My 2025 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

 Happy Holiday’s and welcome back to the annual tradition of my fake Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot. Hopefully one day this column will be the real deal but for now, we will play pretend, but use the real reasons I would use to select these players as the newest members of the most prestigious group in all of sports.

Let’s begin by going back yet again to the dreaded “Steroid Era.”

 

 

The Returning Members:

1. Alex Rodriguez

Yes, like Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez should be in. You cannot tell the complete history of the game without recognizing A-Rod’s place within it. No matter how dark his place in the game is, we need to acknowledge that it happened instead of continuing to run away from it. Rodriguez might be the most complete player an entire generation of fans has witnessed with their own eyes and perhaps ever will.

Getting away from the hate, let me remind you that A-Rod has over 3,000 hits, 690 Home Runs, 2,000 runs scored, 2,000 Runs Batted In, 300 Stolen Bases, and a .295 Batting Average. Rodriguez is one of four players ever to have both 3,000 hits and 600 home runs (the others are Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Albert Pujols). He and Willie Mays are the only players ever to have 600 home runs and 300 stolen bases. Alex Rodriguez is one of the greatest players to ever touch a Major League diamond and should be in the Hall of Fame because of it.

2. Manny Ramirez

I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but Manny Ramirez was the single most feared right-handed hitter I’ve ever rooted against as a fan. The only other player in the realm of Ramirez is his long-time teammate and Hall of Famer, David Ortiz.

Manny is one of the poster children for the “Steroid Era” being one of the first suspended for PED use, but for the zillionth time, this is a way to teach fans the game of baseball as well as recognize greatness and Manny Ramirez was one of the greatest players of his generation and of all-time. And, yes, he also used steroids to get to those marks, but if we mark PED use on his plaque, that should be enough. The BBWAA, Hall of Fame, and fans can try to run away from the late 1990’s and early 2000’s but it’s better for everyone if we just face facts. Instead of this annoying black cloud over the best sports museum in the United States let’s come together and accurately depict an ugly part of the game’s history. It’s sad that we couldn’t do this with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemmons but now it’s time to use Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez to get the job done.  

 

3. Billy Wagner

This is the last year Wagner will be on the ballot. He reached 73.8% last year so he is the closest candidate banging on the door of Cooperstown to get into the hallowed halls. Like I’ve been saying for the past couple of years writing this column, Wagner got completely overshadowed in his own city, own league, and in baseball in general because of Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. But it is Wagner who still sits inside the top-10 in saves in eighth place with 422 saves. Wagner also is number one all-time in strike outs per nine innings (11.92), and oh yeah, one of two guys all-time with 400 plus saves and a sub-2.50 ERA.

Billy Wagner will not be the last guy to be overlooked on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he is on the short list of guys who shouldn’t have been waiting to get in for this long.

Recognizing More Than Just Offense:

4. Andruw Jones

I’ll say it again, defense matters. It wins championships year in and year out. Defense is why the 2024 Yankees lost the World Series. I’m not here to make the case that if Andruw Jones was playing center in the 5th inning of Game 5 the Yankees would have continued their season (Jones would’ve caught the ball that Judge dropped), I just bring that up to say the Hall of Fame is a baseball museum and there is way more to the game than just what you can do with the bat in your hands. 10 Gold Gloves isn’t a fluke. Jones is/was the greatest center fielder defensively in baseball history—with only Willie Mays even in the conversation. Often time when you need to win a game a great defensive play makes the difference. Nobody embodied that difference more than Andruw Jones.

5. Andy Pettitte

This is what I said about Pettitte last year and I feel the exact same way.

Speaking of the greatest of all-time, Andy Pettitte is the greatest postseason starting pitcher to toe the rubber in October. If aliens came to earth and decided there would be a baseball game to decide the fate of the universe, I would select Pettitte to start the game. Pettitte was the winning pitcher in 19 postseason games, he has pitched 276.2 innings (50 more than anyone ever) and started more playoff games than anyone in history (44). Pettitte also had the most lethal pickoff move in history being the all-time leader with 92 pickoffs.

