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Michael Young, Darren Oliver among 35 on Hall of Fame ballot

The 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot includes two longtime Rangers turned special assistant to the general manager in Texas

By Adam J. Morris
Texas Rangers v Tampa Bay Rays, Game 2 Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Former Texas Rangers Michael Young and Darren Oliver are among the thirty five players listed on the 2019 BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot which has just been released. Those two longtime Rangers, who are both now in the front office with Texas as special assistants to the general manager, are among those who are on the ballot for the first time.

Other former Rangers on the ballot include Sammy Sosa, Omar Vizquel, Andruw Jones, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Travis Hafner, and Derek Lowe. Yeah, I’d forgotten Jones and Lowe were Rangers, too.

Young and Oliver will both likely be one-and-done guys, although I could see Young getting a vote or two from writers who want to recognize him with “yes” vote before he falls off the ballot. None of the other former Rangers would seem likely to get in this year, and most will likely drop off the ballot.

Appropriately, joining Young on the ballot for the first time is Metroplex native Vernon Wells, who, you may have heard, is a long-time friend of Young’s.

Mariano Rivera is on the ballot for the first time, and seems like a slam-dunk to be elected, with the only real question being how many votes shy he is of being a unanimous pick. Roy Halladay and Mike Mussina seem to have good shots of getting to the 75% mark this year, while Andy Pettitte, on the ballot for the first time, will be an interesting test case to see how the writers react when faced with a popular player with a marginal Hall of Fame case who is an admitted PED user.

Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, meanwhile, clear Hall of Famers, will likely see their percentages creep up slightly, but probably not to the 75% mark needed.

The full list:

Rick Ankiel

Jason Bay

Lance Berkman

Barry Bonds

Roger Clemens

Freddy Garcia

Jon Garland

Travis Hafner

Roy Halladay

Todd Helton

Andruw Jones

Jeff Kent

Ted Lilly

Derek Lowe

Edgar Martinez

Fred McGriff

Mike Mussina

Darren Oliver

Roy Oswalt

Andy Pettitte

Juan Pierre

Placido Polanco

Manny Ramirez

Mariano Rivera

Scott Rolen

Curt Schilling

Gary Sheffield

Sammy Sosa

Miguel Tejada

Omar Vizquel

Billy Wagner

Larry Walker

Vernon Wells

Kevin Youkilis

Michael Young