CLEVELAND — The path to Cooperstown looks increasingly narrow for two former Cleveland Indians fan-favorites once seemed destined for its hallowed halls.
Yet again, ex-Tribe stars Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel have fallen short of election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with each failing to receive the required 75% of votes from eligible sportswriters. In fact, both men were not only far from that mark, but also received less support than they did in 2023.
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Ramirez clocked in at 32.5%, down slightly from the 33.2% he received a year ago. While his 12 All-Star appearances and 555 home runs (236 of them with Cleveland) would ordinarily make him a shoe-in, his candidacy has failed to gain traction thanks to a pair of confirmed positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs during his career.
Despite this, the Guardians selected Ramirez for their team hall of fame this past summer, marking the first time he had returned to Progressive Field since retirement.
Meanwhile, Vizquel's mark of 17.7% was a decline from the still-meager 19.5% he managed in 2023. A nine-time Gold Glove winner at shortstop and beloved member of the 1990s Indians teams, he initially appeared to be tracking towards induction, peaking at an impressive 52.6% in 2020 during his third year of eligibility.
Then, it all came crashing down, following accusations of domestic abuse by his then-wife along with a lawsuit by a former minor-league bat boy alleging sexual harassment. In an interview with USA Today last month, Vizquel strongly denied his ex-wife's claims but declined to go into detail about the bat boy's contentions, citing an out-of-court settlement between the two parties. He also told Bob Nightengale the Guardians would not allow him to be on the field for Ramirez's hall of fame celebration in August.
Besides Ramirez and Vizquel, fellow former Cleveland All-Stars Bartolo Colón and Victor Martinez were on the ballot for the first time, but each received less than 5% support and will no longer be considered by the baseball writers. Martinez tallied six votes (1.6%) compared to five for Colón (1.3%), while one-time Tribe second baseman Brandon Phillips additionally received a single vote on the strength of his strong career with the Cincinnati Reds.
Of the 26 former players on this year's ballot, three were elected as part of the class of 2024: third base stalwart Adrián Beltré, Colorado Rockies legend Todd Helton, and Minnesota Twins hometown hero Joe Mauer. The trio will join revered manager Jim Leyland in July for the induction ceremony.
When the ballots for the class of 2025 are released later this year, former Indians ace CC Sabathia will be among those under consideration for the first time. Over an overall 19-year tenure, the left-hander won 251 games and became one of only 19 pitchers with at least 3,000 strikeouts. In 7 1/2 seasons with Cleveland, he earned three All-Star nods and took home the AL Cy Young Award in 2007.
