The Baseball Hall of Fame has announced a major change amongst the voting process. Hence forth, a player will only remain on the ballot for ten years as opposed to the fifteen years that has been the tradition for decades.
Currently, there are three men who will be entering next year in their year of eligibility past ten years who will be grandfathered in. Lee Smith (13th), Alan Trammell (14th) and Don Mattingly (15th and final) will remain on the ballot, though based on the support patterns that the three have had, it is not expected that any of the three will receive the support needed for Cooperstown.
One has to wonder openly if this reduction is to eliminate the controversy sooner surrounding the PED tainted athletes who are currently in the ballot. This would affect Mark McGwire the most, who is entering his ninth year on the ballot, and now has only two more years to gain induction. The former slugger received only 16.9 percent last year, which is his lowest yet. Coincidentally, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens dropped in support from their first year to their second. They will both only have eight more years on the ballot.
Arguably, the collateral damage (if this is to reduce the length that suspected PED users are on the ballot) would be Tim Raines, who will be on his 8th year. Raines received 46.1 percent of the vote last year down from a high of 52.2 the year before. Nevertheless, Raines has doubled his support from the first year on the ballot, and with seven more years of eligibility, past history indicates his chances for induction were still decent. With only three more years of eligibility left, it will be a tough and shorter road ahead.
Of note, in the past forty years, the reduced eligibility would have caused the following inductees to miss receiving the Hall of Fame call: Bert Blyleven (2011, 14th Year), Jim Rice (2009, 15th Year), Bruce Sutter (2006, 13th Year), Duke Snider (1980, 11th Year), Bob Lemon (1976, 12th Year) and Ralph Kiner (1975, 13th Year).
There is an argument that if it someone can’t get into the Baseball Hall of Fame in ten tries, that another five years won’t make that much more of a difference. While the six names in the previous paragraphs were big names in their day, it would not necessarily downgrade the perception of the Hall of Fame if they were not inducted.
Incidentally, this is the first major change in the Baseball Hall of Fame voting procedures since 1985, when the minimum five percent threshold was instituted to remain eligible.
We are very curious to hear the feedback from the eligible players that will be impacted from this decision.
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