The Boston Red Sox again will be in the thick of the Baseball Hall of Fame conversation next year.
The Hall of Fame released its official 2020 ballot Monday, with 32 former players listed as eligible to be elected in the class of 2020.
The list includes 18 newcomers, headlined by New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who should be a shoo-in. But three former Red Sox players also landed on the 2020 ballot: pitcher Josh Beckett, first baseman Carlos Peña and pitcher Brad Penny.
Beckett spent six-plus seasons with the Red Sox from 2006 to 2012 and put up some of his best numbers in Boston, making three All-Star teams and earning American League Championship Series MVP honors en route to a World Series title in 2007.
Peña only played 18 games in Boston during the 2006 season and spent most of his career with the Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers. He grew up in Haverhill, Mass., though, and played college baseball at Northeastern University.
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Penny appeared in just 24 games for the Red Sox during the 2009 season after coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That trio joins four other former Red Sox on the 2020 ballot, listed below by percentage of votes they received in 2019:
- Curt Schilling: 60.9 percent (7th year on ballot)
- Roger Clemens: 59.5 percent (7th year)
- Manny Ramirez: 22.8 percent (3rd year)
- Billy Wagner: 16.7 percent (4th year)
Players must receive 75 percent of votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America within their first 10 years of eligibility to reach the Hall. Schilling and Clemens were the top two players to miss the 2019 cut, while the other ex-Sox have a long way to go.
We'll find out voting results for the 2020 class on Jan. 21.
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