Fred McGriff gets unanimously elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The voting procedure was held on Sunday at the Winter Meetings of baseball in San Diego. McGriff became the only candidate elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee from the eight-person candidature. This is the first time that he is re-standing for the election.
The name of Fred McGriff appeared on all the casted 16 ballots. He is eligible to get inducted among any of the selections of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). The selections would be held at Cooperstown, New York on July 23. The results would be announced through MLB Network on January 24.
Post-election, McGriff commented that he has been totally blessed over the years. He said that he considers it a beautiful thing that the election results were unanimous and that he considers it just the icing on the cake.
McGriff had achieved a 16-16 which is the first time ever in the history of the Contemporary Baseball Era Ballot. All the other men who stood for elections had never received a 75%; that would be 12 votes. The Contemporary Baseball Era ballot has witnessed the membership of great players since the 1980s.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame disclosed their results as :
◾ Fred McGriff: 100% – 16 votes
◾ Don Mattingly: 50% – 8 votes
◾ Curt Schilling: 43.8% – 7 votes
◾ Dale Murphy: 37.5% – 6 votes
◾ Albert Belle : < 4 votes
◾ Barry Bonds: < 4 votes
◾ Roger Clemens: < 4 votes
◾ Rafael Palmeiro : < 4 votes
The career of McGriff in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned a period of nineteen years, and he is a five-time holder of the All-Star and a three-time holder of the Silver Slugger. He has 493 home runs and a finishing of .284/.377/.509 slash line. He was also the captain of the National League in 1989 and in 1992.
McGriff is widely popular for his consistent game. According to Baseball Reference, he had never gone below 106 in OPS+ from 1987 to 2002. After the season he hit the slash line with a .303/.385/.532 in games of 50 playoffs.
McGriff was available on a zoom call meeting with the reporters after the results. He was at his home in Florida and he viewed the result as an honor. He said that he feels the whole night is beautiful, and that he feels that he is blessed for his life and he really considers it an honor to get inducted into the Hall of Fame.
He, in his career of nineteen years, has starred in six different clubs. The player has clubbed 493 homers and collected 2,493 hits. Mcgriff was the top player by ranking in the top 10 of the MVP ballot for six different seasons, This includes each of the seasons from 1989 to 1993.
McGriff was the prime player in the 1995 team of Braves who became the champions of the World Series. He hit a double homerun in the Fall Classic against Cleveland. He has 30 or above homers in the season of five various franchises, that includes, the San Diego Padres, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Atlanta Braves, and the Chicago Cubs.
The ballot of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America has never favored McGriff before, even in 2019, which was his final year of eligibility. He could not come above 10 appearances and be topped out by 39.8%, which is 69 votes.
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Rafael Palmeiro get denied again and have to wait another three years to be considered again for the voting process.
Schilling was denied in light of the derogatory tweets by transgender people, Islam, reporters, and others. Bonds and Clemens fell short relating to the performance-enhancing drug usage accusations. Their support for Schilling was also not welcomed.
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Mcgriff turned down a request to comment on Bonds and stated that he is focusing on enjoying his evening for the time being.
Jane Forbes Clark, the chairman of the Hall of Fame, chaired the committee. He possessed a non-voting capacity. The Hall of Fame members who were a part of the Contemporary Era Panel were: Greg Maddux, Ryne Sandberg, Jack Morris, Frank Thomas, Alan Tramell, and Lee Smith.
The major league executives were Paul Beeston, Derrick Hall, Theo Epstein, Kim Ng, Arte Moreno, Ken Willaims, and Dave St. Peter. It also included media members such as Susan Slusser, Steve Hirdt, and LaVelle Neal.
The upcoming ballot would be in 2025 for inclusion into the induction ceremonies of 2026.
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