Make it make sense! Toronto Blue Jays legend Carlos Delgado missed the cut for the Hall of Fame by just a few votes. He was eligible for Cooperstown by way of the Era's Committee and Delgado got nine total votes for 56.3% of the ballots, just three votes shy of induction. Another former Blue Jay, Jeff Kent, did get in receiving 87.5% of the vote.
On Dec. 3, 2007, longtime Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley earned the minimum amount of votes necessary for induction and was posthumously elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the veterans committee. The famed owner, who entered the Hall of Fame officially during an induction ceremony in 2008, oversaw the Dodgers organization from 1950 until his death in 1979 at the age of 75.
The BBWAA has officially revealed the ballot for potential induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2026 and the Atlanta Braves will have a trio of former players on the ballot this time around - though I'd imagine that all eyes will once again be on the one who has been on this ballot for nine times now instead of the two newcomers. Andruw Jones, Nick Markakis and Matt Kemp are the three former Braves players on the ballot this year.
Chances are, neither will likely reach the required 75 per cent this time around, either, due to their alleged past involvement with PEDs. Delgado, a two-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger, spent 12 seasons with the Blue Jays from 1993 to 2004 and remains the franchise's all-time leader in home runs (336), RBIs (1,058) and SLG (.556). He also ranks second in total games played (1,423) and third in fWAR (34.7).
Full disclosure, the editors of the book, Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis, sent me a review copy, but I've been trying to get it from the library, and we'll be honest, I'll buy this book because it's going to sit in my office as a resource. How? We'll see but I keep a dictionary of etymology and the Dickson Baseball Dictionary on the desk too. You just never know.