The Hall of Fame voting and announcements are always more fun when a Chicago White Sox player is involved. It always is a time of year that creates debate in the baseball world as there are some very controversial candidates on the ballot. Unfortunately, no White Sox players are making much noise.
It would be awesome to see one of these dark horses get in but it isn’t likely. There is still a good chance that not a single player gets elected because the voters won’t vote for certain people because of their off-the-field issues.
There are a few completed ballots that are out there publically already. 45 ballots total are out there and only three of them are anonymous. That is 11.5 percent of all ballots out there so there is a long way to go before we know who is actually getting in.
As of right now, David Ortiz leads the way with 82.2 percent. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are right behind him at 77.8 percent each. Those are the only three that are getting in based on the first 45 ballots but as mentioned before, there is a lot more counting to do.
Right behind them is Scott Rolen who is just shy of the 75 percent needed at 73.3 percent. Everybody else is either ten percent short or more. Unfortunately, that includes every player on there that ever suited up for the White Sox.
The Chicago White Sox players on the Hall of Fame ballot are not doing very well.
Andruw Jones is at 53.3 percent and Sammy Sosa is currently at 17.8 percent which makes them the highest players that played for the White Sox even slightly. This is Sosa’s tenth year on the ballot so he is gone if he doesn’t make it. Jones will stay on the ballot as his percent will be high enough and he has five more years to go.
Unfortunately, the two White Sox players that made a significant impact on the organization are not doing very well. AJ Pierzynski has not recorded a single vote and Mark Buehrle is sitting at 4.4 percent. They are both in danger of coming short of the five percent needed to stay on the ballot. Hopefully, at least one of them (most likely Buehrle) is able to reach that plateau.
Even though these two are more than likely not going to be Hall of Fame players, they are two of the greatest White Sox players who ever lived. They were great in the regular season and were key pieces for the team that won the World Series in 2005. Both Buehrle and Pierzynski are Chicago legends forever.