Jeff Bagwell, Time Raines and Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez received the necessary 75 percent of the vote to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Raines’ enshrinement comes on the final year he was eligible, while Rodriguez is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
The trio, along with former MLB commissioner Bud Selig and John Schuerholz will be inducted on July 30 in Cooperstown as part of the Hall of Fame Weekend (July 28-31). While Cooperstown is adding a handful of new members, six former Los Angeles Dodgers must await their potential immortalization.
The group comprised of Casey Blake, J.D. Drew, Jeff Kent, Fred McGriff, Manny Ramirez and Gary Sheffield.
Of the six, Ramirez fared the best (23.8 percent; 105 votes), though still fell well short of the 75 percent of the vote requirement to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.
He was followed by McGriff (21.7; 96), Kent (16.7; 74) and Sheffield (59, 13.3). Blake and Drew didn’t receive any votes, and as a result, both have fallen off future ballots. Five percent of the vote is required to remain on future ballot(s).
Beyond a Dodgers scope, Jorge Posada (3.8 percent), Jason Varitek (0.5 percent) and Tim Wakefield (0.2 percent) were among the players to also fall off future Hall of Fame ballots.
Over four seasons with the Dodgers, Blake hit .260/.338/.431 with 75 doubles, 49 home runs and 192 RBI in 406 games. He retired after appearing in 63 games with the Dodgers in 2011.
Drew was a .284/.399/.505 hitter with 46 doubles, 35 home runs and 136 RBI in two seasons for the Dodgers. Drew was lost in free agency, signing a five-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, where he concluded his career.
Kent spent four seasons with the Dodgers, earning All-Star Game honors and a Silver Slugger Award in 2005. Kent hit .291/.367/.479 during his tenure with the Dodgers, which was comparable to his .290/.356/.500 career batting line.
McGriff appeared in 86 games in his lone season with the Dodgers — 2003. He batted .249/.322/.428 with 14 doubles, 13 home runs and 42 RBI. The 19-year veteran was a career .284/.377/.509 hitter with a 134 OPS+ over 2,460 games.
Ramirez hit .322/.433/.580 with 53 doubles, 44 home runs and 156 RBI in 223 games over three seasons with the Dodgers (2008-10).
He was suspended 50 games in 2009 for testing positive after ingesting a female fertility drug. In April 2011, Ramirez made the decision to retire at 38 years old instead of serving a 100-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
Ramirez applied for reinstatement that December, and had his suspension reduced to 50 games due to only appearing in five games during the 2011 season prior to retiring.
Sheffield hit 509 home runs, won five Silver Slugger Awards and was a nine-time All-Star over 22 seasons. He played for the Dodgers from 1998-2001, then was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Pérez and Andrew Brown.
Sheffield was twice named an All-Star during his time with the Dodgers, and hit at least 34 home runs and drove in at least 100 runs each year. Over parts of four seasons with Los Angeles, he hit .312/.424/.573 with 88 doubles, 129 home runs and 367 RBI.
Players may remain on the ballot for up to 10 years if they continue to receive at least five percent of the vote. Prior to 2015, players were eligible to return on a ballot for up to 15 years by reaching the five-percent threshold.
With that rule change, former Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire fell off the 2017 ballot. While Garret Anderson, Brad Ausmus, Nomar Garciaparra and Mark Grudzielanek did not receive the necessary five percent to reappear this year.
McGriff, Kent Sheffield remained under consideration for enshrinement in 2017 by garnering 20.9 percent, 16.6 percent and 11.6 percent of the vote, respectively.
