Is this the year Curt Schilling makes it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Will Schilling be the only player elected to the Hall this year? After all the tumultuous voting activity of the 2010s, has voting for the Hall returned to "normal"?

Only a crystal ball, or the patience to wait until voting results for the 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame are announced on January 26, 2021, can give us the definitive answers, but of course that doesn't stop us from prognosticating before we learn the results.

For now, the short answers are:

1. Maybe.

2. Possibly.

3. Likely.

2021 BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot: Executive Summary

In a tumultuous year that was not normal for anything and everything including baseball, one thing that might be back to normal is voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Granted, the 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot has 14 returning candidates, with just about every one of them owning cases for induction that range from borderline to compelling.

Barry Zito was with the Oakland A's for the first seven seasons of his career, and for a time, he was one of the elite hurlers of the American League.  Zito debuted in 2000 and was a 17-game winner in 2001.  The curveball specialist's best year came right after when he had a league-leading 23 Wins (against only five losses) had 182 Strikeouts with a 2.75 Earned Run Average.  He would win the Cy Young Award that year.

This week, Pitcher, Barry Zito announced his retirement through a statement in the Baseball Tribune.  Below is a quote from his retirement speech that sums up his career perfectly:

"My baseball career has been a mirror to my life off the field, full of euphoric highs and devastating lows.  I've been at the top of a rotation and the 25th man on a roster. I've started Game 1 of a World Series in one year, and I've been left off of a postseason roster in another. I've been labeled as both drastically underpaid and severely overpaid. I've been praised as a savior and deemed a curse."

Pretty self-aware wouldn’t you say?

Over his fourteen year career, Zito spent it all in the Bay Area dividing his time between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants.  Zito was a three time All Star who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2002.  He finishes his career with a 165 and 143 record with 1,885 Strikeouts and a bWAR of 33.5. 

Early in his career, Zito seemed to be on a Hall of Fame path, but realistically he will struggle to get more than ten votes and will be a one and done player. 

Still, anytime a former Cy Young winner announces his retirement it is big news and we here at Notinhalloffame.com wish Barry Zito the best in his post-baseball career.

Barry Zito would win two World Series Rings as a member of the San Francisco Giants but there is no debate that he had a much better career across the bay with the Oakland Athletics where he won the Cy Young in 2002 and was a three time All Star. Had Zito been three quarters of the pitcher he was in Oakland as a Giant, he might have had a shot but as it stands now we have a former Cy Young winner who is not likely to get a lot of Hall of Fame support.