2013 Baseball HOF deep in big-league accomplishments

From SABR member Barry Bloom at MLB.com on November 28, 2012:

The newly released 2013 National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is rich in numbers and deep in talent:

• Barry Bonds, the all-time home run leader with 762.

• Roger Clemens, a storied right-hander with 354 wins.

• Craig Biggio, a second baseman with 3,060 hits.

• Sammy Sosa, the only slugger to bash more than 60 homers in three different seasons and who totaled 609.

• Mike Piazza, who hit 396 of his 427 homers as a catcher — the most of any player at that position in Major League history.

• Curt Schilling, winner of 216 regular-season games and 11 more in the postseason.

• Jack Morris, a starter who so dominated the American League during one decade that he’s now on the cusp of immortality in his 14th try.

The ballot that members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will contemplate during the month of December, though, is not simply about career numbers. This year’s voting — with the addition of Bonds, Clemens and Sosa in particular — brings further attention to baseball’s era played under the cloud of performance-enhancement questions.

“It’s going to be a very interesting ballot and I know the writers are going to have some tough decisions to make,” said Morris, who finished with 66.7 percent of the vote in the last balloting “Unfortunately, they are going to have to be the moral police and I don’t think a lot of them want to be. Hopefully it will work out the right way and it will be the right thing when it’s all said and done.”

As all Baseball Hall of Fame votes are conducted, a candidate needs to be named on at least 75 percent of the ballots to be elected. BBWAA members with 10 consecutive years or more of covering the sport are eligible to vote and they can name as many as 10 players on their ballots. The results of the voting will be announced on Jan. 9. MLB.com will air a live simulcast of MLB Network coverage of the announcement.

 

Read the full article here: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121124&content_id=40406376



Originally published: November 28, 2012. Last Updated: November 28, 2012.