We are in December, which we at Notinhalloffame call “Hall of Fame Season,” and one of its premier events is the announcement of the 2026 Baseball Writers of America Ballot.  Announced today is that Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones have received the necessrry 75% of the vote to enter the hallowed halls of Cooperstown.

Let’s take a deep dive into the results:

INDUCTED:

Carlos Beltran: 84.2 %, enters on his fourth ballot.   Beltran had the resume that should have put him close to the borderline of a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, but his significant role in the Houston Astros cheating scandal led many voters (we believe) to make him pay penance.  That wait is now over.   Beltran blasted 435 Home Runs, 1,587 RBI, and holds distinguished accolades such as nine All-Stars, two Silver Sluggers, and three Gold Gloves, along with the 2017 World Series, the 1999 Rookie of the Year, and the 2013 Clemente.  Notinhalloffame.com congratulates Carlos Beltran for earning this honor. 

Andruw Jones:  78.4%, enters his ninth ballot.  Jones progressed nicely, especially after he had a lower than 8% in his first two years.  The five-time All-Star won ten Gold Gloves, smacked 434 Home Runs, 1,289 RBIs, and was the 2005 NL MVP runner-up.  Jones’ induction marks the first time a player from Curacao has entered the Hall.  Notinhalloffame.com congratulates Andruw Jones for earning this honor. 

Beltran and Jones will join Veterans Inductee Jeff Kent in the Class of 2026.

Failing to make the 75%.

Chase Utley:  59.1% on his third ballot.  This was a huge jump for Utley, who had 39.8% last year and, based on his trajectory, could enter next year.  Utley is a six-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger at Second Base who owns a World Series Ring (Philadelphia 2008).  He has 259 Home Runs, 1,885 Hits, and a bWAR over 60.  

Andy Pettitte:  48.5% on his eighth ballot.  We said in our preview that Pettitte would need a significant jump to find himself in the Hall of Fame hunt, and he got it with a colossal jump from 27.9% last year.  Remember that Pitcher never had more than 17% in his first six seasons, and for the first time since he debuted on the ballot in 2019, he now has a puncher’s chance.  He had a 256-153 record, 2,448 SO, a 60.2 bWA, and has World Series Rings.  Is Pettitte the one that Hall of Fame voters have forgiven for PED use?  Perhaps, as though he admitted use, he was not suspended as his use predated the 2005 MLB ban of HGH.   Nobody handled an admission of PED use better, and thus no admitted (or positively tested post 2004) player has a better shot.

Felix Hernandez:  46.1% on his second ballot.  The support of “King Felix” has exploded with a jump of over 25% on his sophomore year on the ballot, and this bodes well for the former Cy Young winner.  The lifetime Mariner had a lifetime record of 169-136 with 2,524 Strikeouts.  Hernandez was also a five-time All-Star and twice led the AL in ERA.  It should only be a matter of time for Felix, and we have to wonder if that could revert back to helping players like Johan Santana.

Alex Rodriguez:  40% on his fifth ballot.  No player on the ballot has a better resume than A-Rod, but he has two PED suspensions on a resume with three MVPs, 10 Silver Sluggers, and two Gold Gloves.  Boasting 3,115 Hits, 696 Home Runs, and 2,086 RBIs, Rodriguez can make a claim as one of the ten best players ever, but his Hall of Fame voting has no momentum from year to year.  Sure, he made it to 40%, but it was a minimal jump from his 37.1% from last year.  

Manny Ramirez:  38.3% on his tenth and final ballot.  Ramirez is in the same expensive boat as Rodriguez, as he also has the stats (555 Home Runs, 1,831 RBIs) and the awards (12 All-Stars, nine Silver Sluggers, and two World Series rings) that eclipse many Hall of Famers.  However, again, like A-Rod, Ramirez also has two PED suspensions and has treaded water on the ballot since he debuted.  He now joins the Veterans’ pool, and if Bonds and Clemens can’t sniff the Hall on that ballot, what chance does Manny have?  Manny will continue to be Manny, but it will take place outside of Cooperstown.

Bobby Abreu:   30.8% on his seventh ballot.  This was the jump that Abreu needed, as he had 19.5% last year, and considering he barely made it to survival on year one (5.5% in 2020), this breathes life into what looked like a dormant HOF campaign.  He is a two-time All-Star with 2,470 Hits, 288 Home Runs, and a bWAR of just over 60.  

Jimmy Rollins:  25.4% on his fifth ballot.  Rollins jumped from 18% last year, but at the halfway mark of his eligibiltiy there is still a long way to go.  The three-time All-Star is a former World Series winner with the Phillies, won four Gold Gloves and one Silver Slugger, and has 231 Home Runs and 2,455 Hits.  

Cole Hamels:  23.8% on his first ballot.  Posting a record of 163-122, Hamels was the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP in the Phillies' 2008 Title.   He is a four-time All-Star and boasts 2,560 Strikeouts, and this is a very good debut on the ballot for the Pitcher.

Dustin Pedroia:   20.7% on his second ballot.  Pedroia needed to climb over 20% to put forth a decent HOF path, and he just scraped over that in this ballot.  Pedroia helped the Red Sox win two World Series Championships and, individually, was an MVP with four Gold Gloves, four All-Stars, and a Silver Slugger, and compiled 1,805 Hits.  We have seen players with far less vote support in year two make the Hall, and they don’t have the rings and MVP that Pedroia has.

Mark Buehrle:  20.0% on his sixth ballot.  Beuhrle finally made some progress on the ballot, reaching 20% after bobbing up and down from the 10% spot.  Buehrle had a career record of 214-160 with 1,870 Strikeouts and was a five-time All-Star who won a World Series with the Chicago White Sox.  

Omar Vizquel:  18.4% on his ninth ballot.  Vizquel looked to be headed toward the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the defensively gifted Shortstop was accused of domestic violence, and his support plummeted to his lowest mark last year (17.7) from 52.6% in 2020.  11 Gold Gloves and over 2,800 Hits won’t matter.  This case is dead as dead can be.

David Wright:  14.8% on his second ballot.  Wright did climb six percent from his Hall of Fame debut, but there is a lot more work to do.  Playing for the New York Mets for his entire career, Wright played at Third Base, where he was a seven-time All-Star and won two Silver Sluggers and two Gold Gloves.  

Francisco Rodriguez:  11.8% on his fourth ballot.  Despite Rodriguez having similar numbers to Billy Wagner, he is treading water on the ballot.  K-Rod was a World Series Champion with the Angels, and recorded 457 Saves with six All-Star Games and two Rolaids Relief Awards.  

Torii Hunter:  8.7% on his sixth ballot.  Hunter remains in jeopardy of falling off the ballot, having never made double digits in the vote.  Hunter collected 2,452 Hits, smacked 353 Home Runs, and went to five All-Stars, winning nine Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.  

Failed to make 5%, and were eliminated from contention.

Ryan Braun:  3.5% on his first ballot.  Playing his entire career with the Milwaukee Brewers, Braun won the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year and 2011 NL MVP, was also a six-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger winner.  Braun, who had 1,963 Hits and 352 Home Runs, has a candidacy marred by a 2013 PED suspension and his even worse initial attempt to frame the tester.  

Edwin Encarnacion:  1.4% on his first ballot.  Encarnacion blasted 424 Home Runs over his career with three All-Star selections in tow.  

Shin-Soo Choo:  0.7% on his first ballot.  A one-time All-Star, Choo had 1,671 Hits with 218 Home Runs.  

Matt Kemp:  0.5% on his first ballot.  The NL MVP runner-up in 2011, when he won the Home Run Title, Kemp won two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, and went to three All-Star Games.  He belted 287 Home Runs with 1,808 Hits. 

Hunter Pence:  0.5% on his first ballot.   Pence won two World Series rings with the San Francisco Giants and was selected to four All-Star games.  He compiled 1,791 Hits with 244 dingers.

Rick Porcello:  0.5% on his first ballot.   Porcello won the 2016 AL Cy Young and two years later helped the Red Sox win the World Series.  He had a 150-125 record with 1,561 Strikeouts.  

Alex Gordon:  0.2% on his first ballot.   Gordon won a World Series Championship with Kansas City in 2015, and he earned three All-Star and eight Gold Glove Awards.  He had 1,643 Hits and 190 Home Runs. 

Nick Markakis:  0.5% on his first ballot.   Markakis accumulated 2,388 Hits with 189 Home Runs and was also a one-time All-Star, who won a Silver Slugger and three Gold Gloves.  

Howie Kendrick:  0% on the first ballot. An All-Star once, Kendrick had 1,747 Hits with a lifetime .294 Batting Average.  Late in his career, he won a World Series with Washington in 2019.  

Gio Gonzalez:  0% on the first ballot.  A two-time All-Star, Gonzalez went 131-101 with 1,860 Strikeouts.  

Daniel Murphy:  0% on the first ballot.  An All-Star three times, Murphy won two Silver Sluggers, the 2019 NLCS MVP, and had 1,572 Hits with a .296 Batting Average. 

Next month, we will revise our Notinhalloffame Baseball list, incorporating your votes and including those eligible in 2027.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate those who have made the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

This year yielded a bumper crop of five players inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, three elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) and two by the Classic Baseball Era iteration of the veterans committee (VC). Don't expect that for next year.

Among the first-time eligibles, and for the first time in years, there are no clear Hall of Famers on the 2026 BBWAA ballot, performance-enhancing drug (PED) taint or not. Among the returnees, it is a mop-up operation as one, maybe two, may get the call to the Hall, one will fall off the ballot while a few may do so, a few will continue to build gradual support, and the rest will discover, or continue to realize, that they've been friendzoned by the voters: I like you but not in that way.

It is with great pleasure that we have brought back the Notinhalloffame MLB Regular Cup, and let us explain how this works:

For every regular-season game, we anointed the top five players with the most points, in descending order: 5-4-3-2-1. 

We know the following:

• The top players for the MLB NIHOF Cup are not always the best in the league, as injuries keep players out of games, and a premium on staying healthy can help pile up points. It also does not hurt to be a top player on an average or mediocre team, as they can amass Cup points more easily than elite players on loaded squads.
• In Baseball, it is more common than in Basketball and Hockey for a player to accrue points with a single Home Run in a game, which favors position players. Starting Pitchers have a hard time with approximately 30-35 Starts and throwing fewer innings than previous generations. This is also true for closers not made for this process.
• Please remember that this is NOT necessarily who we think were the best players this year and does not reflect overall consistency. Treat this the way we did: as a fun process and more of a compilation of temporary statistical domination.

