A New Hall of Fame Ballot Is a Chance to Remember

A great deal of ink will be spilled on the candidacies of Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz. For a moment, stop to consider the 11 other new candidates instead.

The Baseball Hall of Fame unveiled the new writers’ ballot on Monday, and complicated only begins to describe it. This is the final appearance for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, and the first for David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez. Each has a long history of boldface headlines, for reasons on and off the field.

Eleven others are making their debut on the ballot, and it’s a decorated group: three Most Valuable Player Award winners (Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau, Jimmy Rollins), two Cy Young Award winners (Tim Lincecum, Jake Peavy), two All-Star M.V.P.s (Carl Crawford, Prince Fielder), two closers with 300 saves (Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon) and two others with multiple All-Star appearances and a World Series championship (A.J. Pierzynski, Mark Teixeira).

With apologies to Ortiz and Rodriguez — there’s no lack of written words about either guy — here’s our annual salute to the other newcomers up for election to Cooperstown.