OC Register: David Ortiz elected to Baseball Hall of Fame; Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens left out

[AngelsWin.com]

By JAKE SEINER AP Baseball Writer

David Ortiz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first turn on the ballot, while steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were denied entry to Cooperstown in their final year under consideration by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Ortiz, a clutch slugger and 10-time All-Star over 20 seasons mostly with the Boston Red Sox, was named on 77.9% of ballots unveiled on Tuesday, clearing the 75% threshold needed for enshrinement. He’s the fourth primary designated hitter voted into the Hall.

Big Papi was among baseball’s most recognizable faces through the 2000s and 2010s. His enormous grin endeared him to fans, but the Dominican’s hulking frame menaced pitchers, especially in the late innings. He had 23 game-ending hits, including three during the 2004 postseason while Boston ended an 86-year World Series drought.

Ortiz batted .286 with 541 home runs with Boston and Minnesota while making 88% of his plate appearances as a designated hitter, the most by anyone in the Hall. He passes Edgar Martinez, who was a DH for 71.7% of his plate appearances. Frank Thomas and Harold Baines are the only other Hall members to DH more than half the time.

He’s also the fourth player born in the Dominican Republic, joining Juan Marichal, Pedro Martinez and Vladimir Guerrero.

Ortiz also has PED baggage, but enough voters chose to ignore a positive test that came during survey testing in 2003 that was supposed to be anonymous. Ortiz has denied using steroids, and Commissioner Rob Manfred said in 2016 “I think it would be wrong” to exclude him from the Hall of Fame based on that lone test.

The three-time World Series winner has remained in public view in retirement as a studio analyst for Fox Sports’ postseason coverage. He was briefly sidelined in 2019 after being ambushed and shot in the Dominican Republic. His recovery required three surgeries, and doctors removed his gallbladder along with parts of his intestines and colon. He returned to the air during the postseason four months after the shooting.

Ortiz will be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York, on July 24 along with era committee selections Buck O’Neil, Minnie Miñoso, Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and Bud Fowler.

Bonds, Clemens and Curt Schilling were all rejected in their 10th and final year on the BBWAA ballot. Bonds is the sport’s career home run leader and Clemens won a record seven Cy Young Awards, but voters denied them the game’s highest honor over suspicions they used performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds got 66% of the vote, and Clemens was at 65.2%.

Schilling’s support dropped off sharply after he finished 16 votes shy in 2021. Many voters chose not to back the right-hander due to hateful remarks he has made in retirement toward Muslims, transgender people, journalists and others.

Schilling asked the Hall to remove him from this year’s voting, but he remained an option. He was named on 58.6% of ballots, down from 71.1% last year.

Bonds, Clemens and Schilling are done on the BBWAA ballot, but they will be considered again next year by the Today’s Game era committee. The 16-person committee of Hall members, executives and veteran media members will convene next December to consider players who played between 1988-2016 who are no longer eligible for BBWAA selection.

Among other first-timers on the ballot, Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins got the most support.

Rodriguez won three MVPs and hit 696 homers but also has PED use clouding his case. He was banned by Major League Baseball for the entire 2014 season after violating the league’s drug policy.

Next year’s ballot will introduce a new wrinkle of controversy when Carlos Beltrán joins the ballot. The nine-time All-Star was punished by MLB prior to the 2020 season and fired as manager of the New York Mets for his leading role in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

Beltrán is likely to be joined on the ballot by former Angels pitchers John Lackey and Jered Weaver, as well as former Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and outfielder Jayson Werth, who played two seasons with the Dodgers.

More to come on this story.

Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz watches the flight of his two-run home run off Oakland Athletics pitcher Ben Sheets during the fifth inning of a game at Fenway Park in Boston on June 2, 2010. Ortiz has been voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first appearance on the ballot. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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[T.G.]

AJ Pierzynski got two votes.... LOL. WTF?

[W.E. Baxter Author]

Way to go Big Poppi! David Ortiz was/is a Great Human Being as well as a Great Player. I'm sorry, but the cheaters don't belong in the Hall of Fame.

[Blarg]

42 minutes ago, W.E. Baxter Author said:

Way to go Big Poppi! David Ortiz was/is a Great Human Being as well as a Great Player. I'm sorry, but the cheaters don't belong in the Hall of Fame.

Ward, David Ortiz tested positive for steroid use. 

[Dtwncbad]

Raphael Palmeiro failed a test once and is blackballed.

David Ortiz fails a test once and literally gets a Hall Pass on the first ballot.

I guess Palmeiro should have given himself a cute nickname and presented himself as a goofy clown character to be more “lovable.”

 

[Blarg]

On March 17, 2005, Palmeiro appeared at a Congressional hearing about steroids in baseball and, while under oath, denied ever using steroids and stated, "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."

In August he was suspended for steroid use. 

He earned his ration of shit lying under oath. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

33 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

Raphael Palmeiro failed a test once and is blackballed.

David Ortiz fails a test once and literally gets a Hall Pass on the first ballot.

I guess Palmeiro should have given himself a cute nickname and presented himself as a goofy clown character to be more “lovable.”

 

Big Palmy

[tdawg87]

I fucking hate David Ortiz. I hope that motherfucker breaks his asshole.

[Taylor]

[T.G.]

I refuse to give a crap about the HOF.  

[Chuck]

So no Roger Clemens and no Barry Bonds but steroid user David Ortiz gets in on first ballot.
 