Here is the current top ten after games concluded on July 31.

1. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees: 156 Cup Points in 103 Games. (#1 Last Week).  6.6 bWAR, 90 Runs, 129 Hits, 37 Home Runs, 85 Runs Batted In, .342/.449/.711 Slash Line, 1.160 OPS & 216 OPS+.

2. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers:  136 Cup Points in 107 Games.  (#2 Last Week).  4.7 bWAR, 100 Runs, 113 Hits, 38 Home Runs, 73 Runs Batted In, .269/.373/.605 Slash Line, .978 OPS & 171 OPS+.

3. Pete Alonso, New York Mets: 130 Cup Points in 109 Games. (#2 Last Week).   2.4 bWAR, 54 Runs, 105 Hits, 22 Home Runs, 81 Runs Batted In, .259/.351/.491 Slash Line, .842 OPS & 142 OPS+.

4. Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners: 128 Cup Points in 107 Games. (#5 Last Week).   5.3 bWAR, 72 Runs, 103 Hits, 42 Home Runs, 88 Runs Batted In, .257/.364/.611 Slash Line, .975 OPS & 177 OPS+.

5. Manny Machado, San Diego Padres: 127 Cup Points in 109 Games. (#4 Last Week).   3.6 bWAR, 64 Runs, 127 Hits, 20 Home Runs, 71 Runs Batted In, .302/.362/.510 Slash Line, .871 OPS & 140 OPS+.

6. Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers:  112 Cup Points in 107 Games.  (#7 Last Week).  2.5 bWAR, 59 Runs, 115 Hits, 26 Home Runs, 84 Runs Batted In, .277/.324/.525 Slash Line, .850 OPS & 132 OPS+.

7 (TIE). Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies: 114 Cup Points in 108 Games.  (#10 Last Week).  3.7 bWAR, 76 Runs, 101 Hits, 37 Home Runs, 86 Runs Batted In, .253/.380/.576 Slash Line, .957 OPS & 159 OPS+.

7. (TIE). Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals: 115 Cup Points in 108 Games. (#5 Last Week).  4.3 bWAR, 66 Runs, 123 Hits, 15 Home Runs, 60 Runs Batted In, .288/.339/.492 Slash Line, .831 OPS & 128 OPS+.

9. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets: 112 Cup Points in 107 Games. (#9 Last Week).   2.8 bWAR, 68 Runs, 107 Hits, 20 Home Runs, 59 Runs Batted In, .246/.311/.430 Slash Line, .741 OPS & 113 OPS+.

10 (TIE). Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians:  108 Cup Points in 105 Games.  (#8 Last Week).  4.6 bWAR, 68 Runs, 118 Hits, 21 Home Runs, 56 Runs Batted In, .298/.371/.520 Slash Line, .891 OPS & 143 OPS+.

10 (TIE). Juan Soto, New York Mets: 108 Cup Points in 107 Games.  (Not in the Top Ten Last Week).  4.2 bWAR, 75 Runs, 94 Hits, 25 Home Runs, 62 Runs Batted In, .248/.382/.488 Slash Line, .871 OPS & 151 OPS+.

Nobody fell out of the Top Ten.

Notably, 1,011 baseball players have earned at least 1 point, up from 992 last week.

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.

After a decade of "ballot logjam," has voting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame finally returned to normal? We will know when results from the ballots cast by the qualified members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA, or "the writers") are announced on January 21, 2025, although based on voting trends over the last decade, the bulk of the results are predictable and, by now, unsurprising.

What does a "return to normal" mean? Of the 14 first-time candidates on the BBWAA 2025 ballot, only two, CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki, stand out as likely Hall of Famers, and neither are a lock for first-ballot induction. Of the 14 returning candidates, none of the "normal" candidates are automatic Hall of Famers, else they would have been elected already. Thus, there is no "ballot logjam," meaning that there are not more than ten sure-fire Hall of Famers who exceed the maximum of ten votes allowed per ballot.

Ah, November. 

Let’s first begin with what Notinhalloffame.com is thankful for…

Hall of Fame Season amps up every time this year!

Today, the Baseball Hall of Fame has announced the 2025 Ballot, which will be sent to the Baseball Writers of America.  Each committee member will send back their ballot, which can contain up to ten names from a 29-player list.  This includes 14 returning names and 15 new candidates.

To enter the Baseball Hall of Fame, a candidate must receive at least 75% of the vote.

Here are the 2025 candidates:

Billy Wagner:  73.8% last year and is now on his tenth and final ballot.  It is now or the Senior Ballot for the relief pitcher, who has worked his way up from less than 12% on his first three years of eligibility.  Wagner compiled 422 Saves (8^th All-Time) and was a seven-time All-Star.  He finished in the top ten in Cy Young voting twice and is also a former Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Year.  Ranked #42 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Andruw Jones:  61.6% last year and is now on his eighth ballot.  Jones has progressed well, especially considering that he had lower than eight percent in his first two years.  The five-time All-Star won ten Gold Gloves, smacked 434 Home Runs, 1,289 RBIs, and was the 2005 NL MVP runner-up.  Ranked #29 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Carlos Beltran:  57.1% last year and is now on his third ballot.  Have the voters punished Beltran for his role in the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal?  Probably.  Beltran has the stats for the Hall (435 HR, 1,587 RBI) and the accolades (nine All-Stars, two Silver Sluggers, and three Gold Gloves), and it is a matter of time for a player who looked like a fringe first-ballot entry.  This could be the year.  Ranked #13 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Alex Rodriguez:  34.8% last year and is now on his fourth ballot.  No player on the ballot has a better resume than A-Rod, but he has two PED suspensions on a resume with three MVPs, 10 Silver Sluggers, and two Gold Gloves.  Boasting 3,115 Hits, 696 Home Runs, and 2,086 RBIs, Rodriguez, Rodriguez can make a claim as one of the ten best players ever, but his 34.8 percent in 2024 is DOWN 0.9 from last year.  This is not a Hall of Fame path.  Ranked #3 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Manny Ramirez:  32.7% last year and is now on his ninth ballot Ramirez is in the same expensive boat as Rodriguez, as he also has the stats (555 Home Runs, 1,831 RBIs) and the awards (12 All-Stars, nine Silver Sluggers, and two World Series rings) that eclipse many Hall of Famers.  However, again, like A-Rod, Ramirez also has two PED suspensions and has treaded water on the ballot since he debuted.  Ranked #12 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Chase Utley.  28.8% last year and is now on his second ballot.  Utley is a six-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger at Second Base who owns a World Series Ring (Philadelphia 2008).  He has 259 Home Runs, 1,885 Hits, and a bWAR over 60.  Ranked #30 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Omar Vizquel:  17.7% last year and is now on his eighth ballot.  Vizquel looked to be headed toward the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the defensively gifted Shortstop was accused of domestic violence, and his support plummeted to his lowest mark last year (17.7) from 52.6% in 2020.  11 Gold Gloves and over 2,800 Hits won’t matter.  Ranked #55 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Bobby Abreu:   14.8% last year and is now on his sixth ballot.  Abreu remains on the ballot, but his total dropped 0.6% from last year.  He is a two-time All-Star with 2,470 Hits, 288 Home Runs, and a bWAR of just over 60.  Ranked #75 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Jimmy Rollins:  14.8% last year and is now on his fourth ballot.  Rollins’s 14.8% from last year was his best result, and the three-time All-Star needs a significant jump this year.  He is a former World Series winner with the Phillies, won four Gold Gloves and one Silver Slugger, and has 231 Home Runs and 2,455 Hits.  Ranked #116 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Andy Pettitte:  13.5% last year and is now on his seventh ballot.  Pettitte looks like he will miss Cooperstown, and despite the solid metrics (256-153, 2,448 SO & 60.2 bWAR) and five World Series rings, he was also popped for PEDs.  That is probably why he has only broke 15% once (17.0% in 2023).  Ranked #43 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Mark Buehrle:  8.3% last year and is now on his fifth ballot.  Beuhrle is going nowhere on the ballot, having debuted at 11%, a number he has not hit since.  Buehrle had a career record of 214-160 with 1,870 Strikeouts and was a five-time All-Star who won a World Series with the Chicago White Sox.  Ranked #73 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Francisco Rodriguez:  7.8% last year and is now on his third ballot.  Despite Rodriguez having similar numbers to Wagner, he has fallen since his 10.8% debut.  K-Rod was a World Series Champion with the Angels, and record 457 Saves with six All-Star Games and two Rolaids Relief Awards.  Ranked #127 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Torii Hunter:  7.3% last year and is now on his fifth ballot.  Hunter remains in jeopardy of falling off the ballot, having never made double digits in the vote.  Hunter collected 2,452 Hits, smacked 353 Home Runs, and went to five All-Stars, winning nine Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.  Ranked #107 on Notinhalloffame.com.

David Wright:  6.2% last year and is now on his second ballot.  Playing for the New York Mets for his entire career, Wright played at Third Base where he was a seven-time All-Star and won two Silver Sluggers and two Gold Gloves.  Ranked #90 on Notinhalloffame.com.

The following are making their debut on the ballot:

Ichiro Suzuki:   Suzuki should enter on his first ballot and make history as the first Japanese-born player to enter Cooperstown. He has a resume with 3,089 Hits, an MVP, ten All-Stars, ten Gold Gloves, and two Silver Sluggers, as well as a lifetime Batting Average of .311. Ranked #5 on Notinhalloffame.com. 

C.C. Sabathia:  A five-time All-Star and former Cy Young winner, Sabathia won a World Series with the Yankees and had a career record of 251-161 with 3,093 Strikeouts. He is arguably now the best Pitcher on the ballot. Ranked #29 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Felix Hernandez:  “King Felix” won a Cy Young Award with the Mariners, where he had a lifetime record of 169-136 with 2,524 Strikeouts.  He was also a five-time All-Star and twice led the AL in ERA. Ranked #66 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Dustin Pedroia:  Pedroia helped the Red Sox win two World Series Championships and individually was an MVP with four Gold Gloves four All-Stars, and a Silver Slugger.  He compiled 1,805 Hits. Ranked #89 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Ian Kinsler:  A World Series Champion with Boston in 2018, Kinsler had his best years earlier with Texas and Detroit, where he went to four All-Star Games and won two Silver Sluggers.  He had 257 Home Runs and 1,999 Hits.  Ranked #261 on Notinhalloffame.com

Carlos Gonzalez: Gonzalez was a three-time All-Star who also won three Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, and a Batting Title.  He had 234 Home Runs and 1,432 Hits.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Curtis Granderson:  Granderson belted 344 Home Runs with 1,800 Hits and was a three-time All-Star.  Unranked on Nothinhalloffame.com.

