Mark Buehrle is on the 2021 Hall of Fame ballot

Five other former White Sox join him for consideration

The 2021 Hall of Fame ballot was announced today, and it includes a future White Sox Hall-of-Famer:

Several other (fringe) White Sox join Buehrle on the ballot: Andruw Jones, Manny Ramírez, Sammy Sosa, Nick Swisher and Omar Vizquel.

The 2021 class is considered “weak” because there isn’t a single first-ballot Hall-of-Famer among the newbies. But perhaps that helps the Hall clear out some of the backlog of worthy honorees — our own Brett Ballantini, who is geeky enough to track these things, says there are 13 worthy candidates up this year.

It’s a safe bet that Curt Schilling, a consummate case of having to separate the player from the man, makes the Hall this year; he polled north of 70% last go-round, a signifier of almost-certain future election. Vizquel, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens all might get tantalizingly close in this vote, as well.

Buehrle, as least per Brett, is a worthy Hall of Fame case, but certainly one of those guys who is faced with a steep climb toward immortality. But there’s an off-chance, with some of the ballot clog clearing out, that Buerhle takes one of those Tim-Raines routes into Cooperstown and finally makes it on a ninth or 10th ballot.

We’ll host our full round of three (Class of 2021, White Sox and Veterans) Hall of Fame elections here at South Side Sox, beginning next month.