SAN DIEGO — The Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee unanimously elected Fred McGriff to the Hall of Fame on Sunday, giving him all 16 votes.
McGriff, who played for six teams in his career, spent a season and a half with the Cubs toward the end of his playing days. He posted a .278/.361/.518 slash line with them in 2001-02.
McGriff was a five-time All-Star and helped the Braves win 1995 World Series. He was the only player on an eight-person ballot elected to the Hall by the committee.
The Hall’s ‘‘character clause’’ loomed large. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs, were also on the ballot. Each received fewer than four votes. Curt Schilling, whose Hall case was tinged by a history of bigoted social-media posts, got seven votes.
The other four players on the ballot were Don Mattingly (eight votes), Dale Murphy (six), Albert Belle and Rafael Palmeiro.
The panel of 16 — many of them with Chicago ties — decided their fate. Players had to be included on 75% of the ballots cast by the committee members to be elected.
Of the seven Hall of Fame players on the committee, three — Greg Maddux, Ryne Sandberg and Lee Smith — had played for the Cubs. Another was White Sox legend Frank Thomas. Former Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and Sox executive vice president Ken Williams also served on the committee.
Balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will determine the rest of the 2023 Hall class. The results of that election will be announced Jan. 24.
