Baseball Hall of Fame Vote Tracker - Ballots. Lots and lots of Ballots.

2026 BBHOF Tracker Summary and Leaderboard

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Ryan

View the full 2026 Tracker with all individual ballots: 2026 BBHOF Tracker

Mark Newman’s 27th Hall of Fame Ballot

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Mark Newman

The 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is such a dud, first-year candidate Matt Kemp literally could get a few votes because he dated Rihanna. That’s how much we are scraping in some cases to build cases for this year’s eligible former Major Leaguers.

Seriously, it’s just one of those years that comes along every two or three decades out of happenstance. You don’t get Ichiro Suzuki or Albert Pujols every year, and honestly that’s what makes those years special. But this year is a soporific test of one’s resolve to check all 10 available boxes, as this writer tried to do with his 27th consecutive ballot.

I did it! Chase Utley, Álex Rodríguez, Andy Pettitte, Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Dustin Pedroia, Félix Hernández, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels and Manny Ramírez.

Then I took my Bernedoodle Bear to the park, dropping this off in a post office box on the way just before Christmas. Seeing the Contemporary Era Committee choose Jeff Kent over Don Mattingly just made Cooperstown 2026 even more blah, but it’s an honor this voter takes seriously and the more 10-box ballots the better, I think. No matter what.

It’s obvious from last year’s results that Beltran will be selected in his fourth year of eligibility, having received 70.3 percent of the vote, with 75 needed for election. Jones is a hump-and-bump pick: he drew 66.2% last year, and he really just needs to rise a little bit to get over the hump in 2026 then a last-year sympathy bump in 2027. That’s where we are right now.

Here are the 10 I checked, in order:

1. CHASE UTLEY
The former Phillies and Dodgers second baseman got 39.8% of the vote last time in his second year on the ballot, and that needs to rise fast. He finished his career with a 64.5 bWAR — 14th all-time among second basemen (with a minimum 50% of games played there). That tops 11 current HOF 2Bs including Jackie Robinson. Comps in the HOF are Ryne Sandberg (67.9), Roberto Alomar (67) and Craig Biggio (65.4). Utley is 12th in JAWS at 2B, with only Robinson Cano and Bobby Grich above him on the list not in Cooperstown.

2. ÁLEX RODRÍGUEZ
696 home runs, 3,115 hits, 2,021 runs, 2086 RBIs, 117.4 WAR. You know the rest. We are now at the halfway point in A-Rod’s eligibility decade. He drew 146 votes for 37.1 percent. He is pulling out all the stops over the past decade, including a recent HBO/MAX doc in which he shows a little humility, which is to say enough for a thimble. I’ve enjoyed being around him and at least he has been legit in a second career of analysis, not that it matters here.

3. ANDY PETTITTE
In 2019, I was one of just 42 voters who checked the Yankee legend’s box, or 9.9%. One of my own reasons was that I was still pissed at myself and others for not giving Jorge Posada at least a chance two years earlier to hit 5% and stay on the ballot long enough to be discussed. The main reason for supporting Pettitte each year has been his solid claim as one of the best postseason pitchers in history. That means something. He just screams “winner.” Easily the best in the post-1994 era of expanded playoffs, always the ace who won a big game after a loss. He ranks 64th in WAR at 60.2, reasonably worthy for consideration. This research also reminds me that Zach Greinke is much higher at No. 29 and should be inducted at the end of this decade.

4. CARLOS BELTRÁN
Among all-time centerfielders, Beltrán ranks eighth in WAR (70.0) and ninth in JAWS (57.2). When Joe DiMaggio is the guy right above you in WAR, this is a no-brainer. My favorite Beltrán was still the early years with Kansas City, when he was electric. I’ve never factored steroids into my voting because we can’t know who all did it, but I still feel duped covering the 2017 Astros through the World Series and now knowing how he cheated with the sign-stealing system. It’s not as bad sociologically as steroids, but in this case it was proven, marring his record.

5. ANDRUW JONES
Right behind Beltran on those WAR & JAWS CF lists is Jones. It’s 62.7 in WAR for No. 14, and only Mike Trout, Beltran and Kenny Lofton (our biggest whiff in my quarter-century of voting) rank above him with plaques yet to be hung. This is his ninth year on the ballot, and I won’t be surprised if he falls just slightly short of 75 in this crappy ballot year, then gets over the hill with the last-year sympathy nudge in 2027. Usually how it happens. What few people realize is that back in 2018, Jones barely survived by the skin of his teeth to stay on the ballot, receiving 7.3% of the vote…with 5 required to continue on for a second year.

