The 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame class only includes two players and neither spent any time during their respective careers with the Cleveland Indians.
Cleveland Indians fans were hoping for an Omar Vizquel surprise when the 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame class was announced.
Instead, one of his counterparts from that great era of baseball was the only shortstop selected. That player is Derek Jeter, who just missed out on being a unanimous selection. He will go in alongside Larry Walker, who makes it in on his 10th ballot.
The voting results were as follows:
Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds all received a significant amount of the vote and could be the next individuals to make it in. Right after that group is Vizquel with 52.6% of the vote.
Players need 75% to make it in and Vizquel is trending upward.
The fact Vizquel has reached this mark at only three years on the ballot is a good sign for his eventual enshrinement. The 2021 class is not adding any stars, so he should earn more of the vote next year and could jump both Bonds and Clemens if voters are still made about the whole steroids thing.
There is a dumb argument that Omar stockpiled stats during his 24-year career. That is easy to poke holes at because even though he stuck around until he was 45 years old, the majority of his accomplishments did not come late in his career.
He was able to accumulate 2,877 total hits and won 11 Gold Glove Awards. Many of those came over Jeter, so perhaps that is something for voters to note after nearly making Jeter a unanimous selection.
The Vizquel debate has been around since he joined the ballot. The conversation will become serious next year once he emerges as one of the only legitimate candidates.