David Ortiz voted into Baseball HOF 2022; Bonds, Clemens, Schilling snubbed
David Ortiz saved the Baseball Hall of Fame from another shutout.
The former Red Sox DH, who tormented the Yankees throughout his career, was the lone member of this year’s class to get the 75 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America needed in his first time on the ballot.
The longtime Yankees nemesis received 77.9 percent of the vote, announced Tuesday in Cooperstown.
But the results did not go well for Alex Rodriguez — also in his first year on the ballot — as he finished with 34.3 percent of the vote.
And they also ended the chances of three other controversial figures getting voted in by the writers. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling all failed to get in on their 10th and final years on the ballot.
Bonds went from 61.8 percent to 66 percent and Clemens from 61.6 to 65.2.
On Twitter, Clemens wrote he and his “family put the [Hall of Fame] in the rearview mirror 10 years ago. I didn’t play baseball to get into the HOF.”
He also said he played “the right way.”
Ortiz has denied ever using steroids, but he was linked to them — especially after he allegedly tested positive for an unspecified PED in 2003 during preliminary testing done by MLB. His name was in a report by the New York Times in 2009.
Asked about the situation on a Zoom call on Tuesday, Ortiz said, “You don’t know what [drug] anybody tested positive for. … I never failed a test [after MLB instituted drug testing in 2004]. What does that tell you?”
Rodriguez was suspended for his role in the Biogenesis scandal and is looking at a similar fate to Bonds and Clemens, something Rodriguez has acknowledged.
Rodriguez said two years ago he was rooting for Bonds and Clemens to get to Cooperstown.
“Of course I want them to get in, because that would mean that I have an opportunity to get in one day,” Rodriguez said on ESPN in 2019.
Schilling’s legacy has been impacted by hateful comments the pitcher has made about transgender people, Muslims and blacks. And he likely lost some support he may have already had last January when he supported the rioters who stormed the Capitol.
After that vote, Schilling wrote a letter to the Hall, requesting his name be removed from this year’s ballot because he didn’t want to be associated with Bonds and Clemens.
The Hall, though, did not grant his request. His tally dropped from 71.1 percent to 58.6 percent.
After Tuesday’s announcement, Schilling focused on his old teammate, writing on Twitter: “Every year the conversation revolves around who didn’t get in, like All-Star voting [and] who got cheated. I say it every year and especially this year, focus on who did get in. [Ortiz] deserved a first ballot induction. Congratulations my friend. You earned it.”
Others took steps closer toward election, with Scott Rolen going from 52.9 percent to 63.2 percent in his fifth year of eligibility.
Todd Helton and ex-Met Billy Wagner also finished above 50 percent, with 52 and 51 percent, respectively.
Ortiz spent the first six seasons of his career with the Twins before he joined the Red Sox in 2003 and led them to their first World Series title in 86 years the following season. The slugger hit 541 homers in his career and had a .947 OPS in the postseason and was particularly tough against the Yankees.
“It was fire to me,’’ Ortiz said on MLB Network of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. “Every time we played the Yankees, it was Goliath against David and we were David. We’ve got to bring the best to beat Goliath.”
He will be honored at a ceremony in Cooperstown in July, along with former Dodger first baseman and Mets manager Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso and Tony Oliva — all elected by the Golden Days Era committee which represents the period from 1950-69.
Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil will also be honored after getting in through the Early Baseball Era committee, which recognizes members of the game who made their mark prior to 1950.