6. DUSTIN PEDROIA
Last year, I was one of only ten writers who voted for Ian Kinsler. That was just 2.5% of the vote so his name no longer appears on this ballot. What a joke! Kinsler ranked 21st in JAWS, one ahead of just-selected Jeff Kent…and 20th in WAR, one behind Kent. You’re telling me Kinsler didn’t at least deserve a discussion? Can you say East Coast bias? So that brings us to Pedroia, who had the Boston/AL East bright lights, more PR. I think both second basemen should be inducted, but Pedroia is the only one of those AL guys left, and Cano will be a non-factor in voting due to steroids. Let’s at least get it right on Pedroia. Here’s how JAWS looks:

19 – Jose Altuve
20 – Pedroia
21 – Kinsler
22 – Kent

7. FÉLIX HERNÁNDEZ
Man, I like players who spend their whole careers with the same team. He was a Mariner from 2005-2019, and from 2009-2015 he was one of the game’s dominant starters. Over those seven years, the Venezuelan righty had six All-Star selections, one Cy Young Award (with that 13-12 record!) and two more Cy runner-up finishes. He more than any pitcher may have been the face of a new emphasis on metrics beyond wins for starters…but his endurance waned after that 2009-2015 run and that will be his candidacy bugaboo. He’d be a bubble pick for me on a strong ballot.

8. JIMMY ROLLINS
Last year, the Phillies legend was on my bubble so I did not vote for him. There wasn’t enough room, not the case now. He will jump up from the teens in vote percentage this time simply due to the horrific overall ballot, and then better ballots will suppress him again. Last year, Troy Tulowitzki got three votes (0.9%). A quick in-and-out. Yet he outranked Rollins 42.5 to 40.3 on the JAWS list at shortstop. But look at WAR and it’s much different. Rollins ranks 27th at 47.9 — and only four guys above him are not in the Hall, plus A-Rod. That’s the stat if you’re a Rollins campaigner. He was a true leader, a four-time Gold Glove winner, an MVP in 2007, a durable champ. He will get some of the Omar Vizquel treatment for compiling just by having a long career, and that may ultimately keep him out. But who doesn’t like J-Roll?

9. COLE HAMELS
He picked the right year to debut on the ballot, and honestly I’m just voting to help make sure he gets at least 5%. (I know it’s not a criteria, but I almost want to vote for him just because he was the guy who talked to me in the Phillies clubhouse during the 2009 World Series when flaky Cliff Lee would not talk about why he missed a team bus and then nearly showed up late after a whole taxi-and-subway episode.) The biggest problem for me with Hamels is that here I am making an annual case for Pettitte on why to overlook a No. 64 WAR ranking among starting pitchers, and Hamels ranks another SEVEN spots lower than Petttitte . . . without the same level of postseason glory. There will be some heavy-duty grassroots campaigning to be had.

10. MANNY RAMÍREZ
I’m using up my bubble picks from recent ballots here, again reflecting the mediocrity of this ballot. Look, Manny’s Hall of Fame dream died a long time ago. We all know that. Maybe the dumbest choice of steroid use in history cost him this election. He didn’t need to do it, but once he got to LA it was all over — he was a show and had to perform. Over 19 seasons, he gave us a lot of fun and thrills: 555 home runs, a .312 career average, 1,831 RBIs, an OPS+ of 154, the 2004 breakthrough and much more. This is his final year on the ballot, so if I’m going to go all the way here and use all 10 boxes, then let’s send him out in style.

There it is. Ten Hall of Fame picks. I can honestly say that the second half was stretching it, but I committed to using all 10 boxes as long as the BBWAA keeps sending them to me. And it won’t be for much longer. Unless I get the urge to start covering baseball regularly again, the 10-year “sunset” clause will end this personal tradition in a few years. I’d be fine with that. It is a rite passed along from generation to generation of writers close to the game, on I take pride in fulfilling with honor going back to the 2000 ballot of Carlton Fisk and Tony Perez. This is maybe the biggest stinker ballot in that entire run, but it always comes back strong.

Mark Newman is the author of several books including No. 1 bestseller Diamonds from the Dugout, and most recently was a 16-year writer for MLB.com and originator of @MLB

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2025 BBHOF Tracker Summary and Leaderboard

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Ryan

View the full 2025 Tracker with all individual ballots: 2025 BBHOF Tracker

Ballot No. 25: Álex Rodríguez, Adrian Beltré, Carlos Beltrán, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Chase Utley, Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield, Andy Pettitte

Posted on December 27, 2023 by Mark Newman

The 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot marks my 25th consecutive year of fulfilling this incredible privilege as a BBWAA voter. That first ballot came in late 1999, and I mailed it back just before the new millennium arrived with Carlton Fisk and Tony Perez in Cooperstown.

We have elected 45 Major League greats over that quarter-century, and I voted for all of them except Jim Rice (2009), Andre Dawson (2010) and Bert Blyleven (2011). I overhauled my own voting approach in 2015 to prioritize WAR and JAWS metrics and always check the maximum 10 boxes, a big change from the old small-ballot days of “elite of the elite” certainty.

For most of that time, we would mail back our ballots and it was a mystery until the announcement. That all changed with social media and the BBHOF Tracker, which added more accountability and made voters more informed. It even allowed us to factor in a candidate who might be in danger of falling off the ballot.

One topic dominated this quarter-century of balloting, of course, and that was steroid use. Some voters used their ballot to take a stand. Others, self included, purposely avoided the issue because no writer will ever know all who did and didn’t.

