In 2013, the same year that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling made their debuts on the BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, there was a fairly strange occurrence. On a ballot that featured nine now-Hall of Famers, not a single one was inducted. Craig Biggio led the way with a 68.2 percent vote, followed by Jack Morris at 67.7 percent and Jeff Bagwell at 59.6 percent. The rest of that year's ballot is as follows, not including those who earned less than a five percent share:
Could we see the same somewhat underwhelming phenomenon occur on the 2021 ballot? It seems like it could be the case. After all, none of the first-time candidates are surefire Hall of Fame players, let alone players who are good enough to stay on the ballot past this year.
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And as for the returning names, including the aforementioned Bonds, Clemens and Schilling, things in the past clearly haven't worked out too well. Steroids plague the years of the first two names mentioned, whereas off-the-field issues have knocked Schilling and, more recently, shortstop Omar Vizquel off of many ballots.
According to Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame tracker, 87 of the estimated 396 ballots have been revealed, and not a single name on the ballot has received the 75 percent vote required for induction. Here's a rundown of the names and the votes they have received:
Curt Schilling: 74.7%
Barry Bonds: 71.3%
Roger Clemens: 71.3%
Scott Rolen: 62.1%
Todd Helton: 51.7%
Gary Sheffield: 50.6%
Billy Wagner: 43.7%
Andruw Jones: 41.4%
Omar Vizquel: 41.4%
Manny Ramirez: 39.1%
Sammy Sosa: 25.3%
Jeff Kent: 21.8%
Bobby Abreu: 16.1%
Andy Pettitte: 16.1%
Mark Buehrle: 11.5%
The other names on the list have not cleared the five percent barrier to this point. Schilling is right on the cusp of induction, though he shouldn't hold his breath. Craig Biggio, for instance, held a 74.8 percent share of the positive vote in 2014, coming up literally two votes short. Thankfully, he eventually got in. But for Schilling, who is in his second-to-last year of eligibility, time is running out.
It's still very early, obviously, but it's intriguing nonetheless, and the home stretch should be exciting given that some of the ballots have stirred up a lot of controversy upon their release.
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