Fred McGriff elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

Longtime first baseman Fred McGriff was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the only player elected from among eight nominees being considered by the 16-person era committee. McGriff was a unanimous vote, getting votes from all 16 members.

Twelve votes were needed for selection, and of the other seven players on the ballot, Don Mattingley came closest with eight votes. Curt Schilling received seven votes, Dale Murphy six votes, and the other candidates (Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Raphael Palmer) each received less than four votes.

McGriff hit .284/.377/.509 with 493 homers during his career, which spanned 19 seasons (1986-2004) with the Blue Jays, Padres, Braves, Rays, Cubs and Dodgers. The Crime Dog’s impressive resume included a World Series ring with the 1995 Braves, as well as the individual honors of five All-Star appearances, three Silver Slugger awards and six top-10 finishes in MVP voting. McGriff’s best finish in the MVP race was fourth, in a 1993 season split between San Diego and Atlanta.

The Yankees actually drafted McGriff in the ninth round in 1981, but he was dealt to the Blue Jays in 1982 in a trade longtime Bronx fans still remember with regret – ironically, Mattingly’s presence as the Yankees first baseman of the future was one of the reasons New York was comfortable with McGriff. Thriving as a star in Toronto, McGriff nonetheless found himself at the Padres almost exactly 32 years ago to the day, in one of baseball’s most memorable trades. The Jays moved McGriff and Tony Fernandez to the Padres for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter, in a trade that set the stage for Toronto’s 1992 and 1993 World Series titles.

The Padres’ hopes of divisiveness faded and McGriff was one of many notables treated to a sellout in 1993. The first baseman became a mainstay of the Braves’ success throughout the 1990s and enjoyed some championship success himself with Atlanta in 1995. Title. During his playoff career, McGriff continued to swing a powerful bat, hitting .303/.385/.532 with 10 homers on 218 playoff AP.

McGriff then joined the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998, the Tampa native having had the chance to play in his hometown. For five seasons with the Devil Rays, then brief stints with the Cubs and Dodgers, McGriff was always at least one hitter above average until his late 30s, before finally starting to slow down with LA. in 2003, then a final season. with Tampa Bay in 2004.

Although McGriff has been a fixture in any discussion of “professional hitters”, he has also been somewhat underestimated during his career, perhaps due to the fact that he played for several teams over the course of his career. his career rather than becoming an iconic figure in a particular franchise. The 1994-95 players’ strike was also often cited as a reason for McGriff’s lack of recognition in Cooperstown, as those lost games surely cost McGriff the chance to break the 500 home run threshold, leaving him with “only” 493 large flies.

Perhaps these are the reasons why McGriff never came close to the 75% voting threshold required for induction via writers. It also didn’t help that McGriff was unlucky to be elected amid a crowded era of candidates, including several players dogged by PED suspicions or other off-field issues – including Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro and Schilling.

The “Veterans Panel” is the catch-all name for an annual panel of rotating members, convened each year by the Hall of Fame to assess the cases of players who were not voted in or considered by the writers, or non-playing personnel who are not part of the writers’ vote. Candidates are considered from the “Contemporary Baseball” (1980-present) and “Classic Baseball” (1980 and before) periods, and divided into a three-year rotation…

• Contemporary baseball, players: 2022, 2025, 2028, etc.
• Contemporary Baseball, Managers/Executives/Umpires: 2023, 2026, 2029, etc.
• Classic baseball, all candidates: 2024, 2027, 2030, etc.

As such, the seven players who weren’t voted out of this year’s ballot will have to wait until December 2025 to receive another look, and it’s not necessarily a guarantee that any of those seven will even feature on the list. 2025 shortlist. However, since many of the names on the veterans committee change each year, it is quite possible that an HOF candidate who missed out this time around will be considered more favorably by a future committee.

That being said, the fairly drastic lack of support for Bonds and Clemens on this ballot could be a strong hint that it will be some time before the hard feelings die down over the two superstars’ alleged use of PEDs. Although Bonds and Clemens were not inducted by the writers, their last year on the ballot saw them each get at least 65% of the vote, falling respectably close to that 75% threshold. Likewise, Palmeiro (who was suspended for PED use in 2005) only lasted four years on the writers’ ballot before falling, and may even have been a surprise candidate to make the shortlist of the this year’s contemporary baseball. Schilling’s history of public statements and inflammatory and controversial tweets also stalled his support from writers, and his first appearance on a committee of the era also saw him fall well short of induction.

It also seems possible that the overwhelming show of support for McGriff was also a sort of repudiation of the PED era. McGriff, Mattingly and Murphy were considered the most controversial candidates on this particular eight-man ballot, unrelated to PEDs or other off-field issues. While McGriff’s horsepower numbers were impressive on their own, the crushing home run totals posted by some of McGriff’s peers in the late 90s and early 2000s had the effect of making his numbers lower in comparison, which may have been another reason why McGriff never quite got his due either during his career or on the writers’ ballot.

McGriff will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 23. He will be joined by all players elected via the writers’ vote, and those results will be announced on January 24.

This year’s 16-person Contemporary Baseball Committee included Angels owner Arte Moreno, former Blue Jays president Paul Beeston, Twins president and CEO Dave St. Peter, president and Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall, White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams, Marlins general manager Kim Ng. , former Red Sox/Cubs front office chief Theo Epstein, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, longtime statistician and broadcaster Steve Hirdt, and Hall of Fame players fame Greg Maddux, Jack Morris, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Frank Thomas and Alan Trammell. Chipper Jones was originally supposed to be on the committee, but was unable to participate due to illness and was replaced by Hall.