If you think the 2021 Hall of Fame vote was a controversial debate about statistics, characters, and PED, just wait until Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz team up next year. Not only will it be the first chance for writers to consider Rodriguez and Ortiz, but it will be the last time Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling (though voting) and Sammy Sosa will vote.
Although Bonds and Clemens have seen their turnout increase in recent years, the BBWAA has not been able to elect them despite their position as two of the most statistically successful players in the game’s history. Soda, who hit 609 homers, hasn’t even cleaned up 20%. Schilling, with 216 wins and his record as one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time, garnered the highest total votes of all players this year, but fell short, no doubt in part because of his controversial behavior on social media.
Now Rodriguez and Ortiz will join the fight, which will make the 2022 vote the hardest so far to clarify where we are going with all of this.