Chicago White Sox: Mark Buehrle stays on Hall of Fame ballot
Chicago White Sox fans know exactly how good Mark Buehrle was in his Major League Baseball career. He is a legendary Chicago athlete that might have not gotten the shine that he deserved from the national media. Well, he was on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in his life this winter. Yesterday, they announced that not a single person on the ballot made it into the Hall of Fame.
The closest person on the ballot was Curt Schilling who absolutely does not deserve to make it. Barry Bonds, who was the second-highest vote-getter, does deserve to make it because he is the all-time leading home run king and you can’t tell the story of Major League Baseball without him. People who had Hall of Fame numbers because of PEDs don’t deserve to make it but Bonds would have made it before PEDs.
Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox will remain on the ballot next year.
Going back to the White Sox, Buehrle was amazing. He had a remarkable career and most of it came on the South Side of Chicago. He went 214-160 in 518 games (493 starts). He had an ERA of 3.81 and a WHIP of 1.281. He added 1870 strikeouts to go with it and that earned him a career WAR of 59.1.
In addition to the numbers, there are some career achievements to talk about as well. We all remember the time that Mark Buehrle was the ace of a World Series-winning pitching staff when the White Sox won it all in 2005. He was pivitol to one of the greatest moments in team history on those great October nights. He also threw two no-hitters and one of them was a perfect game. Nobody can understate how important he was during his career.
He obviously didn’t make the Hall of Fame but he did receive 44 votes which were good for 11 percent. That is above the necessary percent needed to stay on the ballot. It isn’t bad for an underrated player on his first ballot. He isn’t going to make it next year either but nobody should be expecting him to. It would, however, be really cool to see him get a jump in votes.
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He might not deserve to make it in the eyes of the national media as a whole but he will always be a legendary White Sox alumni. His number is retired by the White Sox and we get to remember him as one of our own forever. There is nobody to congratulate on making it this year so we will say congrats to Buehrle on always representing Chicago so well.