Revving Up The Hall Of Fame Discourse Engine
It's Hall of Fame season! Time to discuss the merits of several notable candidates for enshrinement.
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Closer Billy Wagner, who fell just five votes shy of Hall of Fame election last year, has one last shot with the BBWAA writers in his 10th and final year on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot. Wagner is the only player on this year’s ballot in his final year of eligibility — last year, Gary Sheffield was in his shoes and fell shy of HOF election with 63.9% of the vote.
. . . Others hoping to keep trending up on this year’s ballot include outfielder Andruw Jones, who received 61.6% of the vote in his seventh year on the ballot, and outfielder Carlos Beltrán, who garnered 57.1% of the vote in his second year of eligibility.
Leading Off
Sorting Five Notable Names On 2025 Hall Of Fame Ballot
By Elizabeth Muratore
The 2025 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot has been released, which means it’s officially time for Hall Of Fame Discourse Season. Some baseball fans may find this chatter exhausting and just want to fast forward to Spring Training, but I, for one, relish the pomp and circumstance of Talking About Potential Hall Of Famers. The more pageantry for me, the better, and any chance I get to lean into discussions about the oldest Hall of Fame in North American professional sports, I will.
It’s rather jarring for me to now be at the age when I’ve been following baseball since before several of the players on the ballot started their MLB careers, but no one likes to hear a 20-something claim to be “old,” so that’s as far as I’ll go with that perspective. There are 14 newcomers to this year’s ballot, along with a number of returners. Time for me to make like the famous hat from Harry Potter and do some sorting for a few notable names in the running.
Very likely to be unanimously elected on the first ballot: Ichiro Suzuki
I’ve done a lot of thinking, and I’ve arrived at the same conclusion as probably everyone else who watches baseball: Ichiro was one of the best pure hitters in MLB history. He’s got the rookie hits record. He’s got the single-season hits record. He’s extremely popular. I would be very surprised if he got less than 99% of the vote on his first try, though I think he’s got a great shot to be unanimous.
Will get in, though not unanimously and maybe not first ballot: CC Sabathia
For some reason, I never really pictured Sabathia as a Hall of Famer while he was playing, but the discourse around me suggests that he has a very good chance to get into the Hall this year. It’s hard to argue against the longevity and durability he produced while being dominant for three different teams (only half a season for the Brewers, but what a half-season it was). Despite my initial misgivings, I do think Sabathia will get between 70 and 85% of the vote this year, so by my prediction he’ll either make it or just miss out on the first-ballot honor.
Might get in eventually, but unlikely to be elected on BBWAA ballot: Félix Hernández
I think King Felix will get a decent number of votes, maybe in the 20-30% range percentage-wise, but I’m not sure his career as a whole was quite good enough to be enshrined. I could see him having a strong case made on a future Era Committee vote, and he checks a lot of the accomplishment boxes (years of dominance, Cy Young Award, the 23rd perfect game in MLB history, entire MLB career with one team), but I’m not quite sure he’ll get in during his initial 10-year eligibility period over other upcoming starting pitcher candidates.
“Hall of Very Good,” defined: Ian Kinsler
Fun fact: I met Kinsler very briefly last summer while volunteering at the Hall of Fame over induction weekend. Our interaction consisted of me checking his ticket and determining that he was, in fact, eligible to sit in the VIP section to cheer on Adrián Beltré. Based on that, he’s certainly Hall of Fame-adjacent, but Kinsler to me is the exact type of player where you look up at the end of his career and are noticeably impressed by what he accomplished, but didn’t think that much about him while he was playing unless you rooted for a team he was on.
I’m just thrilled he made it to the second ballot: David Wright
As a Mets fan who cheered for Wright throughout his entire “what could have been” career, I was honestly shocked to my core that he got enough votes in his first year on the ballot to stay on a second year. Wright was absolutely on a Hall of Fame track over his first few years in the Majors before injuries hampered him, but I definitely don’t think he’ll actually get into the Hall of Fame. Still, it’ll be nice to see him among this year’s nominees again. Here’s hoping the same people who voted for him last year help keep him on the ballot again.
Elizabeth Muratore is a co-director of the IBWAA and one of the editors of the Here’s the Pitch newsletter. She also works as a senior content producer for MLB. Elizabeth is a lifelong Mets fan who thinks that Keith Hernandez should be in the Hall of Fame. You can follow her on Twitter @elizmuratore.
Cleaning Up
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