No player elected for 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame class; Curt Schilling wants off ballot
There will be no new members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame for 2021.
As ESPN's Bradford Doolittle noted, no players reached the 75% voter threshold among Baseball Writers’ Association of America members necessary to be elected into the Baseball Hall for the first time since 1960. Per Anthony Castrovince of the official MLB website, it's the seventh time since the first election in 1936 that the Hall's membership remains frozen for a year.
Former starting pitcher Curt Schilling was selected on 71.1% of ballots, followed by slugger and all-time home run leader Barry Bonds (61.8%) and fellow pitcher Roger Clemens (61.6%). Sports Illustrated explained that the trio will only be included on ballots one more time:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Era Committee elections are postponed until next winter.
Schilling, who has become a controversial figure during his retirement, requested in a letter shared by Bob Nightengale of USA Today to be removed from next year's ballot:
Bonds and Clemens, meanwhile, have long been linked with the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
As Mike Oz wrote for Yahoo Sports, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz will join Schilling, Bonds, and Clemens among other Hall of Fame candidates for 2022. It's possible, and maybe even likely, none will hit the 75% threshold.
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