Adam Jones:  A five-time All-Star with a Silver Slugger and 282 Home Runs, Jones was also a five-time Gold Glove winner.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Russell Martin:  The Catcher went to four All-Star Games and was a one-time Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com

Brian McCann:  A World Series winner with the Astros, McCann was a seven-time All-Star and six-time Silver Slugger at Catcher with 282 Home Runs.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Hanley Ramirez:  A former Rookie of the Year, Ramirez had 271 Home Runs with three All-Stars, two Silver Sluggers and a Batting Title. Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Fernando Rodney:  Rodney won a World Series Ring with the Nationals and had 327 Saves.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com

Troy Tulowitzki:  Tulo has a pair of Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves and was a five-time All-Star.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Ben Zobrist:   The infielder had 1,566 Hits, was a three-time All-Star and won two World Series rings, one with Kansas Cty and one with the Chicago Cubs.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Clay Bucholz, Francisco Liriano, Ian Desmond, Jason Vargas, Kendrys Morales, Mark Reynolds, Mark Trumbo, Martin Prado and Melky Cabrera all played enough seasons to qualify for the ballot but were left off.

.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate those who have made the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

The Hall of Fame season is in full swing as the Baseball Hall of Fame vote has been tabulated and we have three new inductees who were voted in by the writers.  Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer will become enshrined in the most prestigious sports hall of fame this summer, and we are thrilled that we have a large class.  They will join Jim Leyland, who was inducted by the Veteran’s Committee.

The inductees:

Adrian Beltre: 95.1% on his first ballot.  The Third Baseman was considered by everyone to be a first ballot lock, and today the Dominican made that projection come true.  He brings to Cooperstown a resume that had 3,166 Hits, 487 Home Runs, 1,707 RBIs, five Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers, five Gold Gloves and two Platinum Gloves.  Playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle, Boston and Texas, Beltre was never an MVP but finished in the top ten five times.  Amazingly, Beltre did not really look like a Hall of Fame possibility until he was past 30, as his second half eclipsed his first.

Todd Helton: 79.7% on his fifth ballot.   Helton jumped from 52.0 from last year, and came a long way from the 16.5% from year one.  He enjoyed the entirety of his career with the Colorado Rockies, where he smacked 369 Home Runs with 2,519 Hits and 1,405 RBIs.  Finishing his career as a member of the lifetime 3/4/5 club (.316/.414/.539), went to five All-Star Games, won three Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers and owns a Batting Title.  He joins Larry Walker in joining Cooperstown while donning the “CR”. 

Joe Mauer:  76.1% on his first ballot.  Mauer’s election gives us two first ballot inductees, but unlike Beltre, Mauer’s Cooperstown career was spent with one team, Minnesota.  One of the best hitting Catchers of all-time, Mauer won the MVP in 2009 in the season he won his third Batting Title.  Mauer was. Six-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger and three-time Gold Glove winner.  He recorded 2,123 Hits with a lifetime .306 Batting Average.  He is a minor surprise to make it as a first ballot entry.

Failing to make the Baseball Hall of Fame were:

Billy Wagner: 73.8% on his eighth ballot.  Wagner fell five votes shy of the Hall, but momentum is certainly on his side, even though there are only two years left of eligibility.  This is phenomenal progress for a player who was under 20% in his first four years.  With 422 career Saves (6^th all-time), Wagner was a seven-time All-Star with a lifetime ERA of 2.31 and WHIP of 0.998. 

Gary Sheffield: 63.9% on his tenth and final ballot.   It is off to the Veteran’s Committee for Sheffield, and while that worked for Fred McGriff, this might not be the case for Sheffield who was suspected of PED use.  Sheffield’s numbers are overall better than McGriff, with 509 Home Runs, 1,676 RBIs, 253 Stolen Bases and a Slash Line of .292/.393/.514.  Chalk “Shef” as a member of the all Non-Cooperstown team.

Andruw Jones: 61.6% on his seventh ballot.  Jones has a unique resume with 434 Home Runs and 19 Gold Gloves, and when you throw in five All-Stars and a Major League Player of the Year Award, this is a player who feels like he should be in already.  He only moved up 3.5% from last year, but Jones has come a long way from his first two years where he was just hanging on with over 7%. 

Carlos Beltran: 57.1% on his second ballot.  Had it not been for the sign-stealing scandal in his final, and World Series winning year, Beltran would have probably been a first ballot inductee.  He has the stats for it with 2,625 Hits, 435 Home Runs, 1,578 RBIs and 312 Stolen Bases, and the accoladed (nine All-Stars, two Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves, but this is a message by the voting body.  He moved up 10.5% from last year, and he will get in eventually.

Alex Rodriguez:  34.8% on his third ballot.  Nobody had a better resume on this ballot than A-Rod.  Three MVPs, 10 Silver Sluggers, 696 Home Runs, 3,115 Hits, 2,021 Runs and 2,086 RBIs dwarves what many Cooperstown inductee have, but so does one other stat:  two PED suspensions.  You would think that Rodriguez’s work on Fox might show that he is forgiven, but clearly, he isn’t.  His total went down from 35.7 in 2023, and why should we think anything will change for him moving forward?

Manny Ramirez:  32.5% on his eighth ballot.  Like Rodriguez, Ramirez should be in the Hall.  Owning a lifetime Slash Line of .312/.411/.585, 555 Home Runs, 1,831 RBIs, 12 All-Stars and nine Silver Sluggers, Ramirez was the catalyst of Boston’s two World Series Championships in the 2000s.  However, again like A-Rod, Man-Ram was also popped for PEDs twice.  He also dropped from last year, descending .7%. 

Chase Utley: 28.8 on his first ballot.  A six-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger, Utley’s strength lies on his sabermetrics (64.5 bWAR) and a 28.8 debut is a lot better than what Helton got.  This is not a bat start.

Omar Vizquel:  17.7% on his seventh ballot.  Ob boy.  Vizquel was on track for the Hall.  Voters loved his defense (11 Gold Gloves), and though he was a light hitter, he stayed around so long that he accumulated 2,877 Hits.  He had 37.0 percent on his first ballot, and reached 52.6 in year three.  However, he dropped to 49.1, as while votes were submitted, domestic allegations emerged.  As they were credible, he plummeted to 23.9 in 2022, and has trended downward with 19.5 in 2023 and his now new low of 17.7.  Here is another number.  0.0.  Those are his Hall of Fame chances.

Jimmy Rollins:  14.8% on his third ballot.  Inching up from 12.9 %, Rollins is a former MVP and World Series winner with Philadelphia and had 2,455 Hits with 231 Home Runs.  The Shortstop also went to three All-Star Games and won four Gold Gloves.

Bobby Abreu:  14.8% on his fifth ballot.  Abreu reminds surprisingly low as his 60.2 bWAR puts him in line with others in the Hall.  Throw in 2,460 Hits, 288 HR, and a lifetime OBP of .395, he has the credentials, but he was only an All-Star twice and never sought attention.  Abreu fell 0.6% from last year.

Andy Pettitte:  13.5% on his sixth ballot.  Pettitte had a career record of 256 and 153 with 2,448 Strikeouts, three All-Stars and five World Series rings.  The latter credential, and his performance in them should put him much higher, but Pettitte is an admitted PED user.  That is probably enough for a lot of voters to pass on him. 

Mark Buehrle:  8.3% on his fourth ballot. The five-time All-Star and World Series Champion with the Chicago White Sox had 214 Wins but only had one year where he received Cy Young votes.  The Pitcher dropped from 10.8%, and is treading water at this point.

Francisco Rodriguez:  7.8% on his second ballot.  Rodriguez has 437 Saves, five All-Stars and is best known for exploding out of the gate leading the Angels to their first World Series Championship.  He had a disappointing drop from 10.8 on year two.

Torii Hunter:  7.3% on his fourth ballot.  Hunter hangs on for life, but has never broke double-digits, and is down from year one’s number of 9.5%.  He was a five-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove winner and two-time Silver Slugger with a 50.7 bWAR, 353 Home Runs and 1,391 RBIs. 

David Wright: 6.2% on his 1^st ballot.  Wright loves to fight another day, but it won’t get easier going forward.  The career Met went to seven All-Star Games and won two Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers, but faces a tall order to enter the Hall.  We do think he should be honored by New York as soon as possible.

Falling off of the ballot:

Jose Bautista:  1.6% on his first, only and last ballot.  Bautista entered the Blue Jays Ring of Excellence last year, but this Hall will elude the former slugger.  He blasted 344 Home Runs, won three Silver Sluggers and went to five All-Star Games.

Victor Martinez:  1.6% on his first, only and last ballot.  Martinez exits on his first try after a five All-Stars, two Silver Sluggers and 295 Home Runs.

Bartolo Colon:  1.3% on his first, only and last ballot.  The big man had a disappointing showing considering he won 247 Games and a Cy Young, but as popular as he was, he was suspended for PEDs.  That still seems weird, doesn’t it?

Matt Holliday:  1.0% on his first, only and last ballot.  The Outfielder won a World Series with St. Louis in 2011, and was a seven-time All-Star.  He also won a Batting Title, NLCS MVP and four Silver Sluggers.

Adrian Gonzalez:  0.8% on his first, only and last ballot.  Gonzalez had a good career with five All-Stars, four Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and 317 Home Runs.

Brandon Phillips:  0.3% on his first, only and last ballot.  Phillips received a single vote after a nice career that saw him belt 211 Home Runs with 2,029 Hits.

Jose Reyes:  0.0% on his first, only and last ballot.  Reyes had a good career, but it had its share of controversies that likely cost him from receiving a vote.  When we get around to the dream team of players who were shutout does Reyes belong on it?  2,138 Hits, a Batting Title and 517 SB tells us he might.

James Shields:  0.0% on his first, only and last ballot.  While he received no votes, he belonged on the ballot with a respectable 145 Wins and 2,234 Strikeouts.

We will now begin work on revising the Notinhallofame.com Baseball List of those to consider for the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Look for that later next month.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the impending members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The clock begins!

The National Baseball Hall of Fame has unveiled the official Modern Hall of Fame ballot for the 2024 Class, and it features 26 men, 14 of whom are returning names.

Alphabetically, they are:

Bobby Abreu:  5^th Year, 15.4 percent last year.  Abreu was one of the game’s most patient hitters, having drawn 1,476 career Walks, while batting over .300 six times.  A two-time All-Star, Abreu won one Silver Slugger, one Gold Glove and scored 100 Runs over eight times.

