By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
If the Hall of Fame ballots that have been released publicly are any indication, former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Jim Thome is a lock to be elected to the Hall of Fame, while Curt Schilling is trending in the right direction.
Ryan Thibodaux has a great service annually where he compiles the publicly released ballots to give updated Hall of Fame results. It's kind of like watching television on election night when results from certain counties begin to pour in. The results that he compiles are just a sample of those who will decide the fate of those on the Hall of Fame ballot, but they are very much worth keeping track of in the lead-up to the Jan. 24, 2018 announcement of the next class of Hall of Famers.
Thibodaux currently has obtained 48 ballots – 47 that are public and one that is anonymous. If those 48 ballots decided who would be elected to the Hall of Fame, Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, Chipper Jones, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina would all be in the class of 2018.
Thome actually has the highest percentage of votes thus far, having obtained 97.9 percent of the Hall of Fame vote from the 48 ballots. Thome is one of nine players in MLB history with over 600 home runs, and of those nine, he is one of the six that hasn't been credibly connected to PEDs. On top of all of that, he had fruitful stops in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago and Minnesota during his career, and is an extremely likable person. Likability shouldn't make a difference when voting for the Hall of Fame, but it does for some, and Thome has that going for him.
Curt Schilling appears to be having a resurgence, at least based on the ballots available so far. So far he's received 68.8 percent of the vote, which would be up from 45.0 percent in 2016. Schilling actually saw a dip in votes last year after receiving 52.3 percent in 2016. Schilling hasn't pitched in a game since 2007, so his numbers haven't changed in over a decade. His votes, however, seem to change from year-to-year. You need at least 75.0 percent to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
Former Phillies closer Billy Wagner, now is his third year on the ballot, has received 8.3 percent of the vote thus far. In 2016, his first year on the ballot, he received 10.5 percent of the vote. Last year, he received 10.2 percent.
Scott Rolen, the former Phillies Rookie of the Year, has received 16.7 percent of the vote thus far. I wrote last month about why I believe he should be a Hall of Famer. It doesn't appear that he's going to seriously push for election this year, but so far he's well above the five percent needed to stay on the ballot for another year.
Aside from the Phillies, the 2018 publicly released ballots have been very kind to Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens thus far. Bonds has received 70.9 percent of the vote thus far, while Clemens has topped him with 72.9 percent. Both are on the ballot for the sixth time. Based on their play alone, both should have been first-ballot Hall of Famers. However, credible ties to PEDs have kept both out of the Hall of Fame thus far.
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