Mark Buehrle Snubbed From The Hall Of Fame Once Again

Well, as White Sox fans there is no shortage of things to complain about, but after yesterday, we can add another to the list. The 2024 Hall of Fame results were released, and one of the greatest pitchers in White Sox history was nowhere near the top of the list. That’s right. Mark Buehrle was snubbed by a huge margin, only receiving 8% of the vote. Luckily, that is enough for him to remain on the ballot next year, and hopefully gain more traction.

This is very unfortunate, as Buehrle is not only one of the best pitchers in White Sox history, but he holds some of the most impressive feats of all time. For 14 years straight, Buehrle threw for over 200 innings, only missing it in his rookie year, where he was mainly a reliever, and only missing it by 1.1 innings in his last year, when Toronto yanked him out of the game early. A feat like that will likely never be repeated, as many pitchers get hurt or don’t go far enough into games. Only five pitchers crossed the 200 innings threshold in 2023, and nine in 2022, with only one pitcher, Gerrit Cole throwing 200 innings in back to back years.

He also has one no-hitter, which should have been a perfect game, but he walked and then proceeded to pick off Sammy Sosa. But, even better than that, he has a perfect game, which only 24 pitchers can claim to ever have thrown. He is also just one of 35 pitchers to have thrown multiple no-hitters, while most of them cannot add a perfect game to their resume.

On top of all that, he is a five time all star and a four time gold glover. Not to mention he is one of the greatest fielding pitchers of all time, as he is only second to Zach Greinke in defensive runs saved, who just passed him up this year.

While he may not have the Cy Youngs or MVPs like a lot of the other pitchers in the Hall of Fame, what Mark Buehrle has done needs to be recognized, as we will likely never see a pitcher like him ever again. His ability to consistently get outs without a strong fastball is remarkable.

Unfortunately to this point, his Hall of Fame voting percentage has been all over the place and it really does not make a lot of sense. In his first year on the ballot, he got a very solid 11% which kept him on the ballot for another year. But, the next year in 2022, he dropped 6 percent down to 5.8% which almost got him kicked off the ballot. Then last year, he went back up to 10.8% which was higher than this year at 8.3% I’m not sure what has caused the fluctuation, but he needs to get more recognition, and if he cannot get on in his 10 years on the ballot, then hopefully he can get on later in his life like Harold Baines or Minnie Minoso.