Jose Batista:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Batista is best known for his bat flip and time as a Toronto Blue Jay where he won back-to-back Home Run Titles and Hank Aaron Awards.  He went to six All-Star Games and won three Silver Sluggers.

Carlos Beltran:  2^nd Year, 46.5% percent last year.  Beltran is one of four players (along with Barry Bonds, Willie Mays & Alex Rodriguez) who has at least 1,500 Runs, 2,700 Hits, 400 Home Runs and 300 Stolen Bases.  He went to nine All-Star Games, won three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.  He is a former Rookie of the Year and won the World Series in his final season.

Adrian Beltre:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Beltre played most of his career at Third Base and is one of the few players in MLB history to have at least 3,000 Hits and 450 Home Runs.  He is a four-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger and won five Gold Gloves.  He also batted over .300 seven times.

Mark Buehrle:  4^th Year, 10.7 percent last year.  Buehrle went to five All-Star Games and recorded a record 14 200-inning years in the American League.  He won four Gold Gloves and threw a no-hitter.  Buehrle also won at least 13 Games twelve times.

Bartolo Colon:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Colon won the 2005 AL Cy Young and was an All-Star four times.  He led the league in Wins once, and topped 15 in that statistic nine times with 247 in total.  Colon also is 36^th all-time in Strikeouts with 2,535.

Adrian Gonzalez:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Gonzalez went to five All-Star Games, won five Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.  He had 317 Home Runs over his career.

Todd Helton:  6^th Year, 72.2 percent last year.  Helton was a five-time All-Star who played all 17 of seasons with the Colorado Rockies.  The First Baseman had three Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers and smacked 30 Home Runs in six different seasons.  He also batted .300 12 times, and won one Batting Title.

Matt Holliday:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Holliday went to seven All-Star Games and won four Silver Sluggers playing at Leftfield.  He won the World Series with St. Louis in 2011.

Torii Hunter:  4^th Year, 6.9 percent last year.   Hunter won nine Gold Gloves, two Silver Slugger and was chosen for five All-Star Games.  He was one of the most exciting players of his day.

Andruw Jones:  7^th Year, 58.1 percent last year.  Jones was a five-time All-Star, a ten-time Gold Glove recipient and won the 2005 NL Home Run Title.  He is in the top fifty all-time in Home Runs with 434.

Victor Martinez:  1^st Year on the Ballot.  Martinez won two Silver Sluggers, was a five-time All-Star, and he had eight .300 seasons.  He is one of four Catchers (along with Carlton Fisk, Ivan Rodriguez and Ted Simmons) with at least 2,000 Hits, 400 Doubles and 200 Home Runs.

Joe Mauer:  1^st Year on the Ballot:  Mauer played all fifteen of his seasons with the Twins where he won the 2009 MVP.  He is the only Catcher to win three Batting Titles, and he went to Six All-Star Games, and won five Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves.

Andy Pettitte:  6^th Year, 17.0 percent last year.  Pettitte won five World Series Rings with the New York Yankees, and had eight 15-Win years.  He went to three All-Star Games and exceeded 200 Innings ten times.

Brandon Phillips:  1^st Year on the Ballot.  Phillips was a three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner at Second Base.

Manny Ramirez:  8^th Year, 33.2 percent last year.  Twice suspended for PEDs, Ramirez has the stats for the Hall with twelve All-Stars, nine Silver Sluggers and two Hank Aaron Awards.  Ramirez batted over .300 eleven times, won three OBP Titles, three Slugging Titles and one Home Run Title.  He is 12^th all-time in Slugging (.585), 15^th in Home Runs (555) and 20^th in RBIs (1,831).  Ramirez also won two World Series Rings with the Red Sox, winning the MVP in the first one.

Jose Reyes:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Reyes went to four All-Stars and won one Silver Slugger and Batting Title.

Alex Rodriguez:  3^rd Year, 35.7 percent last year.  Like Ramirez, A-Rod has the stats for the Hall, but was popped twice for PEDs.  He won three MVPs, ten Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves and went to 14 All-Star Games.  Rodriguez belted 30 Home Runs in fifteen different seasons, and won five Home Run Titles.  He is fourth all-time in RBIs (2,086), fifth in Home Runs (696) and 23^rd in Hits (3,115).

Francisco Rodriguez:  2^nd Year, 10.8 percent last year.  Rodriguez went to six All-Star Games, won two Rolaids Relief Awards, and led the league in Saves three times.  He won the World Series in 2002 with the Angels and is fourth all-time in Saves (434).

Jimmy Rollins:  3^rd Year, 12.9 percent last year.  Rollins’ best years were in Philadelphia where he won the 2007 MVP and the 2008 World Series.  He also won four Gold Gloves, was a three-time All-Star, and led the NL in Triples four times.

Gary Sheffield:  10^th Year, 55.0 percent last year.  A 22-year veteran, Sheffield went to nine All-Star Games, won a World Series with the Marlins and also owns five Silver Sluggers.  The Outfielder also has a Batting Title, and is 27^th all-time in Home Runs (509).

James Shields:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Shields played 13 years and was an All-Star once.  He posted at least 10 Wins nine years in a row, and was part of two American League Championship Teams.

Chase Utley:  1^st Year on the ballot.  Utley played most of his career with Philadelphia where he won the 2008 World Series, appeared in six All-Star Games, and captured four Silver Sluggers as a Second Baseman.

Omar Vizquel:  7^th Year,19.5 percent last year.  Vizquel’s Hall of Fame momentum was derailed by domestic violence allegations which could prevent the 11-time Gold Glove and three-time All-Star from enshrinement.  He is also 44^th all-time in Hits (2,877).

Billy Wagner:  9^th Year, 68.1 percent last year.  Wagner is sixth all-time in Saves (422), and second among southpaws.  He won one Rolaids Relief Award and went to seven All-Star Games.

David Wright:  1^st Year on the Ballot.  The Third Baseman went to seven All-Star Games and won two Silver Sluggers and two Gold Gloves.

We will be paying attention in the upcoming weeks as the votes trickle in.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate those who have made it this far.

Last month, the Baseball Hall of Fame elected Scott Rolen into their midst; a month after the Veteran’s Committee unanimously chose Fred McGriff for the Class of 2023.

This means that for us at Notinhalloffame.com, it is time to revise one of our most important lists, the top 300 Baseball players who we feel are deserving for a look at enshrinement in Cooperstown.

Our list looks at the following criteria:

1. Traditional and advanced statistics.

2. Playoff performance.

3. Impact and influence.

4. Your votes and comments.

We take all of these factors into consideration (especially your input), but as years go by, it becomes more difficult to rank players, especially since many of those eligible are tainted with activity that has kept them out.  Regardless of how Baseball may have decreased in popularity over the past decades, this is still the pre-eminent sports Hall of Fame in North America, and the standard by which all others are judged.

Specifically for the 2023 list, adjustments were made by removing Rolen and McGriff, factoring in your collective input, and adding former players who are eligible for the 2024 vote.

Our entire list of 300 can be found here, but below, we are pleased to present the Notinhalloffame.com Baseball top 20.

Remaining at #1 is Barry Bonds, the all-time leader in Home Runs (762) and is a seven-time MVP.  Controversy overshadows the power hitter, who is universally believed to have taken PEDs, though never tested positive.  Bonds concluded his ten years on the modern era ballot with 66%, and had there been 15 years like there were previously, he might have made it.  He was on the recent Veteran’s Committee ballot that included McGriff, though Bonds failed to gain the minimum votes needed to even have his number made public.  Bluntly, this means that Bonds is further than ever for Hall of Fame induction, as his peers do not view him as worthy.  We suspect that Bonds will forever be the most potent hitter to never see a plaque in the Hall, and could remain #1 here for decades (unless, your votes and comments plumet him from the top spot.

Roger Clemens also remains fixed at #2, and most of what we said about Bonds, applies to Clemens, only that he is a Pitcher.  A seven-time Cy Young winner, the “Rocket” never was suspended for PEDs, but the clouds around him are ominous, and he also did not win over a lot of friends in the media.  Just like Bonds, Clemens had his highest total on his last year of modern eligibility, and did not gain enough votes on his first Veteran Ballot for his tally to be known.  

Remaining at #3 is Alex Rodriguez, who was arguably the top player of the 2000s, and he will enter his third year of Modern eligibility.  There was nobody (Bonds and Clemens included) whose first year on the ballot intrigued us the most.  Unlike Bonds and Clemens, A-ROD DID test positive and served the longest suspension in MLB history.  At one time, he was the most hated man in all of sports, yet here we are in 2023 where he has a job with Fox Sports, and was in a high-profile relationship with Jennifer Lopez.  His marginal improvement in the 2023 vote does not forecast a Hall of Fame for Rodriguez.

With Pete Rose staying at #4, we have another player who looks to be forever to remain on the outside-looking-in.  Baseball’s all-time hit king was banned from Baseball for gambling on the sport, though he has recently made some appearances.  The Baseball Hall of Fame has followed the edict of MLB (although they don’t actually have to) and never added him to a ballot of any kind.  Even if he is reinstated, he would still have to appear on a Veteran’s Committee ballot, and that group would have to choose him.

With “Shoeless” Joe Jackson at #5, we have a top five (our only) where it is likely that none will ever receive the call. Banned in 1920 for allegedly conspiring to throw the World Series from the year before, Jackson maintained his innocence, and there many suspect that the Outfielder, who may have known about it, did not participate, which reflects his 1919 postseason statistics.

This takes us to #6, Adrian Beltre, who enters his first year on the ballot, and is a bona fide threat to enter on his first attempt.  He brings a resume of 3,166 Hits, 477 Home Runs, four All-Stars, four Silver Sluggers and five Silver Sluggers.

Falling one spot to #7 is he former career-Tiger, Lou Whitaker.  The Second Baseman and World Series Champion was a one-and-done on his only year on the ballot and is one of the most egregious omissions from the multi-ballot club.  

Bill Dahlen, a previous Veterans Committee nominee, is at #8.  We expect that he will be on the next one for his respective era. 

Dropping one to #9 is Curt Schilling, whose war with the media (and possibly his right-wing politics) resulted in his perpetual snub.  At the end of his run on the Modern Era ballot, the Pitcher asked the voters not to select him, and many acquiesced.  Schilling was on the same Veteran’s Committee ballot that Bonds and Schilling was on, and though he also was denied induction, he fared much better, gaining 6 votes.

