Another year of voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame sees no Phillies receiving the sports’ most prestigious honor. All of that could change very soon.
The late 1990’s saw the last wave of Phillies go into the Hall of Fame with Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Richie Ashburn, and Jim Bunning inducted within a three-year span.
Since then the only two players with the Phillies etched in bronze on their plaques have been Ryne Sandberg and Pedro Martinez, who played in a combined 22 games in Philadelphia.
Outside of Harry Kalas and Pat Gillick, those are the Phillies most recent inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Next year’s ballot for the Hall of Fame features five new players with ties to the Phillies: Scott Rolen, Jim Thome, Brad Lidge, Kevin Millwood, and Jamie Moyer.
The later three are highly unlikely to receive the necessary votes see their name on a second ballot, let alone be inducted. Rolen and Thome, however, have legitimate, if not sure-fire, chances of making it to Cooperstown.
Returning names that intrigue Phillies fans are Curt Schilling and Billy Wagner, although they’re certainly not beloved by Philadelphia.
Thome is the virtual first-ballot guarantee with 612 home runs, good for seventh-most in baseball history. There’s little chance Thome ever falls out of the top-10 with only Albert Pujols activity nipping at his heels. Justin Upton and Giancarlo Stanton are the only active members of the 200 home run club under the age of 30, and neither are on pace to surpass Thome.
Rolen, on the other hand, will have more debate surrounding his candidacy. His 316 career home runs are more than Ivan Rodriguez or Chuck Klein, though the eight Gold Gloves hardly rival Rodriguez’s 13.
After Thome and Rolen on the 2018 ballot come two members of the Four Aces; Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt. Juan Pierre and Michael Young also had their cups of tea in Philly, and have legitimate cases for the Hall.
Finally, 2020 brings Bobby Abreu and Cliff Lee, and 2021 has the infamous A.J. Burnett.
Legitimately, there are likely three Hall of Famers that are going to come out of this group: Thome, Halladay, and a sneaky induction for Pierre and his 614 stolen bases some day.
Rolen, Lee, Oswalt, and Abreu could each have their days in Cooperstown, but the likely ones are the aforementioned three.
Thome is likely to go as an Indian, while Halladay probably won’t chose between the Phillies and Blue Jays.
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After that, we’ll see Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard state their cases. Personally, I believe Rollins has the best chance thanks to his 2,455 hits. The other guys have strong cases but may need to wait longer.