CLEVELAND — The door to Cooperstown remains closed for two Cleveland baseball icons, and the chances of it opening for them seem to be getting slimmer by the day.
Former Indians All-Stars Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel once again fell short of the 75% threshold for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. The final results show Ramirez earned 28.9% of the vote in his sixth year on the ballot, while Vizquel's totals cratered to a new low of 23.9% in his fifth go-round.
On numbers alone, the cases for both are clear: Ramirez hit .312 lifetime and is 15th on the all-time list with 555 home runs, and Vizquel tallied 2,877 career hits and won 11 Gold Gloves as the best defensive shortstop of his era. The pair played a combined 19 seasons with the Tribe and were part of the beloved 1990s teams that won two American League pennants.
But as is often the case in the real world, the whole story is much more complicated.
The debate over Ramirez has always been clouded by performance-enhancing drug use, whether it be suspicions or hard facts. The larger-than-life slugger allegedly tested positive during an anonymous survey in 2003 during his prime with the Boston Red Sox before twice being suspended for confirmed results in 2008 and 2011, respectively. While there have been no confirmed steroid allegations from his 1993-2000 tenure with the Indians, his subsequent track record has not given him the benefit of the doubt.
The Vizquel conundrum is quite different, as there hasn't been a whiff of PED stain surrounding the diminutive infielder. It appeared he was trending towards election after getting 52.6% of the vote just two years ago, but his reputation suffered its first blow only months later following allegations of domestic violence made by his then-wife.
Vizquel's totals dipped to 49.1% in 2021 before more disturbing accusations came to light, this time from an autistic bat boy who claimed Vizquel sexually harassed him while Vizquel was managing in the minor leagues. Following this latest report, Hall of Fame voters quickly jumped off the Vizquel bandwagon, pledging to withhold their support unless he is exonerated.
The only player elected from this year's slate of regular nominees was Ramirez's former Red Sox teammate David Ortiz (77.9%), who belted 541 homers and won three World Series championships in a 20-year career. Several fans and analysts have noted that Ortiz appeared on the same anonymous list as Ramirez of players who tested positive for PEDs in 2003, although those results have been called into question and Ortiz never tested positive again after Major League Baseball implemented its own testing policies two years afterward.
As they each earned at least 5% of the vote, both Ramirez and Vizquel will be back on the ballot next year. Unlike Vizquel, Ramirez's support is actually trending upward, with his 28.9% total being his highest since first entering the ballot in 2017.
