Cubs News: Sammy Sosa, Aramis Ramirez miss out on Hall of Fame

On Tuesday, the Baseball Writer’s Association of America BBWAA released the vote for this year’s Hall of Fame class and, in a move that should shock no one, voted not to elect anyone to the 2021 class.

For the Chicago Cubs, this means both Sammy Sosa and Aramis Ramirez both fell short in their bids for Cooperstown. Again, not a particularly surprising outcome given the mindset of the BBWAA, but frustrating nonetheless as a fan of baseball.

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We’ve gone over Sosa’s case before and the issue of PED usage is what always holds him back in the minds of most voters. Still, with steroid users Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens trending upward and gaining greater support, Sosa also saw an increase in support this time around, going from 13.9 to 17 percent since last year. The boost was negligible, but hey, it’s something.

It’s still hard to ignore the impact Sosa had on a generation of Cubs fans and on the sport in general. He recorded over 2,400 hits and 500 homeruns, won an NL MVP, took home six Silver Sluggers and put up three separate seasons with over 60 homers. He’s still an all-time great North Sider despite the evident sentiment of the voters.

Ramirez, on the other hand, was a likely one-and-done case anyways and only received four votes (1.0 percent). He joins other first-timers like Barry Zito, A.J. Burnett and Shane Victorino in falling off the ballot. While his candidacy is over, he still had an admirable career with over 2,000 hits and nearly 400 home runs.

The Cubs, and everyone else, will have to wait another year for inductees.

Sosa will probably never make the Hall due to his actions, but it’s a stretch to say nobody belonged in Cooperstown from this batch of candidates. Yes, Curt Schilling’s politics are detestable, but this is supposed to be a judgement of ability, not character. 79.5 WAR, a career ERA of 3.46, and over 3,000 strikeouts make him more than worthy of the Hall.

Bonds and Clemens are the faces of the Steroid Era, sure, but Bud Selig, the man who signed off on baseball’s steroid era, had no trouble getting a plaque. The two are also among the greatest to ever play the game and demonstrated their dominance well before steroid use came into play. At this point, they need to get in and writers are still kicking the can down the road after all this time.

Scott Rolen is another headscratcher. While not an all-time great with the bat in his hand, his incredible defense combined with consistently above-average offense, a Rookie of the Year award, eight All-Star appearances and a title under his belt in 2006 are certainly good evidence for Rolen’s inclusion, or at the very least more talks of it. There’s also players like Bobby Abreu, Andruw Jones and Billy Wagner who, at the very least, warranted more discussion and votes than they received.

Maybe in some distant future, the veteran’s committee will find a place in the Hall for Sosa, Bonds, Clemens and Schilling, assuming more voters mindsets don’t shift in the next few years. For now, the Cubs, and every other team, will keep waiting as writers continue to ignore some of baseball’s greats.