In 2024, three players were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers of Association of America (BBWAA). They were 3rd baseman Adrian Beltré, 1st baseman Todd Helton, and catcher Joe Mauer. 

The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballots are in, and the new inductees will be announced on January 21st. There were 28 candidates on the ballot this year, with 14 of those on the ballot for the first time. The other 14 had been on the ballot in 2024. For some, this is their final ballot before becoming ineligible for nomination.

Players need to have 75% to meet the threshold for induction into the Hall of Fame. Not every player has the same journey toward making it into the Hall of Fame. For example, on the 2025 ballot, we have Billy Wagner and Ichiro Suzuki. Wagner is on his 10th and final ballot and has crawled his way towards 75%, having only received 10.5% on his first ballot. Suzuki, on the other hand, is likely to be a unanimous vote for the Hall of Fame (only the second in history) on his very first ballot.

The odds on Ichiro Suzuki making it into the Hall of Fame are very good. For many other players, it’s much harder to tell how the voting has gone. Betting on who is making it into the Hall of Fame has become a niche market for baseball fans. Betting on baseball has always been hugely popular and occasionally very controversial.

The easiest way to bet on baseball markets is to use an online sportsbook, and finding sports iGaming apps is now easier than ever. Online sports betting has been steadily gaining ground in the United States since the Supreme Court overruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018. Since then, each state has had the power to determine its own sports betting laws, and most have chosen to legalize sports betting online, in person, or both.

While not everyone thinks people should be able to bet on things outside the games, like drafts, inductions, college games, and signings, most baseball fans are comfortable with betting on the MLB. No matter how you feel about the topic, it is interesting to consider which players have made it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and which ones have been overlooked.

Today, we’re going to talk about some of baseball’s forgotten heroes who deserve a spot in Cooperstown. Some were overlooked from the start and never made it onto the ballots, others made it through the voting process but never seemed to have enough sway to get above that 75% threshold. While it may technically be too late for these players to make it in, there’s always a chance that the Hall of Fame could consider these special circumstances and bend the rules just a little bit.

Alex Rodriguez

Shortstop Alex Rodriguez is a player that many thought would make it into the Hall of Fame in his first eligible year. Instead, he only received 34.8% of the vote. This likely has nothing to do with his record as a player and more to do with his very public transgressions and his use of performance-enhancing drugs during part of his career. 

“A-Rod” spent the first years of his career with the Seattle Mariners (1994–2000), before moving to the Texas Rangers for a brief stint (2001–2003). He is best remembered for his time spent playing for the New York Yankees (2004–2013, 2015–2016). He is considered one of the greatest players of all time, and that is shown through the records he has broken and the consistent awards he has won. This includes being named to the All-Star team 14 times, 3x AL MVP, 2x Gold Glove, 10x Silver Slugger, and many more. 

Unfortunately, Rodriquez also used performance-enhancing drugs during his time with the Texas Rangers. While this does cast a shadow on his successes, Rodriguez still deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because of his sheer talent.

Barry Bonds 

Barry Bonds falls into a similar category as Rodriguez. He is one of the greatest players in the history of the sport but his legacy is tainted by his steroid usage. The left fielder played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1986–1992) and the San Francisco Giants (1993–2007). He was an all-around great player who made his presence felt no matter where he was. 

Bonds still holds many of the MLB’s hitting records. These include most career home runs (762), most single season home runs (73), most walks, and most intentional walks in basically every category. On the other hand, he was one of the central players in the MLB steroid scandal. 

Bonds’ eligibility for the Hall of Fame has passed. He is one player who should be considered under special circumstances in recognition of all that he did for the sport.

Johan Santana

The case of John Santana is a frustrating one. He came to the MLB late after languishing with various minor league teams for years. When he finally made it to the major league with the Minnesota Twins, he showed that he was one of the best starting pitchers in the game. After several seasons with the Twins, he was traded to the New York Mets (2008–2010, 2013) where he continued to display a huge amount of talent. He is one of the only pitchers to have pitched a solo no-hitter.

Unfortunately, he was injury-prone. He was injured for three consecutive seasons of his career. This severely limited the amount of time he could play and ultimately destroyed his chances of making it to the Hall of Fame. 

If it’s any consolation for Santana and his many fans, his talents on the mound have been recognized in his home country of Venezuela. In 2022, he was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame with 81% of the vote.

Playing for the Angels his entire career for the Angels, Gary DiSarcina was not known for his natural ability, but for his leadership and dedicated play on and off the field.

