Roy Halladay and Mariano Rivera Headline Players Eligible for 2019 Hall of Fame
Mariano Rivera and Roy Halladay are among the players eligible to appear on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2019.
Fellow pitchers Andy Pettitte Roy Oswalt, Derek Lowe, Ted Lilly, Ryan Dempster, Jon Garland, Darren Oliver, Octavio Dotel, Jake Westbrook, Jose Contreras and Freddy Garcia will also be eligible for the ballot for the first time, according to Baseball Reference.
Todd Helton, Lance Berkman, Miguel Tejada, Placido Polanco, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay are among the most notable position players who can appear on the ballot for the first time in 2019. Additionally, Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner, Ramon Hernandez, Juan Pierre and Yorvit Torrealba will also be eligible.
In 2018, 14 of the players who made their first appearance on the ballot failed to get on five percent of ballots, the mark needed to remain for the following year. The most notable player among that group was two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana.
Santana and Jamie Moyer collected the most votes of players who missed the cut, with each getting 10 (2.4 percent). Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Chris Carpenter, Kerry Wood, Livan Hernandez, Carlos Lee, Orlando Hudson, Aubrey Huff, Jason Isringhausen, Brad Lidge, Kevin Millwood and Carlos Zambrano rounded out the list.
On the other end, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Curt Schilling, Omar Vizquel, Larry Walker, Fred McGriff, Manny Ramirez, Jeff Kent, Garry Sheffield, Billy Wagner, Scott Rolen, Sammy Sosa and Andrew Jones will all be back on the ballot after only Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman were voted in for 2018.
