The National Baseball Hall of Fame will not induct any player as part of the Class of 2021; former Phillies starter Curt Schilling fell 16 votes shy.
Amid news on Tuesday that the Philadelphia Phillies re-signed star catcher J.T. Realmuto to a five-year deal — with the highest average annual value salary for the catcher position — history was also made as it relates to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
A player needs to receive at least 75 percent of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote for induction. As part of the voting results announced on Tuesday, no player reached that mark for the first time in nine years.
If Curt Schilling was elected, his request was to go into the Hall of Fame wearing a #Dbacks cap. His 2nd choice? The #Phillies. And as for the #RedSox? "What Mr. Henry and Mr. Werner did to my family and I in my final year has been forgiven but will never be forgotten.''
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 26, 2021
The top-three vote-getters were former Phillies starting pitcher Curt Schilling (71.1 percent), all-time home runs leader Barry Bonds (61.8), and seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens (61.6). Schilling fell just 16 votes shy of the three-quarter mark. Bonds and Clemens are expected to be on the BBWAA ballot for the 10th and final time next year.
Schilling could have joined them, however in a Tuesday evening letter to the Hall of Fame, he said that he will not participate in the 2022 voting. “I am requesting to be removed from the ballot,” Schilling said. “I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player.”
Former Phillies third baseman Scott Rolen received the fourth-most votes (52.9%). He will be on the ballot for the fifth time in 2022. Billy Wagner, former Phillies closer, received 46.4 percent in his sixth year on the ballot, an increase from 31.7 percent in 2019. In his second year, former Phils outfielder Bobby Abreu also saw an increase, from 5.5 percent to 8.7. First-timers A.J. Burnett and Shane Victorino failed to receive a percentage of the vote, and will not return on the ballot in 2022.
Due to Era Committee elections being postponed until next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no elections into the Hall of Fame in a year for the first time since 1960 — and just the seventh time overall since election began in 1936. It had been speculated that late Phillies great Dick Allen would have made the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021, had the Era Committee met virtually.
Members from the Hall of Fame Class of 2020 — Derek Jeter and Larry Walker (BBWAA), as well as Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller (Modern Baseball Era Committee) — will be inducted on July 25 due to ceremonies being postponed last summer due to the coronavirus.