Debuting for California in 1989, DiSarcina became the Angels primary Shortstop in 1992, and even represented the Halos in the 1995 All-Star Game.  He was not a power hitter (he only had 28 career Home Runs), but did collect 966 Hits over his career that also provided solid defense.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024 revision of our top 50 Kansas City Royals.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Please note that our algorithm has changed, which yielded minor changes throughout the baseball lists.

Last year, the Royals made a triumphant return to the playoffs, winning their Wild Card Series over Baltimore before falling to the New York Yankees in four games.  The season yielded one new entrant and one elevation.

As always, we present our top five, which saw a huge change based on the new algorithm.

1. George Brett

2. Amos Otis

3. Bret Saberhagen

4. Willie Wilson

5. Kevin Appier

You can find the entire list here.

Under the new algorithm, Amos Otis moved from #5 to #2; a showcase to how tight everyone from 2 to 5 already were.

Multi-time All-Star Catcher Salvador Perez went up one spot to #6.

The new entrant is Bobby Witt Jr., who debuts at #31.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

One of our favorite days here at notinhalloffame.com has come with the Baseball Hall of Fame’s announcement of the Class of 2025.

The Baseball Writers of America have submitted their votes for the Modern Ballot, and this summer Ichiro Suzuki, C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner have been elected to Cooperstown.

They will join Dave Parker and Dick Allen, who were elected by the Veterans Committee.

To enter the Baseball Hall, a candidate must obtain 75 percent of the vote.

Ichiro Suzuki, Outfield:  SEA 2001-12 & 2018-19, NYY 2012-14 & MIA 2015-17.  99.7% on his 1st ballot.  Already cemented his name in Japan, winning three Pacific League MVPs, seven Batting Titles, seven Golden Gloves, seven Best Nine Award and a Japanese Series Title with the Orix BlueWave.   Suzuki signed with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, and he became an instant sensation in North America.  In his first season in MLB, he won the American Rookie of the Year and MVP in his first season, and would overall go to ten All-Star Games, won ten Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers and two Batting Titles.  Statistically, he compiled 3,089 Hits with a lifetime .311 Batting Average.  He was also inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame.

C.C. Sabathia, Pitcher:  CLE 2001-08, MIL 2008 & NYY 2009-19.  86.8% on his 1st ballot.  Like Suzuki, Sabathia enters on his first ballot.  Winning the American League Cy Young Award in 2007 with Cleveland, Sabathia achieved greater fame with the New York Yankees where he had three consecutive top-five Cy Young finishes (2008-10) and helped the Bronx Bombers win it all in 2009.  Sabathia went to six All-Star Games, had a record of 251-161 and 2,093 Strikeouts.  He is already in the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame.

Billy Wagner, Pitcher:  HOU 1995-2003, PHI 2004-05, NYM 2006-09. BOS 2009 & ATL 2010.  82.5% on his 9th ballot.  Wagner gets in on his ninth ballot, jumping from 73.8% last year.  It is a seismic jump for the reliever, who had less than 20% in his first four years, but the momentum has been there the last three years.  Wagner, who is already in the Houston Astros Hall of Fame, was a seven-time All-Star and had 422 Saves.

Those that did not make the cut were:

Carlos Beltrán, Outfield:  KC 1998-2004, HOU 2004 & 2017, NYM 2005-11, SFG 2011, NYY 2014-16 & TEX 2016.  70.3% on his 3rd ballot.  Beltran, who has the statistical requirements to make the Hall, looks to still be punished by some voters for his role in the 2017 Astros cheating scandal.  Hr did have a considerable improvement from last year’s 57.1%.

Andruw Jones, Outfield:  ATL 1996-2007, LAD 2008, TEX 2009, CHW 2010 & NYY 2011-12.  66.2% on his 8th ballot.  The ten-time All-Star grew his tally from 61.6%, and though he only has two years left, he is trending in the right direction.

Chase Utley, Second Base:  PHI 2003-15 & LAD 2015-18.  39.8% on his 2nd ballot.  Utley’s support grew from 28.9% and looks like he will enter the Hall in a few years time.

Alex Rodriguez, Shortstop and Third Base:  SEA 1994-2000, TEX 2001-03 & NYY 2004-14.  37.1% on his 4th ballot.  Nobody has a better on-field resume than A-Rod, who is a three-time MVP, but he was suspended twice for PEDs.  His vote Toal did rise from last year’s 34.8, but he began the process at 34.3%.  Rodriguez is just treading water at this point.

Manny Ramírez, Outfield:  CLE 1993-2000, BOS 2001-08, LAD 2008-10, CHW 2010 & TBD 2010.  34.3% on his 9th ballot.  Ramirez is in the same boat as Rodriguez as he too was twice suspended for PEDs, and though this is highest tally to date, there is no reason to think that he can the 41.7% needed to enter in 2026.