Rounding out the top ten is Manny Ramirez, who though is still on the ballot is running out of time.  If Alex Rodriguez is unlikely to get elected, Ramirez has no shot, as he too was suspended, and has weaker (though Hall of Fame worthy) stats than A-Rod.

Todd Helton stays at #11.  The “Toddfather” missed out on Cooperstown this year with 72.2 of the vote, but next year on 2024 looks promising for Helton, who enters year number six on the ballot.

Boston’s most wanted for the Hall of Fame, Dwight Evans, holds firm at #12.

Pre-1900 Pitcher, Jim McCormick, advances two spots to #13. 

Carlos Beltran had a bit of tumble from #10 to #14.  Like others above, Beltran has the stats, but is paying a penance for his prominent role in the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal.  He received only…. 1st   And we suspect that many voters wanted to make him wait a year.  Beltran will likely jump significantly on his second vote.

Tommy John, whose career-saving surgery named after him is recognized by the Hall, fell one spot to #15.

The final five of the top twenty all hold the same positions as last year, respectively being; Roger Maris (#16), Dick Allen (#17), Mark McGwire, (#18), Dave Parker (#19) and Rafael Palmeiro (#20).

There are other new entries on our list.  They are:

Chase Utley (#28), Joe Mauer (#37), Bartolo Colon (#77), David Wright (#89), Jose Bautista (#220) and Jose Reyes (#271)

We are now going to begin work on revising or Notinhalloffame.com Football 300, where we rank those to consider for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

As always, we thank you for your support, and ask you to continue with your votes and comments.

If you are a Baseball fan, today is the day in “Hall of Fame Season” that is the pinnacle: the annual announcement of the Baseball Hall of Fame Class.

Rolen enters the ballot on his 6^th year on the ballot.  Increasing his total from 63.2% to squeaking in with 76.3%, Rolen was a seven-time All-Star, a World Series Champion in 2006 with St. Louis and he also won eight Gold Gloves at Third Base and one Silver Slugger.  He enters Cooperstown with 2,077 Hits, 316 Home Runs, a bWAR of 70.1 and a decision as to which hat he will wear on his plaque (it has to be St. Louis, right?).  Ranked #15 on Notinhalloffame.com.

The players who did not make the Hall were:

Todd Helton, 72.2%, 5^th Year on the Ballot.  Helton looks like he will wait one more year, but he is getting in, showing a 20.2% rise from the year before.  The “Toddfather” blasted 369 Home Runs with 2,519 Hits with a lifetime Batting Average of .316, and the five-time All-Star had four Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves.  Helton is ranked #11 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Billy Wagner, 68.1%, 8^th Year on the Ballot:  Wagner keeps getting closer, showing a sizable increase from his 51% from last year.  The former seven-time All-Star and owner of 422 Saves looks to be the next Relief Pitcher to be inducted. Wagner is ranked #41 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Andruw Jones, 58.1%, 6^th Year on the Ballot:  We were stunned when in both 2018 and 2019, that Jones had less then 10% of the votes, and how could we not be!  The native of Curacao has 434 Home Runs, a bWAR over 60, a Silver Slugger and ten Gold Gloves.  Last year, Jones had 41.4%, and his voting rise tells us that he will enter this decade.  Jones is ranked #38 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Gary Sheffield, 55.0%, 9^th Year on the Ballot:  Sheffield is a member of the 500 Home Run club, but the nine-time All-Star played for eight different teams, and his appearance on the Mitchell Report does him no favors.  He climbed substantially from 40.6%, but he only has one more shot.  He won’t get there.  Sheffield is ranked #22 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Carlos Beltran, 46.5%, 1^st Year on the Ballot.  Betran has the Hall of Fame resume (2,725 Hits, 435 HR, 1,587 RBI, 312 SB & 70.1 bWAR) but we suspect that many voters wanted Beltran to pay penance for his lead   role in the Astros 2017 sign-stealing cheating scandal.  Beltran is ranked #10 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Jeff Kent, 46.5%, 10^th Year on the Ballot.  It is the end of the road for Kent, who was a former MVP.  His tally this year is his highest on the Modern Era ballot, and he now moves into the Senior Pool.  Kent is ranked #50 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Alex Rodriguez, 35.7%, 2^nd Year on the Ballot.  A-Rod has the best resume on the ballot.  He is a three-time MVP, 14-time All-Star, ten-time Silver Slugger and three-time Gold Glove winner.  His bWAR is over 115.  He is a World Series Champion.  That will not be enough to overturn his multiple positive PED tests, and no relationship with J-Lo or anyone of her ilk will overcome this.  He did improve from last year’s 34.3, but not by much.  Rodriguez is ranked #3 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Manny Ramirez, 33.2%, 7^th Year on the Ballot.  Manny Ramirez is one of the most important players in Red Sox history, but like A-Rod, he was caught taking PEDs after the MLBPA agreed to that players would be suspended if caught.  Ramirez will continue to tread water until he is ushered off the ballot in three years.  He is Ranked #9 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Omar Vizquel 19.5%, 6^th Year on the ballot   PEDs have derailed many potential Hall of Famers on this list, but for Vizquel it is domestic violence.  When that scandal came out, the 11-time Gold Glove recipient, who was once at 52.0% of the voting, dropped to 23.9% and is now even lower at 19.5%.  He has no chance.  Vizquel is ranked #49 on Notinhalloffame.com. 

Andy Pettitte, 17.0%, 5^th Year on the Ballot.  Pettitte won 256 Games over his career, won five World Series Rings, but also has a positive PED test, which is costing him a plethora of votes.  He is ranked #39 o Notinhalloffame.com.

Bobby Abreu, 15.4%, 4^th Year on the Ballot.  Abreu amassed 2,425 Hits, was a two-time All-Star and he breaks double-digits in voting for the first time.  It is still a tough task for Abreu, but based on his plate-patience, he can wait!  He is ranked #77 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Jimmy Rollins, 12.9%, 2^nd Year on the Ballot.  The former World Series Champion and MVP remains on the ballot with excellent power numbers, but lousy advanced metrics.  He is Ranked #110 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Mark Buehrle, 10.8%, 3^rd Year on the Ballot.  Buehrle continues to cling to the ballot, but is yo-yoing, going from 11.0% to 5.8% and now back up to.  Ranked #79 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Francisco Rodriguez 10.8% 1^st Year on the ballot.  K-Rod survives the first ballot, and he has similar numbers as Wagner; 437 Saves, but owns a World Series Ring.  Ranked #172 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Torii Hunter 6.9%, 3^rd Year on the Ballot.  Hunter continues to hang on for life on the ballot and at this point that might be the best you can hope for.  Ranked #194 on Notinhalloffame.com. 

Any candidate who received less that 5.0% of the votes are now removed from the modern era ballot.

This means that those who received 0.3% (Bronson Arroyo, R.A. Dickey, John Lackey, Mike Napoli and Huston Street) and 0.0% (Matt Cain, Jacoby Ellsbury, Andre Ethier, J.J. Hardy, Jhonny Peralta, Jared Weaver and Jayson Werth) are eliminated.

We will now remove Fred McGriff and Scott Rolen from our Notinhalloffame Baseball List and add those who are now eligible.  The list will also be revised based on your votes, comments, and social media interactions.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and we will see you this summer at Cooperstown!

Days from the January 24, 2023, announcement by the National Baseball Hall of Fame of candidates who may have been elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), the burning question is not who those candidates, if any, will be. Instead, the burning question is: What morality are BBWAA voters going to legislate for the Hall of Saints this year?

For more than a decade, the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs (PED) has consumed discussion about who should or should not be elected to the Hall, capped by the late Hall of Famer Joe Morgan's now-infamous 2017 missive to voters about keeping the PED Penitents out of Cooperstown. But although the PED predicament remains—among the returning candidates on the 2023 BBWAA ballot are Manny Ramirez and Álex Rodriguez—voters are now finding other performance flaws in candidates to deny them entrance to the Hallowed Hall.

Is it that time again!

One of our core lists on Notinhalloffame.com, our Baseball list of those to consider for the Baseball Hall of Fame has been revised.

The steps in our revisions are basic:

-Remove all of those who were inducted.  This included David Ortiz (#8), Gil Hodges (#11), Minnie Miniso (#14), Jim Kaat (#20) and Tony Oliva (#27).

-Input those we think worthy who are now eligible.

-Adjust rankings based on your votes and comments.

Before we announce our top ten, note that we did one major change.  We used to have three number ones, with Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson appearing as 1A and 1B since our inception, as both were deemed ineligible.  We have altered this with no multiples at the top, and although Rose and Jackson are still not welcome into Cooperstown, we disagree, and will keep them ranked.

The entire list can be found here, but here is our new top ten:

#1. Barry Bonds.  Bonds’ ten years of eligibility may have ended a few months ago, but the all-time leader in Home Runs leader won seven MVPs, despite there being a cloud of PED suspicion around him.  His chances now lie with the Veteran’s Committee.  Bonds was ranked at 1C last year.

#2. Roger Clemens.  Clemens is like Bonds, in that he too ended his regular stay on the ballot, and was likely excluded due to the belief that he might have used PEDs.  Clemens won the Cy Young seven times, and remains at #2.  

#3. Alex Rodriguez.  Unlike Bonds and Clemens, Rodriguez DID test positive for PEDs, which happened after the 2004 agreement between the players and MLB that outlawed the enhancers.  A-Rod was on his first year of eligibility, drawing only 34.3% of the vote, despite being a three-time MVP.  He holds the same rank as last year.

#4. Pete Rose.  Rose is the all-time leader in Hits, but he has been from baseball for gambling on the sport.  Ranked at #1A last year, Rose drops considerable on this list, but despite the issues of the players of above him, Rose actually has a significantly lower bWAR than Bonds, Clemens and Rodriguez.

#5. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.  Ranked #1B last year, Jackson is ineligible for the Hall due to his possible participation in the throwing of the 1919 World Series.  That being said, there are many, including us, who feel that he belongs.

#6. Lou Whitaker.  The former Tigers Second Baseman might not have lasted more than one year on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he was once on the Veteran’s Ballot, and is considered one of the more egregious snubs by sabremetricians.  He was ranked #4 last year.

#7. Bill Dahlen.  Dahlen was a previous Veteran’s Committee Nominee, and that is still the route in which he needs to gain entry to Cooperstown.  The Shortstop was a two-time leader in Defensive bWAR and won a World Series Ring with the Giants in 1905.  He was ranked #5 last year.

