The Hall of Fame announced the 2015 ballot.

The new candidates on the ballot include Cy Young Award winners like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz, along with sluggers Carlos Delgado and Gary Sheffield, two-time batting champion Nomar Garciaparra and lock-down closer Troy Percival.

Other first-time candidates include: Rich Aurilia, Aaron Boone, Tony Clark, Jermaine Dye, Darin Erstad, Cliff Floyd, Brian Giles, Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado and Jason Schmidt.

Johnson, Martinez, and Smoltz will make a nice class, and they’ll possibly go in with Craig Biggio and Mike Piazza. I hope Tim Raines gets a little more love.

What’s also interesting is the discrepancy between support for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (each around 35%) and Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa (both under 12%). It seems that about 1/3 of the writers are willing to vote for PED tainted player, but only have so much room on their ballots. Or maybe they feel less hostility to the two players who were Hall of Famers before their alleged PED use began.