No Call To The Hall

It's an right of passage. Being called a Hall of Famer. Hearing those words has a very special meaning to them. It means that, whatever you did, you were better then the rest. You had something special about you and you achieved greater then others in the same spot. To be considered a hall of famer in baseball means you were truly great at what you did on the baseball diamond. For the 2021 class, it will be a little bit different this year, Nobody was able to get the 75% of votes needed for induction, the first time this has happened since 1960.

This is what the final vote totals looked like for this year, with Curt Schilling coming the closest to getting induction into Cooperstown. We will get into more detail in a bit. In an interesting twist, Schilling wrote a letter asking to be left off the ballot next year, his last year on it.

"I will not participate in the final year of voting. I am requesting to be removed from the ballot. I'll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player," Schilling wrote. "I don't think I'm a hall of famer as I've often stated but if former players think I am then I'll accept that with honor." (ESPN)

Schilling has the right to feel how he does about this. A large part of what could be keeping Schilling out of the hall is some of the political statements he has made over the years. His remarks that were made back in 2016 got him suspended, and subsequently fired from ESPN may have also played a factor into keeping him out of the hall, at least that's the viewpoint of some. The way it is widely viewed among outsiders is that anybody who does or says anything that stains the image of baseball is going to be kept out of induction. I'm not saying its right, I'm just saying that the viewpoint so far as I can see it. And it doesn't just stop at Curt Schilling, it goes much deeper then that.

Here's what makes this such a hot button debate. We're now getting into the era when some of the players associated with steroids, whether they took them or not, are going to start really popping up for induction. This is where the writers start using the morality judgement and standard, in my view, as to getting in or not in that regards. I don't think its just steroids that play a factor. It's also other off the field issues, as mentioned above. Now there's no actual proof, when it comes to either Bonds or Clemens, that either guy took anything. With Clemens I can buy that, but with Bonds, give me a break. The eye test with Barry Bonds tells you everything. Skinny with the Pirates, bigger with the Giants, back to skinny again as a hitting coach with the Marlins. We'll get into more details and debates over this in time.

With this happening, that has is now looking forward to the 2022 hall of fame class. The first timers to hit the ballot next year include: Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Mark Teixeira, Jimmy Rollins, Carl Crawford, Jake Peavy, Coco Crisp, Justin Morneau, Prince Fielder, Joe Nathan, Scott Kazmir, Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Papelbon, A.J. Pierzynski, and Ryan Howard, just to name a few.

Lets hear from you. What are your thoughts on not only this year/s but next year too!