Big Papi is elected in his first year on the writers' ballot, while several controversial candidates fall short in their final year of eligibility.
A year after the BBWA did not elect a single player into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the 2022 vote resulted in just one name heading to Cooperstown: David Ortiz.
Ortiz received 77.9% of the vote from the 394 ballots cast in what was his first year of eligibility. In their 10th and final years on the writers' ballot, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa did not receive enough votes.
That quartet could have another chance at getting elected by the 16-member Today's Game Era Committee, which will vote in December. Only 10 candidates are allowed on the ballot, with 12 votes necessary for induction.
Ortiz joins Edgar Martínez, Harold Baines, Frank Thomas and Paul Molitor as players to be elected to the Hall of Fame while primarily serving as a designated hitter. Ortiz spent his first six big-league seasons with the Twins before blossoming after joining the Red Sox, emerging as one of the most feared hitters of his generation.
Ortiz made 10 All-Star teams and was a key member of three World Series championship teams. He won seven Silver Slugger Awards and consistently came through in the clutch during the playoffs, with a career slash line of .289/.404/.543 with 17 home runs in 85 postseason games. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2013 World Series, batting .688 with two home runs in six games, and leads all hitters in MLB history with 3.2 win probability added during the postseason.
Ortiz is the fourth Dominican-born player to be elected into the Hall of Fame. He retired with 541 career home runs and 2,472 hits in 20 seasons.