Baseball’s Hall of Fame Set for Bumper Crop of Honorees
Baseball’s Hall of Fame Set for Bumper Crop of Honorees
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Former Boston Red Sox player Pedro Martinez is honored prior to the game between the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park in Boston on May 28, 2014.Jared Wickerham—Getty Images
On Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern, the results of the BBWAA 2015 Hall of Fame election will be announced. If the ballots published thus far are to be believed, we’re in for not only a bumper crop of honorees — three, four, or even five players receiving at least 75 percent of the vote — but also the kind of history we haven’t seen in at least 60 years.
As of Monday afternoon, 146 voters have made their ballots public thus far, via Ryan Thibs’ Hall of Fame Tracker, just over one-quarter of the electorate based on last year’s final vote total of 571. According to those ballots, five players have received at least 75 percent of the vote: newcomers Randy Johnson (98.6 percent), Pedro Martinez (98.0 percent) and John Smoltz (87.8 percent) and holdovers Craig Biggio (80.8 percent) and Mike Piazza (79.4 percent). Via the Baseball Think Factory 2015 HOF Ballot Collecting Gizmo — which unlike Thibs’ Tracker merely aggregates the totals instead of recording each individual ballot but has a slightly larger sample size (154) — Piazza is down to 76.6 percent, but Biggio is up to 82.5 percent, and the other three are within a whisker of Thibs’ numbers…
Just months prior to being named American League Most Valuable Player, Detroit Tigers catcher Mickey Cochrane gazes out from behind his mask at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, Aug. 29, 1934. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Energized by the first World Series held at Chicago's Wrigley Field, baseball fans crowd the corner of Addison and Sheffield as they await the matchup between the hometown Cubs and the Philadelphia Athletics, Oct. 1929. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. As part of the annual preseason City Series between Philadelphia's two major league clubs, Athletics catcher Mickey Cochrane dives home and tags out Phillies base runner Pinky Whitney at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, April 1, 1933.National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Children raise their souvenir Louisville Sluggers at the second "Bat Day" ever held at Yankee Stadium in New York City, Aug. 14, 1965. Don Rice—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Members of a baseball team at Peddie Institute, a private boarding school in Hightstown, N.J., gather for a group photograph in front of the main school building, May 1891. J.C. Sunderlin—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. During his first season in the big leagues, Cincinnati's George "Admiral" Schlei sits for a studio portrait in Boston, 1904. Carl J. Horner—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Visiting Egypt in the midst of their around-the-world ball-playing exhibition, tour organizers and baseball players climb the Sphinx for a photo, Feb. 9, 1889. P. Sebah—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. New York Yankees pitcher Red Ruffing shows off his fastball grip, 1938. William C. Greene—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Following the 1927 World Series, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth barnstormed across the country, playing 21 games in just three weeks. Here the Yankees' legends loom large on either side of Kenichi Zenimura and other members of the Fresno Athletic Club at Fireman Park in Fresno, Calif., Oct. 29, 1927. Frank Kamiyama—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Mel Allen (front), "The Voice of the Yankees," calls a game from the booth at Celeveland Stadium, June 23, 1948. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Jackie Robinson opens the door to the Dodgers' clubhouse on the day Brooklyn purchased his contract, making him the first African-American player in modern baseball history to join a major league club, New York City, April 10, 1947. William C. Greene—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. The St. Louis Giants and pitcher Bill Drake (far left) pose for a photograph following their game against the Kansas City Monarchs in the inaugural season of the Negro National League, June 14, 1920. J. E. Miller—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Billed as the "female champions of the world," Margaret Nabel (far right) and the New York Bloomer Girls promoted their barnstorming tours by sending out team photos such as this picture of the 1929 club. Henri H. Davis—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Photographer Bob Bartosz takes a self-portrait amidst the weeds, debris and ruins of Philadelphia's abandoned Connie Mack Stadium, 65 years after it opened as Shibe Park and nearly four years after it hosted its final big league game, June 1974.Bob Bartosz—National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y. Pittsburgh great Honus Wagner selects a bat in front of the Pirates dugout, 1915. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown N.Y.
