Burrell, Stairs on the Hall of Fame ballot
Here are the newcomers:
- Casey Blake
- Pat Burrell
- Orlando Cabrera
- Mike Cameron
- J.D. Drew
- Carlos Guillen
- Vladimir Guerrero
- Derek Lee
- Melvin Mora
- Magglio Ordonez
- Jorge Posada
- Manny Ramirez
- Edgar Renteria
- Arthur Rhodes
- Ivan Rodriguez
- Freddy Sanchez
- Matt Stairs
- Jason Varitek
- Tim Wakefield
They join the holdovers:
- Jeff Bagwell
- Barry Bonds
- Roger Clemens
- Trevor Hoffman
- Jeff Kent
- Edgar Martinez
- Fred McGriff
- Mike Mussina
- Tim Raines
- Curt Schilling
- Gary Sheffield
- Lee Smith
- Sammy Sosa
- Billy Wagner
- Larry Walker
Bagwell received 71.6 percent of the vote last year and should reach the Hall this year. It’s Raines’ final year of eligibility; he got 69.8 percent of the vote last year, and he might eek in thanks to some recent staunch advocacy. One would imagine Hoffman could get close, as he received 68.3 percent of the vote last year. But that’s probably it for the holdovers.
As for newcomers, Guerrero, Ramirez and Rodriguez are the most likely hall of famers. If anyone gets in on the first ballot it’s probably “Pudge,” who was well liked and played a premium position at a high level for years. Guerrero should get in soon enough. Ramirez will be a tough argument thanks to his late-career PED use.
We’ll talk more about Burrell later. He’s not the only former Phillie on the ballot; Schilling and Wagner are there (hard to imagine they’ll get the votes), as well as new hitting coach Stairs and, yes, we had Rhodes for a season. Oh, and former Phillie J.D. Dre- yeah.
