SnakePit Hall of Fame: David who?

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
• 2020 - Roy Halladay, Derek Jeter
• 2021 - None
• 2022 - None

2022 voting

There were 25 ballots cast by SnakePit members this year, up a couple from last year’s 23. That made the 75% cutoff fall at 19 votes, so David Ortiz and Todd Helton both failed to make it in by 3 votes. The latter’s number was very close to the BBWAA figure, but Ortiz was significantly lower, the SnakePit apparently not buying Rob Manfred’s assertion that Big Papi’s failed 2003 drug test should not impact his candidature. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds both also received a lower percentage here than from the BBWAA. Though the biggest negative difference was Billy Wagner, named on the majority of BBWAA ballots, but barely a quarter from the SnakePit. Interesting that in 2018, he was just at 11.1% BBWAA.

On the other hand, Timmeh a.k.a. Goldy’s Chew-toy, was barely acknowledged by the Cooperstown electorate, yet got a solid 20% here. Perhaps we were more familiar with peak Lincecum? There continue to be a few others who receive enough love here to stick around, well after they dropped off the BBWAA ballot. The 2019 ballot there saw Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, Michael Young and Roy Oswalt all proved to be one and done, but they keep getting more than 5% from the SnakePit electorate, and so keep making it onto the ballot! Cliff Lee, Dan Haren and, after this year, Prince Fielder are also still here, but will not be troubling the BBWAA going forward.

Next year Bonds. Clemens and Sosa will drop off the voting under the 10-year rule (Schilling was elected here in 2017, so isn’t a factor). Mussina has one more chance to get through. Because they got less than 5% this time, we’ll be losing Alfonso Soriano, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Aramis Ramirez, Nick Swisher, Jimmy Rollins, Jake Peavy, Justin Morneau, Ryan Howard, A.J. Burnett, Carl Crawford, Jonathan Papelbon, A.J. Pierzynski. But there will be new additions, likely headlined by Carlos Beltran and closer Francisco Rodriguez, as well as including Diamondbacks like Aaron Hill and Bronson Arroyo. Tune in for that in December!