Crawford falls off Hall ballot in first year

ST. PETERSBURG -- Carl Crawford’s stay on the Hall of Fame ballot was a short one, as expected, but his candidacy for Cooperstown provided one more opportunity to appreciate his career as Tampa Bay’s first homegrown star.

Crawford was one of two players to not receive a vote in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America balloting when the results were revealed Tuesday night on MLB Network. Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was the only player elected by the BBWAA, earning a spot in the Hall of Fame as his name was checked by 77.9% of voters during his first year on the ballot.

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Thus, Ortiz will be inducted into the Hall on July 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y., alongside the six men voted in by the Golden Days and Early Baseball Era committees: Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and the late Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Minnie Miñoso and Buck O’Neil.

Since players must be selected on at least 5% of the ballots submitted to remain eligible the following year, Crawford won’t be back on the ballot going forward. Joe Nathan, Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum, Ryan Howard, Mark Teixeira, Justin Morneau, Jonathan Papelbon, Prince Fielder, A.J. Pierzynski and Jake Peavy, the only other player who did not receive any votes, also fell below the 5% threshold.

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Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds will no longer appear on the ballot, as this was their 10th year of eligibility. Thirteen players from this year’s ballot will be eligible again in 2023, including two of the 13 first-year candidates: Alex Rodriguez (34.3%) and Jimmy Rollins (9.4%).

Crawford wasn’t expected to receive serious consideration on his first Hall of Fame ballot, as his excellent peak with the Rays quickly gave way to disappointing years with the Red Sox and Dodgers. Still, it was a moment to remember all that Crawford contributed during his nine seasons with Tampa Bay.

During the Rays’ worst-to-first run to the World Series in 2008, Evan Longoria burst into the Majors and began establishing himself as the face of the franchise and the best player in team history. But Crawford was their first drafted-and-developed star, a silver lining during the last of the Devil Rays’ dark days who shined all the way through his final season with Tampa Bay in 2010.

Crawford is still the Rays’ all-time leader in hits (1,480), triples (105), stolen bases (409), batting average (.296) and sacrifice hits (31). He ranks second behind Longoria in bWAR (35.6), games played (1,235), runs scored (765), RBIs (592), extra-base hits (424) and total bases (2,217). Durable as anyone during his time with the Rays, the left fielder appeared in more than 150 games in six of his eight full seasons and took the field for fewer than 143 games only once.

A 20-year-old Crawford made his debut for the Devil Rays in 2002, belted a walk-off homer at Tropicana Field on Opening Day in ’03 and earned his first All-Star selection the following year. He led the American League in stolen bases four times (2003-04, ’06-07), swiped 60 bases in ’09 (including six in one game against the Red Sox on May 3, 2009), led the AL in triples four times (2004-06, ’10) and made four AL All-Star appearances (2004, ’07, ’09-10) highlighted by his MVP appearance in the 2009 Midsummer Classic. He earned his lone career Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award in 2010.

However, Crawford’s career trajectory took a sharp turn downward after he signed a seven-year, $142 million contract with the rival Red Sox before the 2011 season. He had a few solid seasons with the Dodgers during the life of that contract, but overall he hit just .271/.310/.407 with 71 stolen bases, 32 homers and 3.5 WAR in only 481 games over six seasons.