2021 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot Announced

The MLB Hall of Fame has released its ballot for the class of 2021 featuring 11 new players, and 14 players remaining on the ballot from previous years. The rules for being inducted into Cooperstown are that a player must receive votes on 75% of the submitted ballots. If a player does not get inducted, they must receive votes from at least 5% of the submitted ballots to remain on the ballot for the next year and a player may only be on a ballot for 10 years. The list of players who are on the ballot for the first time are:

LHP Mark Buehrle

RHP A.J. Burnett

OF Michael Cuddyer

RHP Dan Haren

RHP LaTroy Hawkins

RHP Tim Hudson

OF Torii Hunter

3B Aramis Ramirez

OF Nick Swisher

OF Shane Victorino

LHP Barry Zito.

The list of players who have remained on the ballot from last year’s vote are the following:

The big storylines are less about the new players that are eligible, but more about the players who were already on the ballot from previous years. The most notable names on the list of returning players are Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens who were all amazing players and had great careers, but are being held back from the hall due to their usage of PEDs. Each of those players is in their penultimate year on the ballot, and if they do not make it this year, 2022 will be their final year of eligibility to be inducted. The player who appears closest to making it is Curt Schilling, who received 70% of votes last year and if patterns stay true, he may finally make it in. When it comes to new players, the ones with the highest WAR (wins above replacement) are Mark Buhrle (59.1), Tim Hudson (57.9), and Torii Hunter (50.7). The average WAR of players in the Hall of Fame is 69, so it seems very likely that the streak of consecutive years with at least one first-ballot inductee will not continue into 2021, and will end after 7 consecutive years. Voters have until the end of the year to submit their ballot and the results will be announced on January 26.