Fred McGriff Elected to HOF by Contemporary Era Committee

Fred McGriff has been elected to the Hall of Fame by the 16-member Contemporary Baseball Era committee that featured a very strong Cubs flavor. McGriff, who retired after the 2004 season with 493 home runs, was a unanimous selection and was the only one of eight former players to have received enough votes for induction. Don Mattingly fell four votes short with eight, Curt Schilling received seven votes, Dale Murphy got six, and the rest of the candidates got less than four.

While McGriff was a unanimous choice with 16 votes, Mattingly was next with 8 votes. A player needed 12 votes for election. Schilling received 7 votes, Murphy 6 and Bonds, Clemens, Belle and Palmeiro received less than 4.

— JackCurryYES (@JackCurryYES) December 5, 2022

I’m a little surprised by the tallies here, as I figured most of them would have been higher. Albert Belle seemed like an odd selection for this ballot, especially since Mark McGwire wasn’t included, so his lack of votes is understandable.

Good on the committee for getting McGriff in there after the standard process somehow failed him previously. It’s wild that the difference between getting in via the BBWAA and this panel vote was probably as little as seven home runs over a nearly 20-year career. Perhaps he’d have gotten in earlier if Tom Emanski had a vote.