St. Louis Cardinals

Carp, Izzy and Rolen appear on first Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

Published Nov. 20, 2017 2:57 p.m. ET

Chris Carpenter pitched for the Cardinals from 2004-12.

NEW YORK -- Three Cardinals -- pitchers Chris Carpenter and Jason Isringhausen and third baseman Scott Rolen -- are on the 33-man ballot for baseball's Hall of Fame.

All three players are on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot for the first time. The ballot was announced Monday.

Other notables among the 19 first-time candidates are Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, Johan Santana, Jamie Moyer, Andruw Jones, Carlos Lee, Kevin Millwood, Carlos Zambrano and Johnny Damon.

Trevor Hoffman, who fell five votes short last year, leads holdovers who include Vladimir Guerrero, Edgar Martinez, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling.

Roy Halladay will not appear on the ballot for another year. The retired pitcher died Nov. 7 at age 40 when a plane he was piloting crashed off Florida. A player who dies less than five full years after retiring is eligible in the next election six months after his death or at the end of the five-year wait after his retirement, whichever comes first. Halladay had been set to be eligible in the ballot sent to voters in late 2018.

Carpenter finished his big-league career with a 144-94 record and 3.76 ERA. He came to St. Louis from Toronto and went 95-44 with a 3.07 ERA from 2004-12. He won the 2005 National League Cy Young Award and was a two-time World Series champion (2006, 2011) in St. Louis.

Isringhausen spent seven of his 16 major league seasons (1995-2012) with St. Louis, finishing with an even 300 career saves. He had 217 of those as a Cardinal from 2002-08, including a league-high 47 in 2004. He was a member of the Cardinals' 2006 world championship team.

Rolen's 17-year big-league career included six seasons (2003-07) in St. Louis, including the 2006 world championship team. He had a .281 career batting average with 316 homers and 1.287 RBIs. He won eight Gold Gloves at third base, three of those with the Cardinals.

About 430 ballots are being sent to eligible voters from the BBWAA, and a player must receive at least 75 percent for election. Ballots are due by Dec. 31 and results will be announced Jan. 24. Ballots of individual voters will be made public for the first time, but not until Jan. 31.

Voters, who must have been members of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years, had been free to announce their votes on their own and about half chose to do so in recent years.

Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez were elected last year, when Hoffman drew 74 percent. Guerrero had 71.7 percent, followed by Edgar Martinez (58.6), Roger Clemens (54.1), Barry Bonds (53.8), Mike Mussina (51.8) and Curt Schilling (45).

Since a change in eligibility requirements eliminated some older voters, Clemens and Bonds received a majority of the vote for the first time last year, the fifth appearance on the ballot for each. Clemens rose from 37.5 percent in 2015 to 45.2 percent in 2016, while Bonds climbed from 36.8 percent in 2015 to 44.3 percent in 2016.

Players remain on the ballot for up to 10 years, provided they receive at least 5 percent of the vote annually.

Other holdovers include Manny Ramirez (23.8), Larry Walker (21.9), Fred McGriff (21.7), Jeff Kent (16.7), Gary Sheffield (13.3), Billy Wagner (10.2) and Sammy Sosa (8.6).

Newcomers also include Livan Hernandez, Orlando Hudson, Aubrey Huff, Brad Lidge, Hideki Matsui and Kerry Wood.

The ballot

Barry Bonds, Chris Carpenter, Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon, Vladimir Guerrero, Livan Hernandez, Trevor Hoffman, Orlando Hudson, Aubrey Huff, Jason Isringhausen, Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, Jeff Kent, Carlos Lee, Brad Lidge, Edgar Martinez, Hideki Matsui, Fred McGriff, Kevin Millwood, Jamie Moyer, Mike Mussina, Manny Ramirez, Scott Rolen, Johan Santana, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, Billy Wagner, Larry Walker, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano.