A-Rod’s HOF support below 35 percent

SEATTLE -- Former Mariners great Alex Rodriguez will not go into the Hall of Fame in 2022.

A-Rod received 34.3% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, the results of which were revealed Tuesday on MLB Network.

Players must receive at least 75% to be elected, and votes were due by Dec. 31. This is the first year that Rodriguez was eligible for voting by the BBWAA, and he’ll remain on the ballot for each of the next nine years, so long as he continues to clear the 5% mark.

? Complete Hall of Fame coverage | 2022 voting results

Red Sox icon David Ortiz, who like Rodriguez was on the ballot for the first time, was the only player elected by the writers in 2022, with 77.9% of the vote. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on July 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Tuesday’s results for A-Rod weren’t necessarily shocking given his complex legacy. His career statistics are among the game’s all-time greatest, but his admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs after his time with the Mariners cast a cloud over his candidacy.

Rodriguez was a three-time MVP, 14-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove Award winner, and he ranks fourth all time in homers (696), third in RBIs (2,086), seventh in total bases (5,813), seventh in extra-base hits (1,275) and eighth in runs scored (2,021). He admitted to PED use during his time with the Rangers from 2001-03, and he was suspended while playing for the Yankees for the entire ’14 season, which at the time was MLB’s longest PED-related sanction.

“Legacy is not for me to determine,” Rodriguez said in 2016, just after playing his final Major League game. “I know that I’m someone who loves the game tremendously. I’ve made some tremendous mistakes, and I’ve also worked extremely hard in trying to come back and do things the right way.”

That controversy came after he left Seattle, which, of course, is where he began his career and quickly ascended as one of his generation’s best.

? A-Rod's '96 in Seattle began HOF trajectory

The Mariners selected a 17-year-old Rodriguez with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1993 Draft out of Westminster Christian School in Miami. And, after signing a then-record $1.3 million contract and a $1 million signing bonus, Rodriguez debuted with enormous hype just 13 months later.

Rodriguez went on to spend his first seven big league seasons with the Mariners, earning four All-Star selections (1996-98, 2000) and four Silver Sluggers. In 790 games with Seattle, Rodriguez had a slash line of .309/.374/.561 and a 138 OPS+, 189 home runs and 595 RBIs. He won the American League batting title in ’96 with a .358 average in his age-20 season, becoming the third-youngest champion in AL/NL history, behind only Al Kaline and Ty Cobb. He was runner-up in the AL MVP Award voting that year.

Despite a shorter stint than other Mariners icons, Rodriguez ranks among the franchise’s leaders in many statistical categories, including OPS (.934, first), homers (fifth), runs scored (627, sixth) RBIs (eighth) and hits (966, 10th). His 38.1 wins above replacement, per Baseball-Reference, are fourth-most in team history.