(Boston) David Ortiz is on his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame — and he won’t need to get the ball out of the stadium this time around to get there.
Posted at 12:58 p.m.
The Boston Red Sox power hitter is expected to arrive in Cooperstown this summer, thanks to his many accomplishments both on and off the field. These should also allow him to get rid of the stigmata that have overwhelmed the candidacies of several of his predecessors.
Big Grandpa In particular, seems to have managed to overcome the bad press about the hitters of choice, following the induction of players such as Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez and Harold Baines. And the Dominican’s only positive performance drug test – which was said to have been nebulously revealed in an anonymous 2003 poll – seems to affect his candidacy less than those of players with much murkier pasts such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex. Rodríguez.
As of Friday, Ortiz was on 84 percent of the votes listed by the bbhottracker.com website, which is run by former Oakland Athletics fan Ryan Thibodeaux and his many statisticians. A candidate must obtain 75% of the votes to be inducted; these rates usually drop during the final counting of the votes.
Clemens and Bonds, whose exploits were clouded by performance drugs, had barely more than the necessary threshold of votes during their 10and and last appearance on ballots.
The Temple will release the results of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot on Tuesday, and those selected will join the 2022 crop that already includes Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neill.
Ortiz, who appeared in 10 career All-Star games, batted .286 with 541 home runs and 1,768 RBIs. He began his major league career with the Minnesota Twins, before being released to avoid a major referee pay raise. After settling in Boston, he finished each of the next five seasons in the top 5 finalists for the American League Most Valuable Player award. He finished sixth in that category in his final season in 2016, batting .315 with 38 homers and 127 RBIs — despite it being one of the best seasons in the league. major league history for a player heading into retirement.