In a world of bad news, Chicago White Sox fans were delivered a little bit of good news on Tuesday evening. Mark Buehrle didn't get elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame but he did receive enough votes to stay on the ballot for another year which is outstanding news.
Buehrle received 42 votes. He received 44 in his first year and 23 last year. Now, he will be on the ballot for the fourth time next season which is well deserved. He was one of the best and most consistent pitchers in the league during his entire career.
Of course, the highlight of Buehrle's career came in 2005 when he was the ace of a World Series-winning White Sox staff that had some amazing pitchers on it. He even proved that he can come out of the bullpen and be effective when needed in the World Series. He is a legend in town.
He may or may not ever get in but he is deserving of consideration. People in Chicago know just how effective he was in his prime. Most of the batters he was facing were at an advantage for a variety of reasons as well and he still dominated.
Mark Buehrle is one of the greatest Chicago White Sox pitchers ever.
Buehrle didn't own batters by striking them out every time. He pitched to contact as effectively as anyone in the history of the league. That allowed him to have a long healthy career too which is why he was so good for so long.
Is he going to continue increasing his numbers with each passing year? It would be nice to see as he is, as mentioned before, one of the best pitchers of his time.
Scott Rolen was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the only person elected. He made it with 76.3 percent. The next closest to the 75 percent needed was Todd Helton at 72.2 percent.
Obviously, someone like Buehrle has a large mountain to climb to reach the number of votes needed to be in but at least he has the five percent needed to stay on the ballot.