Jayson Stark just took Edgar Martinez off his 2013 Hall of Fame ballot. The frustrating news comes from Stark himself, who stated on Monday (Jan. 7) that he had to make room for Sammy Sosa. That's not going to be good news to Seattle Mariners fans who consider Martinez to be one of the most gifted hitters the game has ever seen.
To his credit, Stark made a move that most voters for the Hall of Fame don't do, revealing his entire ballot and reasoning to the public. It would be nice if every voter could be held accountable in that fashion, but there are simply not enough of them who want to deal with the public outrage that can come from the personal votes.
The 10 players that Stark voted for this year are Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Jack Morris, and Dale Murphy. After voting for Martinez last year, Stark stated that he had to make room for a number of the players who succeeded even more during the steroid period of baseball.
It's tough for any Seattle Mariners fan to see that the Hall of Fame votes for Edgar Martinez might start to dwindle with all of these new names on the ballot. That doesn't even include Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, and Larry Walker. Those are three other players who might get a lot of support from other voters as they come up on the vote.
Time is starting to run out for Martinez to get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and one of the best right-handed hitters still continues to get punished because he excelled so well at the designated hitter role. Losing Stark's vote isn't the end of the world, but it points to how many voters are ready to reward the gaudy numbers that performance-enhancing drugs helped some players achieve.
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