Baseball Hall of Fame voting pool down by about 20 percent

The Baseball Hall of Fame said Friday that it estimated 475 ballots would be mailed for the upcoming election. Last year, about 600 ballots were mailed and 549 were cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

The Hall said in July it was cutting the number of voters by eliminating writers who had not been active in the game for more than 10 years.

Previously, the electorate included people who had been active members of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years at any point.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Trevor Hoffman are the top new candidates for election. The results will be announced Jan. 6.

Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines all drew over 50 percent last year but fell short of required 75 percent needed for election.

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, all tainted in the steroids era, again are eligible after finishing far back.