Central Oregon native Jacoby Ellsbury, who graduated from Madras High School and played his college ball at Oregon State University, has been added to this year’s ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ellsbury and his family lived on the Warm Springs Reservation before moving to Madras, where he lettered in multiple sports in high school. He won All-American honors at Oregon State and was drafted in the first round in 2005 by the Red Sox.
Ellsbury played 11 seasons with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. He finished with a career .284 batting average with 1,376 hits, 104 home runs, 241 doubles, 47 triples, 512 RBIs and 343 stolen bases. He led the league in stolen bases three times in his career.
“… Ellsbury starred on a World Series champion, the 2007 Red Sox, before his official rookie year, hitting .353 in 116 regular-season at-bats and .360 in 25 postseason at-bats,” the Hall of Fame wrote in the announcement. “A Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner, Ellsbury, who also played for the Yankees, led the AL in stolen bases three times and was the runner-up for the AL Most Valuable Player Award in 2011 when he had career highs in batting (.321), hits (212), home runs (32), RBI (105) and runs (119).”
RELATED: Former Madras, OSU, MLB star soon eligible for Baseball Hall of Fame ballot
Central Oregon Daily’s Steele Haugen talked to Ellsbury’s old coaches, teammates, and friends this past April.
It’s believed Ellsbury was the first player of Navajo descent to play in the major leagues.
The Baseball Writers Association of America votes on who makes the Hall of Fame. To be elected, a player’s name has to be checked off on at least 75% of the ballots. If a player receives less than that, they appear on the following year’s ballot.
If a player is selected on fewer than 5% of the ballots or if they are not elected after 10 years, they are removed from consideration.
Here is the full list of who is on this year’s ballot. The 2023 class will be announced on Jan. 24, with induction coming July 23. *Indicates first time on ballot.
- Bobby Abreu
- Bronson Arroyo*
- Carlos Beltrán*
- Mark Buehrle
- Matt Cain*
- R.A. Dickey*
- Jacoby Ellsbury*
- Andre Ethier
- J.J. Hardy
- Todd Helton
- Torii Hunter
- Andruw Jones
- Jeff Kent (Final year on ballot)
- John Lackey*
- Mike Napoli*
- Jhonny Peralta
- Andy Pettitte
- Manny Ramírez
- Álex Rodríguez
- Francisco Rodríguez*
- Scott Rolen
- Jimmy Rollins
- Gary Sheffield
- Huston Street*
- Omar Vizquel
- Billy Wagner
- Jered Weaver
- Jayson Werth*
