Big Papi beats out Clemens, Sosa, Schilling, Bonds in HOF votes

On Tuesday night, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced its newest member, David "Big Papi" Ortiz, who joins six others in the 2022 Hall of Fame class. The rest of the class is made up of veterans committee selections: Buck O'Neil, Bud Fowler, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Gil Hodges and Minnie Miñoso.

Ortiz beat out several legends in votes

The Baseball Writers Association of America holds a vote and any player who receives at least 75 percent of the votes will enter the BBWAA ballot. A player is eligible for the ballot after they have been retired for five years. If the player falls short, they can still remain on the ballot for 10 years as long as they receive at least five percent of the vote share each year.

Ortiz beat out Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa, who were all in their 10th and final year on the ballot.

The legend of Big Papi

Over his 20-year career in Major League Baseball, Ortiz batted .286/.380/.552 with 541 home runs and 10 All-Star Game appearances. Ortiz spent some of his career with the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins, but became known as Big Papi when he joined the Boston Red Sox, already in his late 20s and had a late career surge. In the six years prior to joining the Red Sox, he hit .266/.348/.461 with 58 home runs. After he joined the Red Sox, he'd hit 483 home runs.

He's known for his ability to get big home runs, even more so in the post season. In his 85 playoff appearances, Ortiz collected a .289/.404/.543 slash line with 17 home runs. With the Red Sox, he won three World Series and two MVP titles after the 2004 AL Championship Series and again durind the 2013 World Series.