No one voted in
Craig Biggio comes up 39 votes short of the Hall of Fame: Why he's out for now
Craig Biggio will have to wait. The great Houston Astro is not a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer.
Biggio came up 39 votes short of the total he needed, collecting 68 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot in results just released. To be elected, a player needs 75 percent of the vote.
On a star-studded, ultra-controversial ballot that included names like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, Biggio ended up with the highest vote total. No one was elected for only the third time in the last five decades and only eighth time ever.
Astros fans may want to start planning for the 2014 ceremonies in Cooperstown.
The prior two times a ballot didn't see a single player voted in during the last 50 years, the leading vote getter that year was elected the following year. That — and Biggio's very strong 68 percent first-year tally — indicate his wait does not figure to be long at all.
In fact, Astros fans may want to start planning for the 2014 ceremonies in Cooperstown.
The Hall of Fame fates of Astro stalwart Jeff Bagwell and Clemens are far murkier.
Bagwell received 59.6 percent of the vote and more alarmingly for his induction chances, his vote percentage only increased by 3.6 percent from last year.
Clemens received only 37.6 percent of the vote despite his seven Cy Young Awards. Rusty Hardin may have helped Clemens get proven innocent in a court of law, but Hall of Famer voters clearly have little belief he competed clean.
Only 44 players have ever been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in their first time on the ballot and in the end, Biggio could not overcome that artificial barrier of tradition. Many older Hall of Fame voters, in particular, are very vocal about not voting for players on the first ballot.
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