8. Curt Schilling.  Schilling asked to be removed off of the ballot, and that didn’t happen, and many of the voters acquiesced to his later request to be removed from consideration.  On his last year on the ballot, Schilling dropped from 71.1 to 58.6, and despite his resume, it is conceivable that he will never see a Veteran’s Committee ballot.

9. Manny Ramirez.  Ramirez entered the ballot in 2017, and offensively he statistically had a better resume than Ivan Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero, both of which are now in Cooperstown.  He is in the same vein as A-Rod, as he was popped for PEDs as a player.  Ramirez will enter his seventh year on the ballot, but has yet to crack 30%.

10. Carlos Beltran.  Beltran is the only new entry in his first year of eligibility, and the nine-time All-Star has the stats for the Hall, but his recent scandal involving the Astros World Series win, could cost him some votes.

There were other new entries, including closer, Francisco Rodriguez, who debuts at #172.  To close off the list, a new #300 had to come in, which was Derrek Lee.

Thank you all for your support, and we encourage you to cast your votes and offer your opinions.

On a ballot packed with qualified candidates for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is it possible that none of them will be elected this year?

If that happens, as it did last year, it would be the third time in the last decade that the qualified voters of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) have thrown a shutout at the Hall of Fame. This is an odd paradox considering that after the Big Zilch of 2013, the BBWAA in subsequent years went on to elect 22 players across the next seven ballots, with the various guises of the veterans committee voting in another five players (and six non-players) during that seven-year span. (In 2013, the veterans committee did elect three candidates to the Hall.)

Last year, Curt Schilling, who had garnered 70 percent of the vote on the previous ballot, seemed to be a lock for election. Instead, he stalled with a negligible increase in support, then threw a social-media Trumper tantrum declaring that he wanted to be removed from this year's ballot. The Hall of Fame quickly responded that it would not do so.

It’s on!

The 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is officially out with seventeen returning players and thirteen new first year eligible names.

To return on the ballot, a player must be within their ten years of eligibility and received at least 5% of the vote.

The returning former players are: (with their year of eligibility and last year’s result)

Curt Schilling: 10^th Year, 71.1%

Barry Bonds: 10^th Year, 61.8%

Roger Clemens: 10^th Year, 61.6%

Scott Rolen: 5^th Year, 52.9%

Omar Vizquel, 5^th Year, 49.1%

Billy Wagner, 7^th Year, 46.4%

Todd Helton,4^th Year, 44.9%

Gary Sheffield, 8^th Year, 40.6 %

Andruw Jones, 5^th Year, 33.9%

Jeff Kent, 9^th Year, 32.4%

Manny Ramirez, 6^th Year, 28.2%

Sammy Sosa, 10^th Year, 17.0%

Andy Pettitte, 4^th Year, 13.7%

Mark Buehrle, 2^nd Year, 11.0%

Torii Hunter, 2^nd Year, 9.5%

Bobby Abreu, 3^rd Year, 8.7%

Tim Hudson, 2^nd Year, 5.2%

The new former players are:

Carl Crawford

Prince Fielder

Ryan Howard

Tim Lincecum

Justin Morneau

Joe Nathan

David Ortiz

Jonathan Papelbon

Jake Peavy

A.J. Pierzynski

Alex Rodriguez

Jimmy Rollins

Mark Teixeira

Notably Coco Crisp, Marlon Byrd, Michael Bourn, Kyle Lohse, Angel Pagan, Omar Infante, Matt Thornton, Billy Butler, Colby Lewis, Jeff Francoer, Javier Lopez and Ryan Vogelsong were eligible this year, but were not included on the ballot.

The results will be announced on January 25, 2022. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com thought it would be fun to take a look at the major awards in North American team sports and see how it translates into Hall of Fame potential.

Needless to say, different awards in different sports yield hall of fame potential.  In basketball, the team sport with the least number of players on a roster, the dividend for greatness much higher.  In baseball, it is not as much as a great individual season does not have the same impact.

Last time, we looked at the ALCS or NLCS MVPs.  We have one major baseball award left, the Hank Aaron Award, which is given annually to the best hitter in each league.  It is named after Aaron, who was one of the most prolific hitters of all-time.

The trophy first came into existence in 1999, with one awarded in each league.

So how many Hank Aaron Award winners have made the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Let’s find out!

The following are the past players who have won the Hank Aaron Award who are eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame and have been enshrined.

2006 AL: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees, Third Base, 14 HR, 97 RBI, .343/.417/.483            

Derek Jeter is one of the most popular players in Yankees history, which is incredible considering how many legends wore the pinstripes.  In 2006, Jeter had already won the World Series four times, and he went to his seventh All-Star Game, while earning his first Silver Slugger.  Jeter was the runner-up for the MVP this year.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020.

2009 AL: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees, Third Base, 18 HR, 66 RBI, .334/.406/.465 (2)            

Jeter finished third in MVP voting this year, and he collected his fourth consecutive Silver Slugger.  He would lead New York to another World Series win, his fifth, and he played until 2014, collecting 3,465 Hits with a .310 lifetime Batting Average.  Jeter was overall a 14-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, five-time Gold Glove winner, who also smacked 260 Home Runs with 1,311 RBIs.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020.

The following are the players who have won the Hank Aaron Award who are eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame and have not been selected:

1999 AL: Manny Ramirez, Cleveland Indians, Outfield, 44 HR, 165 RBI, .333/.442/.633.            

Ramirez had already proven himself as a star, but this season, he led the American League in RBIs with 165, which would be a career-high.  An All-Star for the third time, Ramirez also led the league in Slugging Percentage, OPS (1.105) and was third in MVP voting.  He also won the Silver Slugger.

Eligible Since 2017.  Ramirez has been on the ballot for five years, finishing as high as 28.2% in both 2019 and 2020.  Ranked #7 on Notinhalloffame.com  

1999 NL: Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs, Outfield, 63 HR, 141 RBI, .288/.367/.635, 1999, NL            

Sosa was the 1998 National League MVP, and was ninth this year in voting.  He was also a Silver Slugger winner, winning it for the third of six times.  While Sosa is a seven-time All-Star with 609 career Home Runs, PED suspicion has kept him out of Cooperstown.

Eligible Since 2013.  Sosa has been on the ballot for nine years, finishing as high as 17.0% in 2020.  Ranked #31 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2000 AL:  Carlos Delgado, Toronto Blue Jays, First Base, 41 HR, 137 RBI, .344/.470/.664, 2000, AL            

Delgado was an All-Star for the first time, and he led the AL in Doubles (57) and was fourth in MVP voting.  The First Baseman earned the second of his third Silver Sluggers this year, and he would later play for Florida and New York (NL), retiring on 2009.  Delgado had 473 Home Runs with 1,512 RBIs over his career.

Eligible Since 2015.  Delgado was on the ballot for one year in 2015 and received 3.6% of the vote.  Ranked #82 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2000 NL:  Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies, First Base, 42 HR, 147 RBI, .372/.463/.698, 2000, NL            

2000 was arguably Helton’s best year in baseball as he led the NL in Hits (216), Doubles (59), RBIs, and all three Slash Line components.  This began a five-year streak of All-Star Game appearances, and a four-year run of Silver Sluggers.  Helton, who was fifth in MVP voting this year, played his entire career with the Rockies, and had 2,519 Hits, 369 Home Runs, 1,406 RBIs with a Slash Line of .316/.414/539.

Eligible Since 2018.  Helton has been on the ballot for three years, finishing as high as 44.9% in 2021.  Ranked #9 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2001 AL:  Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers, Shortstop, 52 HR, 135 RBI, .318/.399/.622, 2001, AL            

After establishing himself as a superstar in Seattle, Rodriguez signed what was then the biggest contract in baseball with the Texas Rangers.  Rodriguez delivered with his best year to date, though he was only sixth in MVP voting.  He led the AL in Home Runs (52), Runs Scored (133), and was a Silver Slugger for the fifth time.

Eligible Since 2022.  Rodriguez is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Ranked #3 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2001 NL:  Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, Outfield, 73 HR, 137 RBI, .328/.515/.863, 2001, NL            

This was the year that Bonds set the single season record in Home Runs, and Slugging Percentage, and while he was wildly unpopular outside of San Francisco, he was the runaway winner for the MVP, his fourth and first since 1993 when he was a Pirate.  Bonds also led the NL in OBP, OPS, and won his ninth Silver Slugger this year.

Eligible Since 2013.  Bonds has been on the ballot for nine years and finished as high as 61.8% in 2021.  Ranked #1C on Notinhalloffame.com  

2002 AL:  Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers, Shortstop, 57 HR, 142 RBI, .300/.392/.623, 2001, AL (2)           

A-Rod was incredible this year, leading the AL in Home Runs for the second straight year, and winning his first RBI Title.  Rodriguez finished second for the MVP, won his sixth Silver Slugger, and defensively won the Gold Glove for the first time. 

Eligible Since 2022.  Rodriguez is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Ranked #3 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2002 NL:  Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, Outfield, 46 HR, 110 RBI, .370/.582/.799, 2002, NL (2)         

Bonds was again putting up PlayStation like numbers, and while his Home Runs were “only” 46, his OBP rocketed up to .582.  Basically, nobody wanted to pitch to him unless they had to.  Bonds repeated as MVP, winning his fifth overall, and also was a Silver Slugger for the tenth time.

Eligible Since 2013.  Bonds has been on the ballot for nine years and finished as high as 61.8% in 2021.  Ranked #1C on Notinhalloffame.com  

2003 AL:  Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers, Shortstop, 47 HR, 118 RBI, .298/.396/.600 (3)           

While arguably this was his weakest of his three years in Texas, Rodriguez captured his first MVP.  A-Rod led the AL in Home Runs for the third straight season (47), and he won his first Slugging Title (.600).  Silver Slugger number seven came to Rodriguez as did his second Gold Glove. 

Eligible Since 2022.  Rodriguez is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Ranked #3 on Notinhalloffame.com 

2004 AL: Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox, Outfield, 43 HR, 130 RBI, .308/.397/.613 (2)           

Ramirez joined the Red Sox in 2001, and in 2004, he won his first Home Run Title.  This season, he won his third Slugging Title, third OPS Title, and was third for the AL MVP.  Again winning the Silver Slugger, Ramirez and the Red Sox broke the curse this year, by winning their first World Series since 2019.  Ramirez played until 2012, blasting 555 Home Runs, 1.831 RBIs, with a lifetime Slash Line of .312/.411/.585.

