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Trevor Hoffman missed Hall of Fame call by five votes

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor

The excitement and anguish were palpable on Wednesday as the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2017 class.

In one of the more dramatic votes in recent memory, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez were revealed to have surpassed the 75-percent threshold, with Rodriguez barely inching in at 76 percent. Then came the dramatic revelation that the 2017 class nearly included a fourth player. Longtime San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman landed on 74 percent, which put him exactly five votes short of election.

The vote is reminiscent of Craig Biggio’s near miss in 2014. On that occasion, Biggio finished at 74.80 percent, which equaled a two-vote miss. Of course, Biggio would easily get over the hump the following year, earning 82.7 percent. That bodes well for Hoffman, who’s percentage jumped from 67.3 percent to the very cusp of election this year.

Trevor Hoffman's Hall of Fame speech will have to wait at least one more year. (Getty Images)
Trevor Hoffman’s Hall of Fame speech will have to wait at least one more year. (Getty Images)

Still, the fact remains that Hoffman is not in yet. Those five votes will represent another year of waiting, another year of debating, and another year of agonizing.

Shortly after the announcement, a humble Hoffman offered his congratulation to the 2017 Hall of Fame class, while acknowledging the anguish of coming so close.

The Padres offered their support as well, releasing the following statement on Hoffman’s near miss.

Hoffman has time (eight years left on the ballot) and voting trends on his side, but until he gets that call we wouldn’t fault him for feeling uneasy. Though three big names are now out of the way, the 2018 ballot will still be pretty stacked thanks to its new additions. It’s also becoming more difficult to predict how things will play out now that voters are becoming more open to accepting players accused of PED use.

Still, this feels like a temporary setback more than anything, meaning Hoffman’s wait shouldn’t be a long one.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!