(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 David Ortiz elected into Major League Hall of Fame
Nederlands
 NEW YORK, New York (USA) -
David Ortiz has been elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
On Tuesday-evening (January 25), the results of this years election were announced by Josh Rawitch, the President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
As expected, Ortiz was elected in his first year of eligibility and got 77.9 percent of the votes.
There were 30 players on this years ballot, including 13 newcomers.
Since 2014, fourteen players have been elected into the Hall of Fame in their first eligible year.
...David Ortiz playing for the Dominican...
...Republic during the 2009 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
To be elected into the Hall of Fame, players need at least 75 percent of the votes that are cast by the members of the Base Ball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).
Players that receive less than five percent will be dropped from the ballot.
A player can be listed on a ballot for a maximum of ten years.
Thereafter, in following years, the different Veteran Committees could consider to make a player eligible again for their elections.
Last year, no players were elected in the annual election.
Last December, the Early Baseball Era Committees elected six players into the Hall of Fame, being
Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, Tony Oliva and Buck O'Neil.
From this group, Fowler, Hodges, Miñoso and O'Neil have passed away.
The new class will officially be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on July 24.
Andruw Jones was eligible for the fifth time.
The Curaçao-born outfielder played in 17 Major Leagues-seasons, twelve of them with Atlanta Braves.
In 1996, Jones made his Major League-debut and later that year, during the World Series, he became the youngest player to hit a homerun in the postseason and the second player ever to hit a homerun in his first two World Series-at bats.
In 2006 and 2013, Jones participated with the Netherlands Baseball Team in the World Baseball Classic.
Jones was first eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2018 and then received 7.3 percent of the votes.
Last year, he received 33.9 percent.
This time, Jones got more support, as he received 41.4 percent.
The 46-year old powerhitting Dominican-born David Ortiz retired after the 2016 season.
In 2008, Ortiz became a United States citizen, but he became the fourth Dominican-born player to be elected into the Hall of Fame.
In 20 Major League-seasons, 'Big Papi' played in 2,408 games and collected 2,472 basehits, including 632 doubles and 541 homeruns.
He batted in 1,768 runs and scored 1,419.
Ortiz is the all-time leader amongst designated hitters with 2,192 basehits, 485 homeruns and 1,569 runs batted in.
In his career, he was selected for ten All Star Games and won seven Silver Slugger Awards.
Three times, Ortiz led the American League in runs batted in.
While playing for Boston Red Sox, he won three World Series (2004, 2007, 2013).
The title won in 2004 was the first by Boston after 86 years.
In 2013, Ortiz was named Most Valuable Player of the World Series.
In 2006, he set a single-season Boston-record with 54 homeruns.
Ortiz was originally signed by Seattle Mariners in 1992 (a few days after he had turned 17), then was traded to Minnesota Twins in 1996.
The following year, he made his Major League-debut playing for Minnesota.
After the 2002 season, Ortiz was released by Minnesota after having played for the team in six seasons.
The reason for his release was for cost-cutting purposes.
Hereafter, in January 2003, Ortiz signed with Boston Red Sox and from that moment on, Ortiz became a more prominent and dominant player.
All his All Star-selections came while he played for Boston.
In the weeks leading up to the Hall of Fame-election, there also were some reservations against Ortiz, as he mostly was a designated hitter in his long and impressive career.
He played at first base in 278 games, the most of them in 1997 through 2004.
From the 2005 season on (through 2016), Ortiz played at first base in only 67 games.
In 2,029 of his games, Ortiz was the designated hitter, but that's an official position in baseball since the seventies.
Some voters state that only players who play both defensively and offensively deserve to be elected.
Edgar Martinez, who played his entire 18-year career with Seattle Mariners and mostly was a designated hitter, was elected in his tenth and final year in 2019.
In 2009, David Ortiz participated with the National Team of the Dominican Republic in the second edition of the World Baseball Classic.
However, in the First Round in Puerto Rico, the star-studded Dominican squad was eliminated by the Netherlands.
In the first game, the Orange Team won 3-2.
Later, in the elimination game, the Netherlands won again, this time 2-1 in eleven innings.
With that, the Dominican Republic was eliminated, while the Netherlands advanced to the Second Round.
Also for the first time on the ballot was Alex Rodriguez.
He got 34.3 percent of the votes.
Eleven players on this years ballot got less than five percent and will be dropped fro the list.
This was the tenth and final time that pitchers Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling and outfielders Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa were on the ballot.
A year ago, Schilling came closest to being elected, getting 71.1 percent of the votes.
Bonds then got 61.8 percent, Clemens 61.6 percent and Sosa only 17 percent.
This year, the percentages for Bonds and Clemens again climbed, but they ended up short for the tenth time.
Bonds got 66 percent, Clemens got 65.2 percent.
Sosa also climbed somewhat, but got only 18.5 percent this time.
The percentage for Schilling dropped, as he got 58.6 in his final year.
Last year, Schilling criticized the voting procedure and asked to removed from the ballot, which was not granted.
Despite their impressive career-statistics, Clemens, Bonds and Sosa have also been connected to performance enhancing drugs.
That cost them votes, as they ended up short in all ten years they were on the ballot.
Through the years, no players that had been connected to PEDs have been elected.
(January 25)
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