There's a good chance that no former Philadelphia Phillies will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, but five former Phillies are on the ballot.
With former Phillies nemesis Vladimir Guerrero and 500-home run club member Manny Ramirez highlighting the new names on the 2017 Hall of Fame ballot, three former Phillies are on the ballot for the first time: Arthur Rhodes, Pat Burrell and Matt Stairs.
While Stairs is in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the Phillies new hitting coach is a lock to fall off of the ballot after one season. As is Pat Burrell, who was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2015. Rhodes, who had one of the worst seasons of his big league career in 2006 with the Phillies, will also fall off of the ballot.
So why are these three, who aren't even worth considering for the Hall of Fame induction, on the ballot? Any player who plays in the league for 10 or more seasons automatically is placed on the ballot five years after they last played. As mentioned, Rhodes played 20 seasons, Stairs played in 19 and Burrell played in 12 seasons.
Two former Phillies with at least a chance to be inducted, Curt Schilling and Billy Wagner, are holdovers on the ballot.
Schilling, who will be on the ballot for the fourth time, got 52.3 percent of the vote in 2016, which still puts him more than 20 points shy of the 75 percent which is needed to be elected. Based off of his advanced statistics, Schilling probably deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, though his controversial political career probably hasn't helped his already fringe case. If he was elected, he likely would go into the Hall of Fame as either a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks or Boston Red Sox, not the Phillies.
Wagner, who may be more synonymous for becoming a villain after he left the Phillies to sign with the New York Mets, got 10.5 percent of the vote in 2016, which was his first season on the ballot. Wagner had 59 of his 422 career saves with the Phillies, but even though he's sixth all-time in saves, he's unlikely to ever be elected. Lee Smith, who has 478 career saves, is third all-time and in his final year of eligibility. Trevor Hoffman had 601 career saves, which should have made him a first ballot Hall of Famer, but fell just shy in his first year of eligibility, garnering 67.3 percent of the vote a year ago. So the Hall of Fame doesn't tend to be friendly to closers, something former Phillie Jonathan Papelbon is likely to find out after his career.
The 2017 inductees will be unveiled on Jan. 18, 2017.
Jim Thome, whose seemingly clean 612 home runs should make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer, will be joined by Scott Rolen among a slew of former Phillies who will become eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2018. Roy Halladay will become eligible in 2019, and should eventually get in.
