Tim Hudson was already facing an uphill battle to remain on the Hall of Fame ballot for a third year. He barely received a second year on the ballot as he surpassed the 5% threshold by one vote. As he had lost three votes already in this election cycle, Hudson was going to be hard pressed to get a third chance.
If that third chance comes, it will be from the Veteran’s Committee. Hudson was one of the players to fall off the ballot this year, earning just 12 votes as he fell below that threshold to get another shot.
Those who fell off the ballot with less than 5 percent: Joe Nathan, Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum, Ryan Howard, Mark Teixeira, Justin Morneau, Jonathan Papelbon, Prince Fielder, AJ Pierzynski, Carl Crawford and Jake Peavy.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 25, 2022
Tim Hudson deserved better from Hall of Fame voters
It is a truly unfortunate ending for Hudson. He happened to have come onto the ballot at a difficult time as a backlog of players due to PED suspicions hindered his totals. Adding two newcomers in David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez did not help either, as the ten player limit clearly cost Hudson votes.
He certainly deserved better. Hudson actually had a better bWAR in his career than Ortiz did, despite the latter being inducted into the Hall on the first ballot. Obviously, this is a matter of comparing apples and oranges considering the vastly different positions, but is shows how underappreciated he has been.
The same can be said when looking at his overall numbers. Hudson produced a 222-133 record with a 3.49 ERA and a 1.239 WHiP over his 3126.2 innings, striking out 2080 batters with 917 walks. All of those numbers, excluding his win total, are better than the numbers produced by Andy Pettitte, who has remained on the ballot for yet another year.
Tim Hudson has fallen off of the Hall of Fame ballot as he fell under the 5% threshold. He deserved a lot better from the voters during his time.