Chapin: Baseball welcomes excellent HOF class

The 2014 class of inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame was impressive.

In fact, it ranks among the best ever groups to enter the shrine together.

The class, which was inducted Sunday, included three players chosen in their first season of eligibility — pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and slugger Frank Thomas — plus three managers, Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa and Bobby Cox.

Maddux, Glavine and Thomas all reached the career magic numbers of 300 victories and 500 home runs and the trio of managers rank third through fifth on the all-time wins list.

The group was outstanding enough on its own to make baseball fans feel good about the history of their game and was especially gratifying coming on the heels of a 2013 Hall of Fame vote which resulted in zero inductions.

Now baseball fans look ahead to new names on the horizon and to how voters will continue to consider the big names from the steroid era.

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro all have the requisite numbers but voters have not been kind thus far.

Bonds and Clemens both were around 35 percent in their second year on the ballot — down slightly from 2013 — McGwire fell to 11 percent and Sosa to 7 percent.

Palmeiro will no longer appear on the ballot after falling below the 5 percent mark in his fourth season on the ballot.

Jack Morris — who I think should be in the Hall — also will be off the ballot in the future after failing to make it in his 15th and final year.

Don Mattingly — who I do not think is worthy — will be in his final year in January.

Among those returning to the ballot is Craig Biggio who barely missed induction this year, his second on the ballot.

Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines — who I think has been woefully under-voted in his seven years of eligibility — all were in the top eight in voting for 2014 and will be back.

Also on the 2015 ballot will be newcomers Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz, all considered certain Hall of Famers if not first-year shoo-ins, and Ken Griffey Jr. looms in 2016.

The Hall of Fame just changed its procedures and players will from now on be eligible only for 10 years instead of the previous 15 years.

Those with more than 10 years on the ballot will be grandfathered in and will still get their 15 opportunities.

Besides Mattingly, that applies to Alan Trammel (14th year in 2015) and Lee Smith (13th year in 2015), both of whom I think deserve induction.

All eyes will be on the voting numbers the next few years of those linked to the steroids scandal, especially Bonds and Clemens.

Opinions are mixed on these guys.

Some think that off-the-field issues should be ignored in Hall of Fame voting while others think these guys shouldn’t even be allowed on the ballot.

Thus far the voters — from the Baseball Writers Association of America — have in effect punished the offenders.

We’ll see if that continues or if attitudes change.

Write Vindicator sportswriter Doug Chapin at dchapin@vindy.com.