Eligible Since 2017.  Ramirez has been on the ballot for five years, finishing as high as 28.2% in both 2019 and 2020.  Ranked #7 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2004 NL:  Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, Outfield, 45 HR, 101 RBI, .362/.609/.812 (3)         

Bonds did not win the Hank Aaron Award in 2003, but he won the MVP that year, his third in a row.  He reclaimed the Hank Aaron Award in 2004, along with his fourth straight MVP, where he set a MLB record with a 1.422 OPS season.  Injuries and age caught up with Bonds, and despite being an All-Star in 2007 with a National League leading OBP of .480, he was not signed by any other team afterward.  He finished his career with 762 Home Runs, and 2,558 Walks, both of which are all-time records.  He retired with a lifetime OPS of 1.051.

Eligible Since 2013.  Bonds has been on the ballot for nine years and finished as high as 61.8% in 2021.  Ranked #1C on Notinhalloffame.com  

2005 AL:  David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox, Designated Hitter, 47 HR, 148 RBI, .300/.397/.604.         

Ortiz became the first primary Designated Hitter to win the Hank Aaron Award, and the popular player won the RBI Title for the first of what would be three times.  This was his second year in Boston, his second All-Star season, and he also won his second Silver Slugger.  Ortiz was the runner-up for the MVP.

Eligible Since 2022.  Ortiz is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Ranked #8 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2005 NL:  Andruw Jones, Atlanta Braves, Outfield, 51 HR, 128 RBI, .263/.347/.575.          

This was the best season of Jones’ career, and he won the Home Run (51) and RBI (128) Titles for the only time this year.  Jones also captured his only Silver Slugger this year, and he was the runner-up for the National League MVP.  Jones stayed with Atlanta until 2007, after which he played with the Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox and Yankees, and retired with 434 Home Runs.

Eligible Since 2017.  Jones has been on the ballot for four years and finished as high as 33.9% in 2021.  Ranked #40 on Notinhalloffame.com  

2006 NL:  Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies, First Base, 58 HR, 149 RBI, .313/.425/.659.          

In what was his third Major League season, Ryan Howard was spectacular, and produced his best year in Baseball.  Howard was first in Home Runs (58), Runs Batted In (149), and his Slash Line of .313/.425/.659 were career highs.  Justifiably, Howard won the MVP and the Silver Slugger, and over the next three seasons, he blasted at least 45 Home Runs and 136 RBIs.  Howard slumped after that, losing facets of his game, which considering he couldn’t field or run fast, took him out of any Hall of Fame consideration.  He played his entire career with the Phillies, accumulating 1,475 Hits, 382 Home Runs and 1,194 RBIs.

Eligible Since 2022.  Howard is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com

2007 AL:  Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees, Shortstop, 47 HR, 118 RBI, .298/.396/.600. (4)           

Rodriguez joined the Yankees in 2004, and to say it was a tumultuous period would be an understatement.  This did not mean that he did not produce colossal numbers in the Bronx, as he did.  He won his second MVP in 2005, and his third this year, winning his fifth Home Run Title (54), second RBI Title (156), third Slugging Title (.645) and second OPS Title (1.067).  A-Rod also won the ninth of what would be ten Silver Sluggers.  Rodriguez drama began after this season, but he did win a World Series Ring in 2009.  He finished his career with 3,115 Hits, 696 Home Runs, 2,086 RBIs, 329 Stolen Bases and a lifetime Batting Average of .295.

Eligible Since 2022.  Rodriguez is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Ranked #3 on Notinhalloffame.com 

2007 NL:  Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers, First Base, 50 HR, 119 RBI, .288/.395/.618.          

Prince Fielder followed in the footsteps of his father, Cecil, as he became a stocky power-hitting First Baseman, and this was his breakout year.  Fielder led the American League in Home Runs (50), was third in MVP voting, and won the Silver Slugger.  He had five more 30 Home Run seasons, would become a six-time All-Star and collected three Silver Sluggers.  His career ended abruptly at age 32 due to injuries, and he retired with 319 Home Runs.

Eligible Since 2022.  Fielder is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com

2008 AL:  Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox, First Base, 29 HR, 115 RBI, .312/.390/.569.          

This was the best year of Youkilis’ career, where he had career-bests in Home Runs (29), RBIs (115) and Batting Average (.312), and was an All-Star for the first time.  Youkilis was third in MVP voting, and he helped the BoSox win two previous World Series.  He went to two more All-Star Games, and played with Boston until 2012, finishing his career with brief stops in Chicago (AL) and New York (AL) before retiring in 213.  He had 1,053 career Hits.

Eligible Since 2019.  Youkilis was on the ballot for one year in 2019, but did not receive any votes.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com

2008 NL:  Aramis Ramirez, Chicago Cubs, Third Base, 27 HR, 112 RBI, .289/.380/.518.          

Ramirez was an All-Star in 2005, and in 2008, his 11^th Season, He was an All-Star for the second and final time.  This year, he was tenth in MVP voting, equalling his finish in 2004.  Ramirez later played for Milwaukee, going to a third All-Star Game in 2014, and was a Silver Slugger (while still a Cub) in 2011.  He retired in 2015, finishing with 2,303 Hits, 386 Home Runs and 1,417 RBIs.

Eligible Since 2021.  Ramirez was on the ballot for one year in 2021, and received 1.0% of the vote.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com

2016 AL:  David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox, Designated Hitter, 38 HR, 127 RBI, .315/.401/.620, AL (2)         

Ortiz had one of the best farewell seasons ever, and fittingly it resulted in his second Hank Aaron Award, 11 years after his first.  For the only time in his career, he led the AL in Doubles (48), and his 127 RBI gave him his third RBI title.  Ortiz also led the AL in Slugging Percentage (.620) and OPS (1.021), and he won the Silver Slugger for the seventh time.  Over his career, Ortiz had 2,473 Hits, 541 Home Runs, 1,768 RBIs with a lifetime OPS of .931.  He was also instrumental in the Red Sox winning three World Series.

Eligible Since 2022.  Ortiz is on the ballot for the first time this year.  Ranked #8 on Notinhalloffame.com  

Let’s update our tally, shall we?       

So, who is up next?

The following are the players who have won the Hank Aaron Award in MLB who have retired but have not met the mandatory years out of the game to qualify for the Baseball Hall of Fame: 

2010 AL: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays, Outfield, 54 HR, 124 RBI, .260/.378/.617           

Jose Bautista seemingly came out of nowhere to become an offensive star, as at age 29, he went from 13 to 54 Home Runs.  Bautista led the AL in Home Runs this year, and earned his first Silver Slugger.  He was also fourth in MVP voting, and began a six-year run of All-Stars.  

Eligible In 2024. 

2011 AL: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays, Outfield, 43 HR, 103 RBI, .302/.447/.608 (2)           

As great as Bautista’s power numbers were in 2011, they were down from what he did in 2010.  Nevertheless, Bautista became a more complete hitter, leading the AL in Walks (132), had his first (and only) .300 season, and he led the league in Slugging (.608) and OPS (1.056).  Bautista was third in MVP voting, and won his second Silver Slugger.  He won a third Silver Slugger in 2014, and had 344 Home Runs over his career, most of which happened after he turned 29.

Eligible In 2024. 

2011 NL: Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers, Outfield, 39 HR, 126 RBI, .324/.399/.586            

This was by far the nest season of Matt Kemp’s career, where he led the National League in Runs Scored (115), Home Runs (39) and RBIs, all of which were career-highs.  Kemp was the runner-up for the MVP, and this was his second and final Silver Slugger year.  The three-time All-Star would later play for San Diego, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Colorado, and he had 287 Home Runs.

Eligible In 2026. 

The following are the past players who have won the Hank Aaron Award who are eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame and are still active.

2004 NL: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals, First Base, 2004, 43 HR, 124 RBI, .359/.439/.667.

Pujols was in his third season, and the second of which where he finished second in MVP voting behind Barry Bonds.  This year, Pujols, who won his second Silver Slugger, led the NL in Hits (212), Doubles (51) and Batting Average (.359). 

41 Years Old, Playing for the Los Angeles Angels.

2009 NL: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals, First Base, 2009, 47 HR, 135 RBI, .327/.443/.658 (2)            

After winning his first Hank Aaron Award in 2003, Pujols won the National League MVP in 2005 and 2008, and 2009 saw the slugger win his third.  Pujols won the Home Run title for the first time this year, and he also captured his first OBP crown.  This was also his third time winning the Slugging and OPS Title.  Silver Slugger number five happened this year for Pujols.

41 Years Old, Playing for the Los Angeles Angels.

2010 NL: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds, First Base, 37 HR, 113 RBI, .324/.424/.600            

This was Votto’s fourth year in the Majors, and it was his breakout campaign.  Not only did Votto win the Hank Aaron award, the First Baseman won the MVP.  Votto was an All-Star for the first time this year, and he would win his first of seven OBP Titles, and the first of two OPS Titles.

37 Years Old, Playing for the Cincinnati Reds.

2012 AL: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers, First Base, 44 HR, 139 RBI, .330/.393/.606            

Cabrera was a World Series Champion with Florida in 2007, and like all of their stars, he was traded, in his case to Detroit.  Cabrera got better in Motown, and this year he went to his seventh All-Star Game, won his second Home Run Title, his second Batting Title, and he won his first MVP.

38 Years Old, Playing for the Detroit Tigers.

2012 NL: Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants, Catcher, 24 HR, 103 RBI, .336/.408/.549      

This year, Posey became the first Catcher to win the Hank Aaron Award, which he did in a campaign that earned him the MVP.  Posey, who two years before won the Rookie of the Year, captured the Batting Title this year and he also won the Silver Slugger.

34 Years Old, Playing for the San Francisco Giants.

2013 AL: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers, First Base, 44 HR, 137 RBI, .348/.442/.636      

Cabrera went back-to-back for Hank Aaron Awards, and did the same for MVPs.  He was first in the AL in all aspects of the Slash Line, and was first in OPS (1.078), which was a career-high.  Cabrera won his fifth Silver Slugger this year, and would win two more.  Still playing, Cabrera became a member of the 500 Home Run club in 2021.

38 Years Old, Playing for the Detroit Tigers.

2013 NL: Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks, First Base, 36 HR, 125 RBI, .302/.401/.651      

Goldschmidt broke out this year, leading the National League in Home Runs (36), RBIs (125), Slugging Percentage (.551) and Slugging Percentage (.952).  He was the runner-up for the MVP, and also won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, while also beginning a six-year streak of All-Stars.

