2015 BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot Revealed: Full List of Candidates and Reaction
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, is one of the most important Hall of Fame exhibits in all of sports, and the Baseball Writers' Association of America revealed the ballot featuring the 2015 nominees on Monday.
According to the official website of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the following 34 names (17 first-year candidates and 17 returning candidates) have been nominated for induction in 2015:
| 1 | Randy Johnson | Craig Biggio (74.8) |
| 2 | Pedro Martinez | Mike Piazza (62.2) |
| 3 | John Smoltz | Jeff Bagwell (54.3) |
| 4 | Carlos Delgado | Tim Raines (46.1) |
| 5 | Gary Sheffield | Roger Clemens (35.4) |
| 6 | Nomar Garciaparra | Barry Bonds (34.7) |
| 7 | Troy Percival | Lee Smith (29.9) |
| 8 | Rich Aurilia | Curt Schilling (29.2) |
| 9 | Aaron Boone | Edgar Martinez (25.2) |
| 10 | Tony Clark | Alan Trammell (20.8) |
| 11 | Jermaine Dye | Mike Mussina (20.3) |
| 12 | Darin Erstad | Jeff Kent (15.2) |
| 13 | Cliff Floyd | Fred McGriff (11.7) |
| 14 | Brian Giles | Mark McGwire (11.0) |
| 15 | Tom Gordon | Larry Walker (10.2) |
| 16 | Eddie Guardado | Don Mattingly (8.2) |
| 17 | Jason Schmidt | Sammy Sosa (7.2) |
The ballot's first-year candidates are headlined by left-hander Randy Johnson, who pitched 22 seasons in MLB and totaled 4,875 career strikeouts, which ranks second all time. A 10-time All-Star, Johnson earned five Cy Young Awards and was the World Series MVP in 2001.
Keith Law of ESPN weighed in on the field and who he would send to Cooperstown:
There is no set number of inductees to the Hall of Fame each year, but last year featured three stars—Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas—for only the eighth time in the 70-year history of the process, according to the official website.
The voting results will be announced Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. ET. With so many elite first-year eligible players on the ballot this year and several returning stars looking to make the Hall of Fame, this year’s class could be one of the biggest in history.
Barry Bonds shared his thoughts on the process and his belief in making the Hall of Fame, via Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com:
"I love Major League Baseball. I always have and I loved playing the game. I don't have any doubts that I'll get there in time. I'm bothered about it, but I don't sit here going, 'I'm not going to make it.' I don't see how it stays the way it's going. In my mind, in my head, I'm a lot more positive about it than I am negative. I think eventually they'll do the right thing.
"
Last year, former Houston Astros infielder Craig Biggio was just two votes away from reaching the Hall of Fame, but there is a good chance he makes it this year after coming so close in 2014.
Despite the stacked 2015 class of candidates, only once in history have voters elected five entrants into the Hall of Fame (1936). Four men were elected to the Hall of Fame only twice in history (1947 and 1955), but this year’s class has the talent and depth to potentially buck those trends.
*All information via BaseballHall.org.
