Mike Piazza Got 62% of Hall of Fame Vote
Mike Piazza got 62% of the Hall of Fame vote, up from 57% in his first year of eligibility. Still though, these voters are a disgrace.
I have said it before and I will say it again — there is absolutely no concrete evidence that Piazza took PEDs. Yet many of these voters have made up their minds based on hearsay and back acne and are denying Mike Piazza his rightful place in Cooperstown.
Piazza has a rough rode ahead. Next year Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and John Smoltz make their first appearances on the ballot. Martinez and Johnson are slam dunks (although anything could happen nowadays), and Smoltz will receive strong support. Add Craig Biggio, who missed by just two votes this year, and Piazza might fall victim to a numbers game.
But really, these voters are clueless. Jeff Bagwell, another player with no PED evidence against him, actually saw his vote total drop from 59% last year to 54% this time around.
Writers darlings Jack Morris and Tim Raines saw their vote totals fall to 61% and 46%, respectively. Morris was in his final year of eligibility.
The voters seem to be cracking down on players with real PED evidence against them. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds held steady at around 35%, but Mark McGwire is down to 11% after hovering around 25% of the vote in most of his previous seven years on the ballot. Sammy Sosa dropped to 7% after getting 12% last year. And Rafael Palmeiro is done, failing to get 5% and is off the ballot forever.
The Hall of Fame has to set guidelines for PED players. Or the BBWAA has to take away votes from some nonsensical writers. Either way, these injustices must be addressed.
Perhaps we’ll get a year with five inductees…