The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the results of 2022 National Baseball Hall of Fame voting, with David Ortiz being the only player being nominated to Cooperstown.
Ortiz, in his first year on the ballot, received 77.9% of the votes, surpassing the required 75% for nomination by 11 total votes. He played from 1997-2016 with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox, was a 10-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger Award winner and three-time World Series champion.
Ortiz finished his career batting .286/.380/.552 with 541 home runs, 1,768 RBIs, 1,419 runs, a 140 wRC+, 51 fWAR and 55.3 bWAR.
Ortiz was named as one of the players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drug use in 2003 — along with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa — as part of MLB’s testing which was supposed to remain anonymous.
The 2003 season was Ortiz’s breakout year but his dominance as a hitter continued through his age-40 season in 2016.
PED use connections denied Bonds (66%), Clemens (65.2%) and Sosa (18.5%) from being elected, who were all in their final year on the ballot. They will no longer receive consideration on the ballot moving forward but they can be elected through the committee processes later, just like Gil Hodges was last month.
Curt Schilling, who has been the subject of many controversies since his retirement, including hate speech, was also not elected in his final year on the ballot after receiving 58.6% of the vote.
Scott Rolen was the closest player who also fell short of induction but was not connected to PED use with 63.2% of the vote. He appears to be bound for the Hall of Fame in the coming years as he needs less than 12% of votes with five years remaining.
Todd Helton (Fourth year) and Billy Wagner (seventh year) were the only other players receiving more than half of the votes, coming in at 52% and 51%, respectively.
Rodriguez, who is fourth all-time in home runs, received 34.3% of the vote in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility.
There were a number of former Los Angeles Dodgers players on the 2022 ballot. Gary Sheffield remained at 40.6% in his eighth year on the ballot, while Andruw Jones went from 33.9% to 41.1% in his fifth year.
Meanwhile, Jeff Kent received a small jump in his ninth year from 32.4% to 32.7% and Manny Ramirez also received a small increase from 28.2% to 28.9% in his sixth year.
Bobby Abreu was the only former Dodger whose support dropped, going from 8.7% to 8.6% in his third year.
There were two more former Dodgers in the first year on the ballot, Jimmy Rollins and Carl Crawford. Rollins will remain on after receiving 9.4% of the vote, while Crawford will be dropped after receiving no votes.
Joe Nathan, Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum, Ryan Howard, Mark Teixeira, Justin Morneau, Jonathan Papelbon, Prince Fielder, A.J. Pierzynski and Jake Peavy were also dropped from the ballot after receiving less than 5% of the votes.
When is the 2022 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony?
The 2022 Induction Ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, July 24, on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center.
The Golden Days Era Committee electees, which includes Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso and Tony Oliva, and Early Baseball Era Committee selections, which are Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Ortiz.
The Induction Ceremony will be broadcast live exclusively on MLB Network.
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