Former Padre Fred McGriff elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame

Dec 5, 2022 - 1:48 AM

The Major League Baseball Winter Meetings got started tonight and the first major event was the election of Fred McGriff to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. McGriff didn’t get in with the BBWAA writers but all 16 members of the Contemporary Era committee voted in favor of the five-time All-Star tonight. All he needed was 12 votes (75%) to be elected.

In a 19-year big league career, McGriff finished just seven home runs short of 500 and drove in 1550 runs. While in San Diego (1991-93), “The Crime Dog” had a .906 OPS with 84 home runs.

McGriff will join whoever is elected through the writers ballot on January 24, 2023 in Cooperstown. The induction ceremony will take place July 23, 2023.

The other six candidates on this year’s Contemporary Era committee ballot were Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Don Mattingly. They obviously did not receive enough votes to get in.

Schilling had the best case out of those six if you’re someone who didn’t want any steroid users getting in and were only looking at his play on the field. He won three World Series titles, was a six-time All-Star and allowed more than two runs in a postseason game just three times in 19 games.