The Hall of Fame is announcing the candidates, if any, that will be entering the MLB Hall of Fame tomorrow at 2:00 PM EST. The candidates are voted on by BBWAA members, and each BBWAA member receives up to 10 "yes" votes. A candidate needs 75% of "yes" votes to enter the Hall of Fame, and 5% to remain on the ballot for next year. A candidate has 10 years on the ballot before being removed, but some candidates who were on the ballot before the number of years was lowered from 15 still get 15 years on the ballot.
Here is how the voting turned out from seven VAVEL writers:
| Player | Years on Ballot | Josh Biesada | Raymond Bureau | Tyler Milliken | Max O'Neill | Ricky Salvatore | Bryan Schwartz | Parker White | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craig Biggio | 3rd | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100% |
| Pedro Martinez | 1st | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100% |
| Jeff Bagwell | 5th | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100% |
| Randy Johnson | 1st | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 85.7% | |
| Mike Piazza | 3rd | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 85.7% | |
| John Smoltz | 1st | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 85.7%% | |
| Curt Schilling | 3rd | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 71.4% | ||
| Tim Raines | 8th | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 71.4% | |||
| Fred McGriff | 6th | Yes | Yes | Yes | 57.1% | ||||
| Barry Bonds | 3rd | Yes | Yes | Yes | 57.1% | ||||
| Roger Clemens | 3rd | Yes | Yes | Yes | 57.1% | ||||
| Mike Mussina | 2nd | Yes | Yes | 42.9% | |||||
| Lee Smith | 13th | Yes | Yes | 42.9% | |||||
| Carlos Delgado | 1st | Yes | 14.3% | ||||||
| Edgar Martinez | 6th | 0% | |||||||
| Alan Trammell | 14th | 0% | |||||||
| Jeff Kent | 2nd | 0% | |||||||
| Mark McGwire | 9th | 0% | |||||||
| Larry Walker | 5th | 0% | |||||||
| Don Mattingly | 15th | 0% | |||||||
| Sammy Sosa | 3rd | 0% | |||||||
| Gary Sheffield | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Brian Giles | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Nomar Garciaparra | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Darin Erstad | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Tom Gordon | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Jason Schmidt | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Cliff Floyd | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Jermaine Dye | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Rich Aurilla | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Troy Percival | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Aaron Boone | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Tony Clark | 1st | 0% | |||||||
| Eddie Guardado | 1st | 0% |
Here are some quotes from our writers as to why or why not they voted "yes" for a candidate:
Raymond Bureau on voting "yes" for Lee Smith: "He retired as the all-time saves leader when closers pitched multiple innings for saves."
Josh Biesieda on voting "yes" for Jeff Bagwell: "Since 1871 Bagwell ranks 11th in OBP, 12th in SLG, 13th in OPS, 17th in wOBA, 19th in ISO among 1st basemen. [He is the] only 1st baseman in the 30/30 club. 5th best defender according to Def (Def = Fielding Runs Above Average + Positional Adjustment), 9th in UZR, 11th in DRS."
Ricky Salvatore on voting "yes" for Barry Bonds: "Although Barry Bonds used PEDs, he is still the all-time home runs leader. While PEDs contributed to his power, you have to be great at baseball to hit 762 career home runs. Also, Bonds played in the Steroid Era, when many players were taking steroids. While this does not make cheating acceptable, Bonds still managed to excel past his teammates and opponents. While steroids may not be ethical, Barry Bonds deserves to be in the Hall of Fame do to his feats unachieved by others."