Hall of Fame: Beckham is on ballot for first time
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, May 24, 2017
Until now, no foreign player who played in MLS has been selected to the Hall of Fame. The only other foreigners up for selection are Bolivians Jaime Moreno (Player) and Marco Etcheverry (Veteran).
Others players in their first year of eligibility include U.S. World Cup veterans Steve Cherundolo and Pablo Mastroeni.
2017 Hall of Fame Player Ballot:
Chris Albright
Chris Armas
David Beckham
Gregg Berhalter
Danny Califf
Joe Cannon
Steve Cherundolo
Brian Ching
Jeff Cunningham
Tina Frimpong Ellerston
Eddie Gaven
Amado Guevara
Kevin Hartman
Frankie Hejduk
Chris Klein
Jason Kreis
Eddie Lewis
Kate Sobrero Markgraf
Pablo Mastroeni
Clint Mathis
Tiffeny Milbrett
Heather Mitts
Jaime Moreno
Ben Olsen
Pat Onstad
Leslie Osborne
Steve Ralston
Ante Razov
Tony Sanneh
Briana Scurry
Taylor Twellman
Aly Wagner
Josh Wolff
Note: Players in bold are on ballot for first time. Armas and Kreis are in final year of eligibility.
Voting pool: All past and present full men's and women's national team coaches, all active MLS and NWSL head coaches (minimum of four years of experience as a head coach), MLS and NWSL management representatives, the MLS and NWSL commissioners/executive director, U.S. Soccer CEO/secretary general, U.S. Soccer president, designated media members and all Hall of Famers. Selection: Any player appearing on at least 66.7 percent of ballots will earn election.
2017 Veteran Ballot
George Best
Chico Borja
Mike Burns
John Doyle
Marco Etcheverry
Linda Hamilton
Mary Harvey
Chris Henderson
Dominic Kinnear
Shep Messing
Cindy Parlow
Tiffany Roberts
Mike Sorber
Tisha Venturini-Hoch
Roy Wegerle
Voting pool: Current Hall of Famers. Selection: The top vote-getter will be elected as long as he or she appears on a minimum of 50 percent of the ballots. (More than one candidate may be elected in the event of a tie.)
2017 Builder Ballot:
Esse Baharmast
Gene Chyzowych
Robert Contiguglia
Eddie Firmani
Richard Groff
Gordon Jago
Tim Leiweke
Joe Machnik
Francisco Marcos
Kevin Payne
Voting pool: Current Hall of Famers plus select soccer administrators. Selection: The top vote-getter will be elected as long as he or she appears on a minimum of 50 percent of the ballots. (More than one candidate may be elected in the event of a tie.)
9 comments about "Hall of Fame: Beckham is on ballot for first time".
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Really only one referee on the entire list ? Where is BRIAN HALL? And soon Kevin Stott the best ref in the history of MLS.
How did George Best make it to the ballot?
Beckham, we hardly knew ye! Beckham's injury-plagued sojourn in the US disappointed many Americans who came to see him play (including yrs truly), but were disappointed when he showed up lame at the game. And THIS is a US mini-career deserving of US Soccer Hall of Fame? Spare me!
If Beckham gets in before players like Jaime Moreno who actually accomplished something in MLS, the Hall of Fame loses all credibility.
I couldn't agree more, Albert Harris!!! If anyone is worthy of being elected, even though a while back removed is George Best before Beckham. As for Jaime Moreno, well, not just yet!
Its allready been lost.
For builders: Machnik and Marcos, but to include Liewekley?
I always found it weird how a foreign player plays a few years here and is elected into the US hall of fame for our sport. Even an owner who was from another sport buys a team as an investment nothing more and gets into our hall of fame. Then you have guys who played and coached here in the states for over 60 yrs and nothing.
Even if as a player and as a coach they won the open cup. Then you have guys that did not give up our game when they came here. Then founded leagues and clubs that soccer people now here and they get in the hall of fame the right way. But, no one knows who the heck they are.
The progress MLS has made since 2007 makes people forget where the league was back then. Beckham may not have had a stellar career but his coming to MLS was important in raising the profile of the league both here and abroad. That shouldn't be minimized. Also, his last two years here he was relatively healthy and effective and LA won MLS Cup both seasons (2011 and 2012) and won the supporters shield as well in 2011.