CLEVELAND — Could the third time be the charm for Omar Vizquel to make it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? We will know soon enough.
On Monday, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America released its list of 32 players on the ballot for induction into the class of 2020. Vizquel headlines a list of several former Cleveland Indians who will be considered by voters.
Manny Ramirez, Jason Giambi, Cliff Lee, and Jeff Kent are also on the ballot.
Vizquel earned 42.8 percent of the votes (182) in his second year on the ballot, falling short of the required 319 for induction. Vizquel won eight straight Gold Glove awards at shortstop and appeared in three All-Star games (1998-1999, 2002) during his time with the Indians.
"Sometimes, you don’t know what to expect from the voters," Vizquel told 3News earlier this year. "There’s new guys coming in and you don’t know what kind of criteria they use to vote, but it’s something that I’m satisfied with. I’m happy. I don’t really worry much, to tell you the truth. I just let them take a look at the numbers, see where I’m standing, and if they think I deserve to be there, great.”
For his career, Vizquel finished with 2,877 hits, the fifth-most ever by a shortstop. Only Honus Wagner (3,420), Yankees captain Derek Jeter (3,383), Cal Ripken Jr. (3,184) of the Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee’s Robin Yount (3,142) had more hits as a shortstop, and all but Jeter and Vizquel, are enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Jeter is the most prominent first-time candidate on the 2020 ballot. Other names of note who will be decided on for the first time include Lee, Giambi, RHP Josh Beckett, 1B Paul Konerko, SS Rafael Furcal, OF Bobby Abreu and OF/2B Alfonso Soriano.
Hall of Fame election results will be officially announced on January 21, with enshrinement in Cooperstown, New York, set for July 26. Candidates must be named on 75 percent of ballots to make the Hall of Fame.