Jan. 07--Sammy Sosa probably has one more shot on the Hall of Fame ballot before putting his faith in a future Veterans' Committee.
The former Cubs' outfielder, who hit 609 career home runs, received just 6.6 percent of the 549 votes the Baseball Writers Association of America cast, barely passing the 5 percent mark necessary to remain on the ballot for 2016.
In his three years on the ballot, Sosa's vote totals have decreased from 71 in 2013 to 41 last year and only 36 in '15.
This isn't how Sosa envisioned it when he and Mark McGwire faced off in the home run race of 1998. That summer, the Hall of Fame collected his jersey, the bat he used to hit home run No. 62, and a yellow number "3" from the Wrigley Field scoreboard representing the three-run homer that broke the 60-homer barrier. But that was before the two were widely linked to performance-enhancing drugs, which altered their reputations and severely dented their chances of winding up together in Cooperstown.
In the spring of 2009, Sosa confidently said he was going to announce his retirement and await his induction into the Hall. That began a debate that didn't end in Sosa's favor. Even former teammate Ryne Sandberg told WMVP-AM 1000 that Sosa did not belong in the Hall.
"Part of being in the Hall of Fame, they use the word integrity in describing a Hall of Famer, in the logo of the Hall of Fame, and I think there are going to be quite a few players who are not going to get in," Ryne Sandberg said after Sosa's statement.
While PED-tainted Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are still far away from getting into the Hall of Fame, at least they're in no immediate danger of falling off the ballot. McGwire received only 10 percent, which suggests he soon will follow Sosa and become ineligible.
First-time eligible outfielder Gary Sheffield, who ranks 25th in home runs (509) and 26th in RBI (1,676), garnered only 11.7 percent of the votes and appears to have only a year or two left. Former Cubs shortstop Nomar Garciaparra received 30 votes (5.5 percent) in his first year of eligibility, and also figures to be a short-timer on the ballot.
