 28.9 percent
- Omar Vizquel: 23.9 percent
- Sammy Sosa: 18.5 percent*
- Andy Pettitte: 10.7 percent
- Jimmy Rollins: 9.4 percent
- Bobby Abreu: 8.6 percent
- Mark Buehrle: 5.8 percent
- Torii Hunter: 5.3 percent
* = 10th and final year on the ballot