Raines and Walker fall short in Hall of Fame voting
By Editorial Staff
Tim Raines in just his 4th year of eligibility was named on 37.5% of the 2011 ballots falling well short of the 75% needed to make the Hall of Fame.
If anything positive is to be taken for Raines from this years ballot is the fact that he did see a slight raise in the number of ballots he was named on having only been named on 30.4% of the ballots in 2010. So from 2009 to now he has went from 22.6% to 37.5% and could very well see another raise in vote percentage come 2012.
Next years ballot outside of Bernie Williams is pretty weak which could be good for this years holdovers. I don’t see Raines getting in next year but his vote total may creep above the 40% mark next year.
Larry Walker on the other hand is in just his first year of eligibility and received votes on only 20.3% of the ballots. For him that is not too great of a start but with a wave of confirmed and suspected steroid users soon to hit the ballots his vote totals could go up.
2012 ballot- a very weak year for first time eligible players
2013 ballot- brings about guys like Bonds, Sosa and Clemens
So I am thinking those two years will be good for guys like Raines and Walker as far as their chances of receiving more votes go. After those two years though the next couple of ballots will have some great first time eligible players so Raines and Walkers chances wont raise that much during those years.
So for now Raines and Walker as well as their fans will continue to have to wait and hope that one day the hall will come calling.
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