Andy Pettitte, Pitcher:  NYY 1995-2003, 2007-10 & 2012-13 & HOU 2004-06.  27.9% on his 7th ballot.  Pettitte’s candidacy looked dead in the water, as he dropped to 13.5% last year, and he more than doubled that in 2025. 

Felix Hernandez, Pitcher:  SEA 2005-19.  20.6% on his 1st ballot.  King Felix makes a solid debut, and though he is behind Pettitte, his first tally is much better than Andys.

Bobby Abreu, Outfield:  HOU 1996-97, PHI 1998-2005, NYY 2006-09, LAA 2009-12, LAD 2012 & NYM 2014. 19.5% on his 6th ballot.  Abreu jumped from last year’s 19.5% but needs to average double digit increases to get into the Hall.

Jimmy Rollins, Shortstop:  PHI 2000-14, LAD 2015 & CHW 2016. 18.0% on his 4th ballot.  Rollins continues his growth of support, but has yet to see a 4% jump.

Omar Vizquel, Shortstop:  SEA 1989-93, CLE 1994-2004, SFG 2005-08, TEX 2009, CHW 2010-11 & TOR 2012. 17.8% on his 8th ballot.  Omar might have 17.8% of the vote but has zero chance to get in.  During the 2021 voting process, it was revealed that he was a domestic abuser, and since then he seen his support go from over 50% to less than 20.  Nobody has fallen like this before, and there is no reason to think he can regain that support.

Dustin Pedroia, Second Base:  BOS 2006-19.  11.9% on his 1st ballot.  The former MVP may have barely broke 10 percent, but others have started at the similar spot and entered the Hall.  Look at Billy Wagner!

Mark Buehrle, Pitcher:  CHW 2000-11, MIA 2012 & TOR 2013-15. 11.4% on his 5th ballot.  We have reached the half-way point for Buehrle, and 11.4 is the highest percentage he has received to date, but this is not a number that will cut it.

Francisco Rodríguez, Pitcher:  ANA/LAA 2002-08, NYM 2009-11, MIL 2011-13 & 2014-15, BAL 2013 & DET 2016-17. 10.2% on his third ballot.  K-Rod’s 10.2 is higher than last year’s 7.8, but is lower than his ballot debut of 10.8.

David Wright, Third Base:  NYM 2004-18:  8.1% on his 2nd ballot.  Wright saw a small increase from his 6.2% last year.

Torii Hunter, Outfield:  MIN 1997-2007 & 2015, LAA 2008-12 & DET 2013-14.  5.1% on his 5th ballot.  Hunter is clinging for life as one less vote would have eliminated him permanently.  HIs highest total was 9.5%, which was his first year on the ballot.

Those that failed to receive the 5% needed to stay on the ballot:

Ian Kinsler, Second Base.  TEX 2006-13, DET 2014-17, LAA 2018, BOS 2018 & SDP 2019.  2.5% on his 1st ballot.

Russell Martin, Catcher.  LAD 2006-10 & 2019, NYY 2011-12, PIT 2013-14 & TOR 2016-18.  2.3% on his 1st ballot.

Brian McCann, Catcher.  ATL 2005-12 & 2019.  NYY 2014-16 & HOU 2017-18. 1.8% on his 1st ballot.

Troy Tulowitzki, Second Base.  COL 2006-15, TOR 2015-17 & NYY 2019.  1.0% on his 1st ballot.

Curtis Granderson, Outfield.  DET 2004-09, NYY 2010-13, NYM 2014-17, LAD 2017, TOR 2018, MIL 2018 & MIA 2019.  0.8% on his 1st ballot.

Adam Jones, Outfield.  SEA 2006-07, BAL 2008-18 & ARI 2019.  0.8% on his 1st ballot.

Carlos González, Outfield.  OAK 2008, COL 2009-18, CLE 2019 & CHC 2019.  0.5% on the 1st ballot.

Hanley Ramirez, Shortstop, First Base and Third Base.  BOS 2005 & 2015-18, FLA/MI 2006-12, LAD 2012-14 & CLE 2019.  0.0% on the 1st ballot.

Fernando Rodney, Pitcher.  DET 2002-09, LAA 2010-11, TBR 2012-13, SEA 2014-15, CHC 2015, SDP 2016, ARI 2016, MIN 2018, OAK 2018-19 & WAS 2019.  0.0% on the 1st ballot.

Ben Zobrist, Second Base, Outfield and Shortstop.  TBR 2006-14, OAK 2015, KCR 2015 & CHC 2016-19. 0.0% on his 1st ballot

We will now begin revising the Notinhalloffame Baseball list.