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Zero New Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Only Nine Times in History Have We Had No New Members

January 26, 2021

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The Baseball Hall of Fame voting results are in and for just the ninth time since 1936, NO new members are being voted into the baseball's hallowed grounds. See which player came the closest in the just-released votes.

The results of the 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame voting are in, and for the first time since 2013 and just the ninth time since the Hall opened - ZERO new members have been elected.

This blog is sponsored by JUST COLLECT where we specialize in buying vintage cards, autographs, and collections. We LOVE Hall of Fame rookies and autographs! THESE cards are on our BUY LIST if you're interested in selling.

Don't forget about our big EVENT! Win one of 30 prizes including cards and autographs from Hall of Famers like a T-206 Cy Young and a Mickey Mantle signed ball. Details HERE.

Curt Schilling

Schilling was the closest to enshrinement today, coming just 16 votes short. To be elected, a person must garner 75 % of the votes, and Schilling tallied 71.1 %.

Career stats seem to deem Schilling worthy of the Hall, especially his post-season play:

3 World Series championships (2001, 2004, and 2007)
2001 World Series MVP
1993 NLCS MVP
6 x All-Star
League Leader in Wins 2001 and 2004
League Leader in Strikeouts in 1997 and 1998
3,116 Strikeouts (15th place all-time)

The issue with Schilling has been his off-field, post-playing days antics that you can read about here. Part of the voting rules by the HOF take a person's character and integrity into account. Whether you agree or not, it appears that voters of the Hall of Fame do not take kindly to Schilling's off-field comments.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens

A few faces of the PED-era of baseball miss out on the Hall of Fame again this year.

Barry Bonds = 61.8 %
Roger Clemens = 61.6 %

As you just read in the voting rules, a player is allowed to be on the ballot for just 10 years. Bonds and Clemens failed to receive 75 % of the votes in now their 9th year of eligibility. While both players have had their respective vote totals increase from under 40 % to above 60 %, the well-documented, cloud of suspicion of performance enhancing drugs continue to keep both players from the Hall.

Best of the Rest

Only one other player picked up more than 50 % of the votes and that is Scott Rolen at 52.9%. Rolen has solid numbers that include over 300 home runs, a 8 gold gloves, 7 All-Star games, and a World Series ring. Not sure that Rolen's career numbers warrant a spot in the Hall of Fame, but 52.9 % of voters disagree with me...

Three other members of the 500-home run club received votes and all below 50 % - Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield, and Manny Ramirez. Like Bonds and Clemens, each player has been linked to steroids and voters turned in ballots with PED use in mind.

If you'd like to see the ENTIRE list, including my guy Nick Swisher's tally, check out the MLB story here.

Our Favorite Hall of Fame Story: You Can Hold The Artifacts!

While we love to share stories about collections we purchase or sell, our favorite story about the Hall of Fame comes from a recent trip! Just a few weeks ago, my wife was able to not just pick up - but WEAR Derek Jeter's game-used batting gloves from the day Jeter became the Yankees all-time hits leader. YOU can hold items at the Hall of Fame, too! Check out HOW here:

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