COOPERSTOWN — Time flies for Hall of Fame candidates, especially those linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Now, it’s going to go even faster.
On Saturday the Baseball Hall of Fame’s board of directors announced a change in the length of time candidates remain on the ballot. Instead of 15 years, it is now only 10. Then, those candidates will be passed along to the Era Committee system.
That means Mark McGwire has two years left on the ballot while Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have eight years remaining to be voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America members.
“The Hall of Fame is all about relevance,’’ Hall president Jeff Idelson said. “In a study of Hall of Fame voting over its history, it’s become clearly evident — especially over the last 30 years or so — that after 10 years, the likelihood of election is incredibly minimal. So the idea of making it more relevant was more attractive to the board.’’
Just three players in the last 30 years have made the Hall of Fame after being on the ballot longer than 10 years: Bert Blyleven, Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter. Don Mattingly, Lee Smith and Alan Trammell, who have been on the ballot for more than 10 years, will be grandfathered in the 15 years of eligibility.
McGwire’s former manager Tony La Russa has endorsed McGwire’s Hall candidacy, saying on Saturday, “I definitely think he is a Hall of Famer, 95 percent of Mark McGwire was legit.’’
Earlier in the week, La Russa advocated putting PED users with big numbers in the Hall of Fame with an asterisk.
In addition to the rule change, BBWAA members will now have to register to vote and in doing so must sign a code of conduct in the wake of the Dan Le Batard giving his vote to Deadspin. Although the voters’ names will be made public now, the individual ballots will not be disclosed unless BBWAA members choose to disclose the vote.