V's...Pct….Player (yrs on ballot)
388 68.2 Craig Biggio (1)
385 67.7 Jack Morris (14)
339 59.6 Jeff Bagwell (3)
329 57.8 Mike Piazza (1)
297 52.2 Tim Raines (6)
272 47.8 Lee Smith (11)
221 38.8 Curt Schilling (1)
214 37.6 Roger Clemens (1)
206 36.2 Barry Bonds (1)
204 35.9 Edgar Martinez (4)
191 33.6 Alan Trammell (12)
123 21.6 Larry Walker (3)
118 20.7 Fred McGriff (4)
106 18.6 Dale Murphy (15) (eliminated)
..96 16.9 Mark McGwire (7)
..75 13.2 Don Mattingly (13)
..71 12.5 Sammy Sosa (1)
..50 ..8.8 Rafael Palmeiro (3)
..19 ..3.3 Bernie Williams (2) (eliminated)
..18 ..3.2 Kenny Lofton (1) (eliminated)
..16 ..2.8 Sandy Alomar Jr. (1) (eliminated)
....6 ..1.1 Julio Franco (1) (eliminated)
....5 ..0.9 David Wells (1) (eliminated)
....4 ..0.7 Steve Finley (1) (eliminated)
....2 ..0.4 Shawn Green (1) (eliminated)
....1 ..0.2 Aaron Sele (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Jeff Cirillo (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Royce Clayton (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Jeff Conine (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Roberto Hernandez (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Ryan Klesko (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Jose Mesa (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Reggie Sanders (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Mike Stanton (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Todd Walker (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Rondell White (1) (eliminated)
....0 ..0.0 Woody Williams (1) (eliminated)

Anyone who failed to receive at least 29 votes or had appeared on ballots for 15 years (Dale Murphy) will no longer be considered for the Hall of Fame by the voters. This doesn't mean they can't be elected at some future date by the Veterans Committee, but, don't count on that one.

In 2013, no one was elected by the voters. But, you already knew that.

Bernie Williams, contrary to the clamoring of a lot of east coast writers, was eliminated, I guess tagging along on the coattails of greater players all those years didn't really help him. Just getting to all those playoffs and World Series without being "the guy" didn't carry enough weight this time. Never really a "feared hitter", Bernie did shine in post season play and he was productive in a lineup that was usually stacked with high paid run producers (either by driving them in or by scoring them). But, he wasn't a "cog". So, a really good player won't be recognized as an immortal player.

Dale Murphy - for a time a greatly feared hitter and an intelligent and skilled defensive player, met the end of his candidacy for a different reason - he couldn't garner the necessary votes in the 15 year window allotted him. Commentators have speculated that his peak of greatness wasn't high enough and his span of years of being great (although consistent and reliable over that span of years) wasn't long enough for him to be worthy. The fact his team won only one World Series Championship probably didn't help him, either.

Jack Morris has one more year to gather the 12 or so votes he will need for inclusion. Since it's his last year, some of those who have pooh-poohed him without really discrediting him could toss him a bone or two - but, will it be enough to get him to that magical 75%? His will be the interesting story of 2014. And, that story will be complicated by a few factors:

........1) A lot of those "take a stand" voters who did not vote for "steroid era"
....................players as a matter of principle will have taken their stand and will
....................cast votes for their faves next year. This could leave Jack with too
....................few ballots upon which he can rely.

........2) Next year's ballot will include the likes of Greg Maddux & Tom Glavine
....................(both of whom were buddies with Dale Murphy in Atlanta) as well
....................as Mike "Moose" Mussina, Frank "Big Hurt" Thomas, Jeff Kent and
....................Louis Gonzalez which, coupled with the returning stars, will create
....................an extremely crowded list of candidates to fit into those 10 spaces.

........3) That unsightly 3.90 ERA is looked at with disdain by most writers while
....................a few of those will choose to look at the "context" his "pitching to
....................the score" with which he is often cited. If the game were tougher,
....................Jack was better. But, that inconsistency just might bite him in his
....................mule by the time all is said and done.

Don Mattingly has next year and the next to plead his case. But, his tally still hovers below 20% so it doesn't appear he has much of a chance. He does have a lot of east coast bias billowing the blankets for him, but the fact he (1) never made the playoffs as the de facto leader of his team and (2) really doesn't have Hall of Fame-worthy numbers dulls his chances considerably.

Alan Trammell has another year after Don and Lee Smith a year after that. Frankly, I'm stumped why neither is already in. Had Trammell played on the east coast instead of Detroit all those years, he'd have probably been in on the first ballot. And, Lee Smith was the "monster nobody wanted to face" at the end of the game. How does that not rate? If this is a Hall of FAME, Lee had a pretty good argument that he was FAMOUS.

Steroids Poster Boys, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds ended up 8th and 9th in the balloting when their numbers SCREAMED First Ballot Entrant. But, statements have been made and, since those statements HAVE been made, I'd be surprised if Clemens, at least, isn't inducted next year. Bonds? I'm not sure how many writers kept him off their ballots just because he was an ass and they wouldn't have voted for him, anyway. But, I expect he should get in next year, too - though, not by nearly the vote Clemens will get.

I'm not sure why Sammy Sosa isn't getting the love. Maybe that corked bat did it for him. I dunno. But, his numbers would certain warrant his inclusion. It's not likely we'll ever see a 5-year span like his 1998 thru 1992 again. During that span, Sosa hit 292 home runs.

Ditto Tim Raines; although, I do have an idea the fact he played almost his entire career in Canada doesn't tweak the east coast bias any and leaves him without enough pub amongst the rest of the "continental" writers. But, I can't see how his numbers haven't already picked the lock to the door and gotten him admittance. He did play 3 years for the Yankees, but they were not very successful (age and injury) late in his career so any boost he got from the ECB (east coast bias) turned out to be negative.

Houston's "Killer Bs" both wandered to the top of the list (sandwiching Black Jack Morris) with Craig needing only 39 more and Bags 88 more votes to have made it. I look for Biggio to, possibly, inch up a bit next year (don't know if it'll be enough to get in) and Bagwell to lose some ground due to the incoming class and the wrist slap having now been administered to the current freshman class shuffling those players upwards in 2014.

I still think Mark McGwire should be admitted. Granted, his career ran from 1986 to 2001 and rules prohibiting these substances were incorporated in 1991, but their use was tacitly promoted by everyone associated with the game (including writers, the Leagues and the Teams) as they gave their "game" video-game-like numbers and thrilled the nations of fans who followed their sport. Testing and penalties didn't occur until 2001 - McGwire's last year. And, we all know, if there are no penalties, there is no wrong.

Personally, I hope Raffy Palmeiro makes it into the Hall. Yeah, he tested positive and yeah, he wagged his finger at Congress, but, screw Congress. I'd vote him in just for doing THAT. I can't believe PEDs would make you the hitting MACHINE that Raffy was. Power? Yeah. Pure hitting? I don't see that. 3,000 hits still warrants inclusion even if the video game 600+ home runs might not. He was still among the most feared hitters of his era and he was FAMOUS (see root: FAME (as in Hall of...)) both defensively and offensively. How many guys do you know who won a Gold Glove in a season they only played 32 games at the position? C'Mon!

Maybe, after a few years and all this hubbub dies down, he and Mac, along with Piazza, Schilling and Ed-Gar (the greatest DH of all time) will all be admitted.

They just gotta bide their time.

Urgh. How do you edit this thing? Sosa's run was thru 2002, not 1992 and Morris needed 42, not 12 votes to have made it this year.