Ortiz, A-Rod, Morneau, Nathan among 13 new to Hall of Fame ballot

David Ortiz, new Minnesota Timberwolves minority owner Alex Rodriguez, and former Minnesota Twins Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan and A.J. Pierzynski are among 13 first-time candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, joining 17 holdovers.

Steroids-tainted stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens make their 10th and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot along with Curt Schilling, who fell 16 votes shy of the necessary 75% in last year’s balloting. Schilling appeared on 71.1% of ballots, Bonds 61.8% and Clemens 61.6%.

Ryan Howard, Tim Lincecum, Jimmy Rollins and Jake Peavy also are new to the ballot along with Carl Crawford, Prince Fielder, Jonathan Papelbon and Mark Teixeira.

Morneau spent 11 of his 15 MLB seasons in Minnesota. The 2006 MVP hit .281 over his career, with 247 home runs, 985 RBI an OPS of .828.

Nathan pitched for the Twins in seven of his 16 major league years, making four of his six All-Star appearances as a Twin. Over his career, Nathan threw 923.1 innings, with a record of 64-34, an ERA of 2.87 and 377 saves. His 260 saves in a Twins uniform are the most in franchise history.

Pierzynski played the first six of his 19 MLB seasons with the Twins before he was traded to San Francisco for Nathan and pitchers Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser. Over his career, Pierzynski hit .280 with 188 home runs, 909 RBI and a .739 OPS.

Ortiz also played his first six seasons in Minnesota before becoming one of the most dominant hitters in baseball for Boston.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.