:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/26419279/133221158.0.jpg)
Greg Maddux won't be unanimously elected to the MLB Hall of Fame.
Ken Gurnick, the Dodgers' beat writer for MLB.com, left Maddux off of his ballot entirely. Gurnick -- whose ballot contains just one name, that of righthanded pitcher Jack Morris -- explains the omission of Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas and others thusly:
As for those who played during the period of PED use, I won't vote for any of them.
The career of Morris overlapped with the beginning of what is considered to be the "PED era," but whatever. There is at least an intellectual consistency here...I've been critical before of those who punish the top hitters of the "PED era" because, who knows, maybe they cheated, but who give the pitchers of the era a pass. Gurnick has decided, the hell with all of them.
Tom Seaver has the highest percentage ever for a player elected to the Hall, with 98.84% of the vote. No one has ever been elected unanimously, though it was felt that, if anyone had a shot, it would be Maddux.
However, it is not to be.
