With the release of the 2014 MLB Hall of Fame voting results, the Baseball Writers Association of America has announced that all of former Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa’s 41 votes will be disqualified after cork was found inside an accidentally torn ballet.
While Sosa has long struggled to make a case for his inclusion to the Hall of Fame, pointing to his career mark of 609 home runs as well as an MVP award in 1998, the discovery of cork in his ballots will only hurt the Dominican slugger’s dwindling hopes.
Sammy Sosa’s publicist released a statement to the press that read, “Mr. Sosa expresses regret that a corked ballot was cast for him, and apologizes to anyone who feels it has in some way tarnished the reputation of the Baseball Writers Association of America. However, we were also disappointed to hear that all of Mr. Sosa’s well-deserved ballots were discarded simply because of this one single ballot. Mr. Sosa did not intend for this ballot to be released, as it was a ballot that he primarily uses for practice.”
It is unclear whether this decision will cause his name to be removed from the Hall of Fame ballot next year. Members of Sosa’s PR team have vowed that they will spend 2014 campaigning for Sosa’s Hall of Fame chances by posting various awkwardly formal pictures of the slugger to Pinterest.
By Jeff GoodSmith
