A-Rod gets small bump yet still far from 75%

Alex Rodriguez received a slight bounce in his second year on the Hall of Fame ballot, but not enough to suggest voters have changed their opinion of the admitted PED cheat.

The three-time MVP received 35.7 percent of the vote on ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose results were announced Tuesday with Scott Rolen’s election into the Hall of Fame. Last year, as a rookie on the ballot, Rodriguez received 34.3 percent of the vote. A candidate needs 75 percent of the vote for induction into the Hall of Fame.

Rodriguez was suspended the entire 2014 season with the Yankees for his involvement with Biogenesis, a South Floridabased lab that provided players with banned performance enhancing drugs. Rodriguez also admitted to PED use during his tenure playing for the Rangers.

Manny Ramirez, another slam-dunk Hall of Fame selection if not for his PED history, received 33.2 percent of the vote in his eighth year on the ballot. The former outfielder was twice suspended by MLB after testing positive for PEDs.

➤ Next winter’s ballot will include firsttimers Adrian Beltre, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Joe Mauer and Chase Utley among others. Beltre will most likely be a strong consideration for election in his first year, with Ichiro Suzuki looming as a potential no-doubter for the ensuing ballot that will elect the 2025 Hall of Fame class.

➤ R.A. Dickey and Jacoby Ellsbury were among the one-and-done candidates in this election. Each former player received only one vote (0.3 percent). A candidate must receive at least 5 percent of the vote to remain on the ballot.

➤ This marked the 28th time the BBWAA elected only one candidate to the Hall of Fame — the most probable among individual outcomes historically. On 27 occasions the BBWAA has elected two candidates, the secondmost probable individual outcome.