The Hall of Fame is a joke.

[jsnpritchett]

1 hour ago, True Grich said:

I refuse to give a crap about the HOF.  

[T.G.]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

The Hall of Fame is a joke.

It stopped being special a while ago.

I’d still like to visit some day, because I love baseball - but I stopped caring about who gets in a long time ago.

[Amazing Larry]

Picture of David Ortiz’s HOF glove below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dtwncbad]

10 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

So no Roger Clemens and no Barry Bonds but steroid user David Ortiz gets in on first ballot.
 

The Hall of Fame is a joke.

Kind of like how Victoria’s Secret runway shows now feature fat women and we are all supposed to pretend they are getting it right.

No thanks.

[Dtwncbad]

12 hours ago, Blarg said:

On March 17, 2005, Palmeiro appeared at a Congressional hearing about steroids in baseball and, while under oath, denied ever using steroids and stated, "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."

In August he was suspended for steroid use. 

He earned his ration of shit lying under oath. 

So that’s the difference?  Really?  Go ahead and take steroids, that’s fine, but how dare you lie to some self-serving government blowhard.

Got it.

[Blarg]

Purgery is a criminal offense. He was and is an embarrassment to MLB. You're so stuck in your own self righteous opinions you can't admit Palmiero punched his own ticket for being shunned.

[Dtwncbad]

2 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Purgery is a criminal offense. He was and is an embarrassment to MLB. You're so stuck in your own self righteous opinions you can't admit Palmiero punched his own ticket for being shunned.

Was he charged with perjury?  No.

I fully agree he lied.  But realistically what did you expect him to do?  Everybody who took steroids lied.

David Ortiz lied.  He also accused baseball of a conspiracy against him to lessen the impact on the Yankees.  So his denial was both he didn’t do it and that the establishment of baseball was dirty.

I agree Palmeiro messed up, but my “self-righteous opinion” is it is ridiculous to treat him this differently than Ortiz when the important details are they both tested positive and both tested positive once.

Lets be honest.  David Ortiz would have lied in that hearing too.

[Taylor]

I blame the steroid users for creating this mess in the first place. I agree that it's strange that Ortiz would get in but not Bonds or Clemens, but the reason there's even a question is because a bunch of players decided to cheat.

[Dtwncbad]

1 minute ago, Taylor said:

I blame the steroid users an unknowable number of baseball players but not the establishment of baseball that clearly was fine with it while it helped rescue their game.

Fixed.

[Taylor]

Just now, Dtwncbad said:

Fixed.

It's true. It's an equal blame among the steroid users who are HOF-worthy and those who aren't. It created a culture of suspicion where now we have to think twice about players who performed well in the late 90s and early 2000s. 

[Dtwncbad]

Since I think the HOF is messed up and contaminated now in a way that really can’t be fixed. . .

I would be personally entertained if Bonds, Clemens, and Pete Rose privately orchestrated a private equity group to buy the HOF, establish a new committee to vote instead of the writers, and get themselves in.

Then build those three busts to be twice the size of all the rest, with added LED lights and full-time go go dancers gyrating around those three exclusively.

That would be awesome.

We have reality TV.  Let’s go for a reality-TV style HOF.

Then pop some popcorn and watch the people who had not yet recognized that the HOF already lost its credibility just lose their freaking minds.

[floplag]

I cant even count how many ways the BBWAA failed us on this.

First, Papi is NOT a first ballot hall of famer.  Should he get in, ok, yeah, but first freaking ballot... lol.

Second, they basically just told an entire generation of baseball fans that everything they loved, was invalid.  That all the best of their era, do not belong in the hall.  Why?  Steroids, bullshit.. I do not accept this excuse... steroids have been in sports for decades before they were ever banned in baseball, i knew kids using them in high school in the 80s for petes sake.  There is virtually zero change there are not already guys in the hall who used them and thats before we get to Papi himself testing positive.

Third, Baseball, and especially the MLB media and BBWAA were in my opinion fully complicit on the steroid era, they know, they said nothing, they didnt care, they used it for ratings and to increase popularity... until it gave them a black eye.  Who can forget "chicks dig the long ball". 

The reality is that they were not liked... boo freaking hoo.  There are first class jerks in the hall, who cares, it isnt about the people, its about the game.  Ty Cobbs ability on the baseball field was surpassed on by the level of what a horrible person he was, and hes regarded as the best to ever play?  so much for character.  Schilling is a controversial person, does that change what he did on the field?

I could have said ok for making them wait a little, fine, but to bypass them completely and put in a guy with the exact same issues on his resume with the only real difference being he was well liked on the first ballot undeserved?  Thats an epic failure of the baseball media and the baseball hall.   

What they should have done was put those guys in, an then put Papi in next year. 

The hall is now a popularity club, it does not represent the best of baseball anymore.  How can a hall of this sport take itself seriously when it doesnt have the man with the most hits and home runs enshrined?   I always wanted to visit it, now i really dont care anymore. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

14 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

Raphael Palmeiro failed a test once and is blackballed

Rafael Palmeiro also blatantly lied to Congress when he testified on steroid use in baseball.

[Dtwncbad]

8 minutes ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Rafael Palmeiro also blatantly lied to Congress when he testified on steroid use in baseball.

Yeah.  I know.  And I personally don’t think that plays a role in me deciding if he should be in the HOF or not.

If others put that as a deciding factor, that’s up to them.