Sheffield was the only nominee on the ballot for the tenth year, which is the last year any player can appear on it before being taken off. Yesterday, he was tracking at just below the necessary 75%, according to Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame tracker.
A majority of those who didn’t release their ballots publicly beforehand must not have voted for Sheffield because of his ties to the BALCO scandal and Mitchell Report even though he never took PEDs while playing in-season.
Sheffield only used steroids once and he did so unknowingly while he was training in the offseason with Barry Bonds, according to Bob Nightengale’s story from late last year.