2019 SnakePit Hall of Fame elects Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Jim Thome

SnakePit Hall of Fame Inductees

• 2015 - Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez
• 2016 - Ken Griffey Jr.
• 2017 - Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Vladimir Guerrero, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz
• 2018 - Chipper Jones, Ivan Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez
• 2019 - Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Jim Thome

We had 54 ballots cast this year, a 30% increase on last year’s figure, and that made the cut-off point 41 votes needed for election. Rivera topped the poll, but failed to become a unanimous selection, though was named on all but two ballots. Trevor Hoffman missed out by one vote last time, but made it well over the finishing line this time round, getting 45 votes, for an 83.3% selection rate. Like Hoffman, Jim Thome had made into Cooperstown in 2017, but been turned away from SnakePit Towers. We moved back into line there too, though it was much closer for Thome, as he was named on exactly the 41 ballots necessary for AZSP-HOF induction.

Now that we’ve aligned more closely with the official Hall of Fame, it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. The results will be announced later today (4pm Arizona time, on the MLB Network), and Rivera is a lock to get in there. Indeed, at the time of writing (Monday night), he is a unanimous choice on the BBHOF tracker, which collects the results of ballots whose authors have made them public. According to the current results there, he will be joined by Roy Halladay for sure, which is interesting, as he fell short of election here, getting two-thirds of nominations. Edgar Martinez will also be elected - we put him in last year - and Mike Mussina seems possible too, even though he fell short of even 60% on the SnakePit.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens both continue to creep closer. They were slightly over 50% last time, but Bonds in particular ticket sharply upwards, to 68.5%. That’s still short of the necessary votes for induction, sparing me the unfortunate task of having to raze the entire SnakePit Hall of Fame to the ground. [“It became necessary to destroy the SnakePit Hall of Fame, in order to save it...”] At the other end, pour a quick one out for Ted Lilly, Placido Polanco and Rick Ankiel, who failed to muster a single sympathy vote between them. Actually, in Lilly’s case, throw one to the ground in a fit of pique.

Here are the full results, in descending order, with the number of votes and percentage of mentions.

• Mariano Rivera - 52 - 96.3%
• Trevor Hoffman - 45 - 83.3%
• Jim Thome - 41 - 75.9%
  —————— 75% CUT OFF FOR ELECTION ——————
• Barry Bonds - 37 - 68.5%
• Larry Walker - 37 - 68.5%
• Roy Halladay - 36 - 66.7%
• Roger Clemens - 32 - 59.3%
• Mike Mussina - 32 - 59.3%
• Todd Helton - 28 - 51.9%
• Omar Vizquel - 23 - 42.6%
• Scott Rolen - 22 - 40.7%
• Fred McGriff - 21 - 38.9%
• Manny Ramirez - 21 - 38.9%
• Andy Pettitte - 20 - 37.0%
• Tim Raines - 20 - 37.0%
• Gary Sheffield - 20 - 37.0%
• Andruw Jones - 17 - 31.5%
• Sammy Sosa - 16 - 29.6%
• Billy Wagner - 14 - 25.9%
• Lance Berkman - 11 - 20.4%
• Jeff Kent - 10 - 18.5%
• Miguel Tejada - 9 - 16.7%
• Roy Oswalt - 7 - 13.0%
• Michael Young - 5 - 9.3%
• Travis Hafner - 3 - 5.6%
• Freddy Garcia - 2 - 3.7%
• Derek Lowe - 2 - 3.7%
• Juan Pierre - 2 - 3.7%
• Kevin Youkilis - 2 - 3.7%
• Jon Garland - 1 - 1.9%
• Darren Oliver - 1 - 1.9%
• Vernon Wells - 1 - 1.9%
• Jason Bay - 1 - 1.9%
• Ted Lilly - 0 - 0.0%
• Placido Polanco - 0 - 0.0%
• Rick Ankiel - 0 - 0.0%