Several Baseball Hall Of Fame Hopefuls Are Running Out Of Time

In addition to the Hall of Fame snub today of players like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens, several other hotly-debated players have been on the ballot for at least five years and still came up short.

For Dale Murphy* and Don Mattingly, it looks like the call will never come (see below). For Alan Trammell and Lee Smith, their surge in recent years appears to have lost its momentum as both players received fewer votes this year than last year and it now looks like they will run out of time.

Of this group, the two with the best shot are Jack Morris, who has just one year of eligibility left, and Tim Raines, whose vote total has more than doubled in the last four years...

* This was Dale Muprhy's 15th year on the ballot, the limit for election by the baseball writers. Players that don't get elected by the writers could later be voted in by the veteran's committee.