The Philadelphia Phillies had some of the best players from their top recent era all on the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot this year.
All four showed notable improvement in the voting results that came out on Tuesday night, even with none getting in.
Chase Utley got the third-most votes on the ballot, and the most of a player not elected (behind the elected Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones).
Utley got 39.8% of the vote last year. This year, he was up to 59.1%. A player has to reach 75% to get in, and with this just the third year on the ballot for Utley (out of a possible 10), he's trending toward almost-certain election.
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Next up for the Phillies was Bobby Abreu, the on-base weapon. Abreu was at 19.5% last year and rose to 30.8% this year.
The superstar shortstop Jimmy Rollins, maybe one of the most disrespected players on the ballot, got 18% of the vote last year and pushed it up to 25.4% this year.
And Cole Hamels made his ballot debut with a very solid 23.8% of the vote.
These guys will all be at least partially linked, and that could be reflected in the years to come.
Abreu has three years left on the ballot. Rollins has five years left. It's seven years left for Utley, and nine for Hamels.
It'll be interesting to see how many of these former Phillies end up in the Hall of Fame.
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