NEW YORK (AP) — Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton appeared on track to gain entry to baseball’s Hall of Fame when results are announced Tuesday, while Billy Wagner was likely to be right around the needed 75% threshold and Gary Sheffield was projected to fall short.
Just 270 players are in the Hall, 1.3% of the approximately 20,500 who have appeared in the major leagues, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. There are another 40 executives/pioneers, 23 managers and 10 umpires enshrined, raising the membership total to 343.
“These votes are literally life-changing,” said The Athletic’s Jayson Stark, who has cast ballots for three decades. “I try never to forget that. That’s why it’s a huge responsibility.”
Big Hall or small? Baseball’s most divisive debate is whether a player warrants inclusion in Cooperstown.
Stark used all 10 of his available slots on this year’s Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy checked just two, for Beltré and Mauer.