Last year's Hall of Fame vote netted former Phillies pitcher Curt Schilling 38% of the ballots. Yes, an ironic number given Schilling's uniform number for his entire career after the Baltimore Orioles and the Houston Astros. Schilling will be on the ballot once again, except now he has some heavy company as big-name pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine join the ballot.
The ballot included just two more former Phillies: relief pitchers Mike Timlin and Todd Jones. If you blinked, you may have missed their stints with the Phillies altogether. Timlin spent only part of 2002 with the Phillies; Jones was a trade deadline acquisition in 2004. That is probably a testament to just how bad the late 1990s/early 2000s Phillies were.
Here's a run-down of the full ballot listed on the Baseball Writers Association of America website:
- Alou, Moises
- Bagwell, Jeff
- Benitez, Armando
- Biggio, Craig
- Bonds, Barry
- Casey, Sean
- Clemens, Roger
- Durham, Ray
- Gagne, Eric
- Glavine, Tom
- Gonzalez, Luis
- Jones, Jacque
- Jones, Todd
- Kent, Jeff
- Lo Duca, Paul
- Maddux, Greg
- Martinez, Edgar
- Mattingly, Don
- McGriff, Fred
- McGwire, Mark
- Morris, Jack
- Mussina, Mike
- Nomo, Hideo
- Palmeiro, Rafael
- Piazza, Mike
- Raines, Tim
- Rogers, Kenny
- Schilling, Curt
- Sexson, Richie
- Smith, Lee
- Snow, J.T.
- Sosa, Sammy
- Thomas, Frank
- Timlin, Mike
- Trammell, Alan
- Walker, Larry
Some controversy comes with this year's ballot as the website Deadspin has purchased a Hall of Fame vote from an anonymous member of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Well, with the Baseball Writers' Association of America having released its official ballot today, we can happily announce that we have a vote. A member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America thought our plan sounded like a pretty damn good idea and sold us his/her vote, making a stand against the idea that a somewhat random subsection of the baseball press should maintain the power to confer what is, regrettably, the game's most prestigious honor. For obvious reasons, the voter will remain anonymous for now, but he/she will be filling out his/her ballot on behalf of Deadspin readers, who will be polled in binding elections. The voter will announce his/her name and motivations once his/her vote has been officially cast.
The website states that they are still buying votes and will figure out how to best use it. Last year former Astros catcher and second baseman Craig Biggio narrowly missed election, so this vote could be a big deal, given so many worthy names.
