Could the Hall of Fame set a record for inductees in 2015?

Could the Hall of Fame set a record for inductees in 2015?

The Baseball Witters' Association of America (BBWAA) will consider 34 candidates -- 17 newcomers, and 17 from past elections.

It’s going to be a tough year for voters to cast their ballot for the 2015 Baseball Hall of Fame election, with a large amount of worthy players — and plenty of controversial ones.

The results of the Hall of Fame vote will be unveiled on Tuesday at 2 p.m., and at least three men are likely to gain entry into the Hall, with the possibility of as many as six, according to the Guardian.

The Baseball Witters’ Association of America (BBWAA) is the body that will be casting its vote this year, and they last sent more than three players to the Hall all the way back in 1947, with Carl Hubbell, Frankie Frisch, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove were elected and 24 others who would eventually find their way into the Hall were not. This year is similarly stacked.

Voters are allowed to pencil in a maximum of 10 worthy candidates, and voters are finding that potentially many more than that are worth of Hall of Fame consideration. Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Mike Mussina, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Tim Raines, and controversial superstars like Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, among numerous others, are all up for election to the Hall.

Last year, Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux were the Hall’s thre entrants. It was just the third time in 70 elections that all three inductees were newcomers.

In all, BBWAA writers will have to choose from 34 names on a ballot that was released on Nov. 24. It features 17 new faces and 17 holdovers from the past election.

Players have 15 elections before they are dropped off the ballot if they do not make the Hall of Fame in any of those elections. They need to secure at least 75 percent of the vote. Craig Biggio came close last year with 74.8 percent, and Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell also had strong showings with more than 50 percent of the vote.

Don Mattingly, who received just 8.2 percent of the vote, will see his Hall of Fame dreams dwindle to almost nothing barring a dramatic turnaround in this year’s voting, as it will be his 15th and last year of eligibility. However, he is eligible for consideration by the Expansion Era Committee in 2016.

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