LOS ANGELES, CA — The National Baseball Hall of Fame ballots for 2026 were announced and made headlines earlier this month. When the votes are tabulated, the new inductees will be announced on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. In the meantime, the twenty-eight former players on the ballot this year will have to hear and read about what the media, former players, and fans have to say about everything from their numbers and character to how they treated the press and fans throughout their careers.
Fifteen-year veteran left-handed starting pitcher Cole Hamels leads the list of twelve first-time candidates on the ballot. Hamels was a four-time All-Star, plus the NLCS and World Series MVP in 2008 for the Phillies. He had a win-loss record of 163-122, a lifetime ERA of 3.43, 2,698 innings pitched, and 2,560 strikeouts. By today’s standards, that is a significant accomplishment.
So here is the question: are those stats good enough to get him in on the first ballot? Are we comparing players on the ballot now to former ballplayers from their era? Or do we take it back 20, 30, or 40 years of stats? It is impossible to compare Hamels to Bob Gibson, Dizzy Dean, and Sandy Koufax. The game has changed too much over the years.
Consider this: Gibson pitched for 17 years, finishing with a record of 251 wins and 174 losses as well as a lifetime ERA of 2.91, and pitched 3,884.1 innings with 3,117 strikeouts. There are two active pitchers I need to compare Gibson to. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
Verlander, in 20 years, has similar numbers to Gibson’s, but only 26 complete games and nine shutouts, compared to Gibson’s astonishing 255 complete games and 56 shutouts. Scherzer has 12 complete games and five shutouts in his 18-year career. Yet, we can be certain that both Verlander and Scherzer are definitely going in on the first ballot.
But you can’t realistically compare pitchers from Gibson’s era to what we see today. There were only eight teams in each league when Gibson pitched, and there were no interleague games. There is a case today that there is more watering down of talent with 30 teams. But that is debatable. We will never truly know whether today’s players are better than the big leaguers of years ago.
That being said, there are two on the ballot that deserve to be voted in this year, Carlos Beltrán, from Manatí, Puerto Rico, who should pick up the most votes in his fourth attempt. That’s a no-brainer.
And hopefully Andruw Jones from Willemstad, Curaçao, will get in on his ninth try. The 10-time Gold Glove winner has waited long enough.
The members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) are the ones who vote, and sometimes they surprise us in who we think should get in or not. Yes, there will be some disappointments as usual.
Still, the HOF vote, along with all the trades, free agent signings, managerial and front office moves, and rule changes, is just another thing that makes this winter’s “Hot Stove League” so much fun.
Who would you vote for?
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Will
November 30, 2025 at 6:08 pm
I think Carlos Beltran will make it in this time. There’s also a chance for Andruw Jones to make it as well. I’m not sure if Cole Hamels is a strong candidate, maybe Felix Hernandez has a better case than him even if his WAR is lower than the one of Hamels. Even though people hate Ryan Braun I’m pretty that he’ll might receive the 5% required to stay for a next ballot, he won a ROY, an MVP, he was a 6-time all-star and a three-time silver slugger. He cheated? Maybe, just like Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Andy Pettitte and those players still on the ballot, so LOL.