Winning matters and Andy Pettitte is the best when it actually matters and has a World Series ring for every finger on his pitching hand.

 

A Minor Correction:

6. Carlos Beltran

I dropped Beltran from my ballot last year without realizing until now. Even though I only selected nine players and had the room to place Beltran on the ballot. My mistake and my apology to Carlos himself.

Beltran is one of five players ever to have 400 plus home runs and 300 plus stolen bases (Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez the others).

Much like Pettitte, Beltran will be remembered mostly for his postseason heroics and one of the biggest gaffs. You could argue Beltran had the best individual postseason run of all-time with the 2004 Houston Astros, but also him standing idle as an Adam Wainwright curveball arched passed Beltran’s knees to end the 2006 NLCS and help lead St. Louis to their 10th World Series win will be among the first things you think of when it comes to Carlos Beltran.

What also cannot be separated from Beltran’s legacy is his involvement in the 2017 Houston Astro Sign Stealing Scandal. Beltran has largely been the fall guy for what happened in Houston and hasn’t recovered publicly since being fired by the Mets in February of 2020 due to his ties in Houston. The good thing for Beltran is that this is only year three on the ballot so if he doesn’t improve on his 57.1%, we’ll have plenty of time to put the correct context on his career.

First Ballot Participates:

7. Ichiro Suzuki

We’ve reached the only no-doubt-about-it candidate on the ballot this year. Every way you look at Ichiro’s career—it screams “Hall of Fame.” Whether it’s his introduction to the Majors, winning the Rookie of the Year and MVP in 2001. Or his 10 All-Star appearances and Gold Gloves. Two American League Batting Titles. Suzuki’s three Silver Sluggers in the middle of the Steroid Era. Oh yeah, and 3,000 HITS! That’s also not counting his 1,278 hits he recorded in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League. If we’re counting those 1,200 plus hits, Ichiro would be the all-time hit king (4,367) not Pete Rose with his 4,256.  

Ichiro is one of seven players (Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson [RIP], and Paul Molitor) to have both 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Ichiro is the greatest Japanese player to make the transition of the Majors and he’ll hold that title for a long time.

8. C.C. Sabathia

At first glance if you aren’t a fan of Cleveland’s baseball team or the New York Yankees having Sabathia as a first-ballot Hall of Famer might seem odd to you. Not that he shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame, but that there is an extra level of greatness with pitchers who are members of the first-ballot club. Granted, the criteria for being a first-ballot Hall of Famer has been skewed over the past few years, but Sabathia fits even the old definition.

Sabathia is one of the very last starting pitchers to record 250 plus wins in a career. The only active pitcher to surpass the 250-win mark is Justin Verlander (262). Other than Verlander the two active pitchers that are the closest are Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw with 216 and 212 respectively. Sabathia will also likely be one of the last to eclipse 3,000 total innings with the same trio Verlander, Scherzer, and Kershaw all trailing (3,415.2, 2,878, and 2,742.2 respectively) Sabathia’s 3,577.1 innings. Lastly, Sabathia’s 3,093 strike outs will be the last of a died bread. Verlander and Scherzer have both passed Sabathia in strike outs (3,416 and 3,407 respectively) with Kershaw trailing with 2,968 among active pitchers.

The “Ace” is an ancient dinosaur for much of the sport, so looking at Sabathia in the context of 2024 baseball, he’s clearly first ballot worthy.   

2024 HOF Baseline:

If you are new here, I’ll refer you to here so you can catch up on what I define the baseline to be, but here are the members that I’m using this time around:

1. Bobby Abreu

2. Jimmy Rollins

3. Torii Hunter

4. Francisco Rodriguez

5. David Wright

6. Dustin Pedroia

7. Ben Zobrist

There it is. Love it or hate it, all these guys on the list I’ve seen if not their entire career, a large majority of it and they were the top of the generation of players they played with. They also stack up against some of the best of the best already enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I hate using the top one percent argument when determining who should be elected year by year, but even if you use that argument, everyone on this list stacks up as well.