Ryne Sandberg’s wait for the Hall of Fame may be much longer than anticipated after the former Cubs second baseman fell 128 votes shy of induction in this year’s election.
Sandberg finished a distant sixth in his first year on the ballot, while slugger Eddie Murray became the 38th player selected in his first year and catcher Gary Carter made it on his sixth attempt.
Sandberg, who won nine straight Gold Gloves and leads all second basemen with 277 career home runs, could have a long, hard climb ahead of him if he hopes to convince voters he’s worthy of induction. His brief retirement in 1994-95 and the fact he never played in a World Series may have hurt his total.
He declined to hazard a guess as to why he gathered only about half of all the votes cast by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
“That’d be all speculation,” Sandberg said. “I have no idea. I think I played my career the way I had to play my career. I had no regrets about any part of it. That’s just the way it went. I can’t speak for anybody or know what anyone was thinking.”
Many electors refuse on principle to vote for players in their first year of eligibility, but Sandberg’s relatively low vote total was still somewhat surprising. Jackie Robinson, Joe Morgan and Rod Carew are the only second basemen to have been selected to the Hall in their first year of eligibility.
Andre Dawson, Sandberg’s former teammate, did not try to hide his disappointment over his fifth-place showing in his second year on the ballot.The criteria for outfielders gaining entrance appears to have changed, and unless one hits more than 500 career home runs (Dawson had 438) or has played in a World Series or two (like Kirby Puckett), the path to the Hall is more difficult than it once was.
“You hear a lot of reasons why you probably aren’t really a Hall of Fame [caliber] player,” Dawson said. “Those things sort of open your eyes a little bit to the fact that [you ask yourself], ‘What are these people watching?’ “
The induction of Carter came slowly. He missed by 155 votes in his first year and lost ground the next year when he finished 205 votes short. But over the next four years, voters slowly embraced him.
Hall of a lineup
Players with 75 percent of the vote are elected. Players with less than five percent are dropped.
THEY’RE IN
Eddie Murray, 423 votes, 85.3 pct.
Gary Carter, 387 votes, 78.0 pct.
BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR
Player Votes Pct.
Bruce Sutter 266 53.6
Jim Rice 259 52.2
Andre Dawson 248 50.0
Ryne Sandberg 244 49.2
Lee Smith 210 42.3
Rich Gossage 209 42.1
Bert Blyleven 145 29.2
Steve Garvey 138 27.8
Jim Kaat 130 26.2
Tommy John 116 23.4
Jack Morris 113 22.8
Alan Trammell 70 14.1
Don Mattingly 68 13.7
Dale Murphy 58 11.7
Dave Concepcion 55 11.1
Dave Parker 51 10.3
F. Valenzuela 31 6.3
Keith Hernandez 30 6.0
NO LONGER ELIGIBLE
Player Votes Pct.
Darryl Kile 7 1.4
Vince Coleman 3 0.6
Brett Butler 2 0.4
Sid Fernandez 2 0.4
Rick Honeycutt 2 0.4
Tony Pena 2 0.4
Darren Daulton 1 0.2
Mark Davis 1 0.2
Danny Tartabull 1 0.2
Danny Jackson 0 0.0
Mickey Tettleton 0 0.0
Mitch Williams 0 0.0
Todd Worrell 0 0.0