33 Years Old, Playing for the St. Louis Cardinals.

2014 AL: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels, Outfield, 36 HR, 111 RBI, .287/.377/.561      

Two years after winning the Rookie of the Year, Mike Trout was the proven best player in baseball.  Trout was second in MVP voting in his first and second full year, and this season, he did not only win the Hank Aaron but his first MVP.  This year, Trout led the AL in Runs (115), RBIs (111) and won his third straight Silver Slugger.

30 Years Old, Playing for the Los Angeles Angels.

2014 NL: Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins, Outfield, 37 HR, 105 RBI, .288/.395/.555      

This is Stanton’s fifth season, and he led the National League in Home Runs for the first time (37), and won his second Slugging Title (.555).  Stanton was second in MVP voting and he won his first Silver Slugger this year.

31 Years Old, Playing for the New York Yankees.

2015 AL: Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays, Third Base, 41 HR, 123 RBI, .297/.371/.568      

Donaldson broke out the year before, going to his first All-Star Game, but it would be his last year in Oakland, as he was traded to Toronto.  In his first year as a Blue Jay, Donaldson had his best year in Baseball, leading the American League in Runs (122), RBIs (123), and he won the MVP and his first Silver Slugger.

35 Years Old, Playing for the Minnesota Twins.

2015 NL: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals, Outfield, 42 HR, 99 RBI, .330/.460/.649      

Harper won the National League Rookie of the Year in 2012, and this year he had his monster campaign, leading the NL in Runs Scored (118), Home Runs (42), OBP (.460), Slugging Percentage (.649) and OPS (1.109). He also won his first Silver Slugger this year.

28 Years Old, Playing for the Philadelphia Phillies.

2016 NL: Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs, Outfield, 39 HR, 102 RBI, .292/.385/.554      

This was Bryant’s second season, and he also won the MVP.  Bryant also led the NL in Runs Scored (121), Offensive bWAR (6.4), was fourth in OPS, OPS+ (146) and third in Home Runs.  More importantly, Bryant led the Cubs to their first World Series win in over 100 years.

29 Years Old, Playing for the San Francisco Giants.

2017 AL: Jose Altuve, Houston Astros, Second Base, 24 HR, 81 RBI, .346/.410/.547      

For the fourth year in a row, Altuve led the National League in Hits (204), and won his third Batting Title.  Altuve also won the Silver Slugger and MVP, and the Astros won the World Series, their first.

31 Years Old, Playing for the Houston Astros.

2017 NL: Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins, Outfield, 59 HR, 132 RBI, .281/.376/.631      

In between his first and second Hank Aaron Award, Stanton remained a competent power hitter, but this year he was outstanding, finishing first in Home Runs (59), RBIs (132), Slugging Percentage (.631).  Stanton won the MVP this year and earned his second Silver Slugger.  Stanton signed with the Yankees after this year.

31 Years Old, Playing for the New York Yankees.

2018 AL: J.D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox, Outfield, 43 HR, 130 RBI, .330/.402/.629      

In his first year with the Red Sox, Martinez was fourth in MVP voting, and was also the league-leader in RBIs.  An All-Star for the second time this year, Martinez won the Silver Slugger both as an Outfielder and Designated Hitter. Martinez was also second in Batting Average, Slugging Percentage and third in OPS.

33 Years Old, Playing for the Boston Red Sox.

2018 NL: Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers, Outfield, 36 HR, 110 RBI, .326/.402/.598      

The acquisition of Christian Yelich paid instant dividends for the Brewers, with the Outfielder winning the Batting Title, Slugging Title and OPS Title in his first year there.  Yelich also won the Silver Slugger and won the MVP.

29 Years Old, Playing for the Milwaukee Brewers.

2019 AL: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels, Outfield, 45 HR, 104 RBI, .291/.438/.645 (2)     

In between Trout’s first and second Hank Aaron Award, won his second MVP, three more Silver Sluggers, three OBP Titles, one Slugging Title and two OPS Titles.  This year, Trout led the American League in OBP (.439), Slugging Percentage (.645) and OPS (1.083).  Trout won his third MVP this year and captured his seventh Silver Slugger.

30 Years Old, Playing for the Los Angeles Angels.

2019 NL: Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers, Outfield, 44 HR, 97 RBI, .329/.429/.671 (2)      

Yelich almost won the MVP again, as his late-season injury that cost him significant games kept him from it.  Regardless, he swept the Slash Line, and won his second Silver Slugger.

29 Years Old, Playing for the Milwaukee Brewers.

2020 AL: Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox, First Base, 19 HR, 60 RBI, .317/.370/.617.      

This was the second straight year that Abreu led the American League in RBIs, and he also topped the league in Hits (76), Slugging Percentage and Total Bases (148).  Abreu won the MVP this year, his first.

35 Years Old, Playing for the Chicago White Sox.

2021 NL: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves, First Base, 13 HR, 53 RBI, .341/.462/.640.      

Freeman earned his second Silver Slugger this year, and after four previous top ten finishes in MVP voting, he won it this year.  He was the league-leader in Runs Scored (51) and Doubles (23), and was second in OPS (1.102).

32 Years Old, Playing for the Atlanta Braves.

The PED situation has lowered the bar significantly for Hank Aaron Award winners to enter Cooperstown, but this average will rise in time.

So, what is up next?

We have another look in Baseball, with the MLB All-Star Game MVP.

As always, we thank you for your support, and look for that soon.

We are a month removed from the Baseball Hall of Fame 2021 vote, and that means it is time to release our new list of those to consider for Cooperstown in 2022.  With nobody elected in 2021, there are no removals from the list, but there are four new entries.  We currently have 108 on this list, and by Spring, we will be expanding it to an even 300, which will be our fixed number moving forward.

As per our first year, there are three number ones, with the rational showing one eligible, and two ineligibles (Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson) due to gambling.

Remaining at #1A is Pete Rose, the man who collected an all-time record 4,256 Hits.  Rose was banned from the game over 30 years ago for betting on baseball.  

Also, staying at #1B, is “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.  Jackson was suspended for his alleged participation in the Chicago White Sox throwing of the 1919 World Series.

Barry Bonds is at #1C.  Bonds is the all-time leading Home Run leader with 762, and he is also first in Walks (2,558), Win Probability Added (127.7) and Power-Speed # (613.9).  While never caught, the seven-time MVP was widely suspected of PED use, and the Baseball Hall of Fame voters have kept him out.  He only has one year left of eligibility.  

Roger Clemens is just behind Bonds at #2.  Like Bonds, Clemens has been kept out of Cooperstown due to PED suspicion, and he is also entering his tenth and final year on the ballot.  Clemens is a seven-time Cy Young Award winner and is third all-time in Strikeouts (4,672).

The highest debut is Alex Rodriguez, who appears at #3. Unlike Bonds and Clemens, Rodriguez was twice suspended for PED use, but also, unlike Bonds and Clemens, he seems to be welcomed back as shown by his gig at Fox.  Rodriguez is fourth all-time in Home Runs (696).

Former Detroit Tiger Second Baseman, Lou Whitaker, is at #4.  Whitaker was a member of Detroit’s 1984 World Series Championship team, and is considered one of the best infielders not in the Baseball Hall.  

Bill Dahlen, a former star in the 1900s is in at #5.  Dahlen won a World Series with the New York Giants in 1905, and is still in the top-fifty in bWAR for Position Players.

Curt Schilling is at #6.  The former two-time World Series champion has one year left and has asked to be removed from the ballot after failing to enter the Hall.  He has feuded with media in the past, and his current right-wing politics have alienated many others.  

At #7 is Manny Ramirez.  Like Rodriguez, Ramirez has also been suspended for PEDs twice, and it has hampered his pursuit for a Hall of Fame plaque.  

Our second top-ten debut is at #8, David Ortiz, Ramirez’s former teammate in Boston.  With the Red Sox, Ortiz became the best Designated Hitter that baseball has ever seen, and would win three World Series rings.

Todd Heltonremains in the top ten at #9.  The career Colorado Rockie is trending towards induction in roughly three years.

Tommy Johnrounds out the top ten.  Ironically, the surgery that bears his name, is recognized by the Hall.  His only path for induction is with the Veteran’s Committee.

There are two other new entries, Mark Teixeira at #93 and Jimmy Rollins at #102.

Thank you all for your support, and look for our revised Football list next month.

Is this the year Curt Schilling makes it into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Will Schilling be the only player elected to the Hall this year? After all the tumultuous voting activity of the 2010s, has voting for the Hall returned to "normal"?

Only a crystal ball, or the patience to wait until voting results for the 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame are announced on January 26, 2021, can give us the definitive answers, but of course that doesn't stop us from prognosticating before we learn the results.

For now, the short answers are:

1. Maybe.

2. Possibly.

3. Likely.

2021 BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot: Executive Summary

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team. We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Cleveland Indians.

The origin of the Cleveland Indians begins in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1894, where they played in the Western League.  The franchise relocated in 1900, becoming the Cleveland Lake Shores, and eventually were an inaugural team of the American League, going through multiple name changes (Bluebirds, Broncos, Naps) before becoming the Indians for over a decade.

Cleveland would become a great sports town, but the baseball team has not given them very much to cheer for over the years.  The Indians have only won the World Series twice (1920 and 1948), with three other appearances.  

The team has announced that they will soon drop the Indians nickname, though as of this writing, it is not sure what they will change it to and when precisely it will take place.

Our Top 50 lists in baseball 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 not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2019 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always, we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Bob Feller

2. Nap Lajoie

3. Tris Speaker

4. Lou Boudreau

5. Stan Coveleski

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our more material coming soon!

As always, we thank you for your support.

“Manny being Manny” might have gained steam and recognition in Boston, but it was in Cleveland where it all began.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Boston Red Sox. 

The Red Sox were a charter member of the American League in 1901, first called the Boston Americans until they changed their name to the Red Sox in 1908.  Boston was the first team to win the modern World Series in 1903, and they were the dominant team of the 1910s, winning four titles in the decade. It was all sunshine and lollipops for the Red Sox, but the “Curse of the Bambino” struck when the Red Sox stupidly sold the contract of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, shifting the balance of power in the American League.

The Red Sox would be abysmal for years after, and they not win the World Series for the rest of the century.  They did have four shots at it, with three American League Pennants (1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986) but they fell short every time.  It would not be until 2004, where they won their sixth World Series, and they won three more after (2007, 2013 & 2018).

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 not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2019 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Ted Williams

2. Carl Yastrzemski

3. Roger Clemens

4. Wade Boggs

5. Cy Young

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our All-Time Top 50 Chicago White Sox coming next!

As always we thank you for your support.