As the MLB Winter Meetings get underway, one of the first orders of business was for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s contemporary era committee to reconsider the candidacies of players who were previously not inducted. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were once again snubbed while Fred McGriff got selected.
“Fred McGriff has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era committee,” he writes Jeff Passan of ESPN. “Among those who did not receive the necessary 12 votes from the 16-person committee: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Don Mattingly.”
In 19 years, McGriff made five All-Star Games, collected three Silver Slugger Awards, won the 1995 World Series with the Atlanta Braves and made an appearance on the MVP ballot eight times. His 493 home runs are tied with Lou Gehrig for 29th all-time and his career 134 OPS+ is in the ballpark of those of legends like Ken Griffey Jr., George Brett, Todd Helton, Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs.
Fred McGriff had a storied career. Now, the Crime Dog is off to the @baseballhall! pic.twitter.com/oAbytrL5NG
— MLB (@MLB) December 5, 2022
In order to be selected for the Hall by the contemporary era committee, a player had to receive 75 percent of the votes from the 16-person committee. McGriff was a unanimous selection while the next highest candidate, Don Mattingly, got eight votes, Curt Schilling got seven votes and Bonds and Clemens each got fewer than four, per Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com.
Fred McGriff will be inducted into the Hall of Fame — as will the BBWAA selections that will be announced in January — on July 23. Bonds and Clemens will continue to hope that they receive their official recognition as Hall of Famers eventually.
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