Red Sox: David Ortiz highlights expected additions to 2022 Hall of Fame ballot

Hall of Fame ballot holdovers with Red Sox ties

Curt Schilling came the closest to induction this year, falling 16 votes short with 71.1% of the votes. The controversial Schilling then threw a temper tantrum, demanding that his name be removed from the ballot next year in what would have been his last chance. Apparently he doesn’t want to give BBWAA writers the satisfaction of leaving him off their ballots so he’ll leave his fate up to the veterans committee to punch his ticket to Cooperstown.

Former Red Sox ace Roger Clemens inched closer to induction by moving up from 61.0% to 61.6% this year but he’s still well short. 2022 will be his last year of eligibility so we’ll see if the voters truly intend to keep one of the greatest pitchers of all time out of the Hall of Fame or if they simply wanted to make The Rocket sweat it out for a full decade.

Manny Ramirez held steady at 28.2%, same as last year. It was only Manny’s fifth year on the ballot so he still has time to make progress but it’s clear that voters hold his two drug suspensions against him more than other suspected PED users.

The ballot is going to get a bit crowded next year with several big names joining the list. That will make it more difficult for these former Red Sox players to make progress but fans will have plenty of options to pull for when ballots are counted at this time next year.