Everyone will be in the Hall one day soon enough — Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Álex Rodríguez, etc. Feelings fade and performance prevails. Look how many Negro Leaguers were enshrined long after people of certain beliefs faded away. Times just change. Today we know what a large percentage of plaques (Bill Mazeroski?!) don’t belong there.

That whole PED issue caused a major ballot bottleneck that ultimately resulted in the election of an astounding 18 players over a six-year period, from 2014-19. Younger fans had become upset that their favorite players were excluded from the Hall, so this was a reactionary wave.

Now we are back to a crawl — only four electees in the four years since that period ended. The steroid debate goes on, as A-Rod and Manny Ramírez have obvious numbers for entry but will be denied, probably through their 10-year eligibility.

Another key issue over this quarter-century was the downsizing of the voting body. The Hall of Fame instituted a procedure that required voter registration, to determine how many people still cover baseball and to “sunset” those who stop covering it. It has reduced the number of voters during this quarter-century from a high of 581 in 2011 to only 389 last year. That skews younger, more stats and analysis, more 10-check ballots, more public and accountable.

So Happy New Year the traditional way, with the following 10 check marks, in order:

Álex Rodríguez, Adrian Beltré, Carlos Beltrán, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Chase Utley, Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield and Andy Pettitte.

Here is a closer look at how I completed the 2024 ballot and the bubble breakdown.

1. Álex Rodríguez. Two of the top five all-time home run hitters are not in Cooperstown, Bonds (762) and A-Rod (696). Hank Aaron is second with 755 and Babe Ruth third with 714. Albert Pujols, fourth with 703, will be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration on the 2028 ballot. All five plaques should be there, not to mention Pete Rose’s. One day it will all be corrected. As noted, I have never factored the steroid subject into voting. No writer will ever know all who did and who didn’t. Even if you exclude A-Rod because he admittedly used, you don’t know that David Ortiz from last year’s HOF class didn’t. I voted Bonds/Clemens the whole way. I don’t go there.

2. Adrian Beltré. Obvious first-rounder despite never winning a ring. Not in Mike Schmidt’s class at 3B, but has a higher voting percentage as “good guys” are overcompensated today. If he’s almost unanimous, then Ichiro definitely should be unanimous next year. Ichiro > Beltré.

3. Carlos Beltrán. No. 8 all-time in WAR among center fielders, only Mike Trout isn’t in (yet) above him. Here’s another great example of inconsistency among voters. Proven cheater, knew what pitches were coming and condoned it for at least the last full year that I worked for MLB.com (2017), yet he has a much higher voting percentage than A-Rod, who is far more deserving statistically. Who decides what cheating is good and what is bad? Even if you cheated for one game, you cheated!

4. Joe Mauer. No-brainer going by WAR/JAWS, first-ballot. Doesn’t have much October street cred as Twins generally sucked in the postseason, but you can’t argue with his rank.

5. Todd Helton. Should have already been in, this time he’ll probably make it for a trio. Doesn’t matter what altitude he played in, he was steady excellence for a long, long time. I don’t know about you, but I still love a guy who plays his whole career with one franchise.

6. Andruw Jones. No. 14 all-time in WAR among center fielders, far ahead of a bunch of undeserving Hall of Famers like Hack Wilson or Earl Combs. And he’s 11th in JAWS! Lloyd Waner is in despite being 97th in JAWS. We know stuff today. Stop the madness and vote for this guy.

7. Chase Utley. No. 15 all-time in WAR among 2B, just ahead of Jackie Robinson. Ranks 12th in 2B JAWS, right above Lou Whitaker, who is ridiculously omitted from the Hall to date. It’s just further reminder that Whitaker (No. 7 in WAR) should be in alongside his double play partner Alan Trammell.

8. Billy Wagner. Ninth year on the ballot and was in the low 60s for percentage around Christmas. I started voting annually for Wagner in 2020, the year after the bottleneck was cleared. Think he will get in next year, especially if three get in this year. Ask any hitter he faced.

9. Gary Sheffield. Tenth and final year on the ballot, guessing Sheff will come up a little short… but once again doing what I can here. Became more popular with writers in later life.

10. Andy Pettitte. The Yankee left-hander was king of the postseason era, the guy who won after a playoff loss. He ranks 65th all-time in WAR (60.2) among starting pitchers, which is strong. There are only eight starting pitchers above him who are excluded, save for the ones who are either locks down the road (i.e. Jason Verlander and Clayton Kershaw) or the banished (i.e. Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling). Have voted for him every year but it doesn’t look like he will go in through the BBWAA. I feel there is still too much legend to ignore. DISCUSS

BUBBLE

Any of these guys could be a nice No. 10. Maybe next year.

11. Jimmy Rollins. Will probably vote for him next year, was No. 10 here but want to help keep Pettitte on for more discussion. I waited long enough to take a peek at the Tracker so I know J-Roll is in no danger of falling off the ballot. Let’s be honest, Utley/Rollins was a good notch below “Trammaker” in Detroit. But you can still make a case for Rollins, who ranks 26th in all-time WAR among shortstops with 47.6. Except for A-Rod, only three shortstops above him are not in the Hall: Bill Dahlen, Bert Campaneris and Jim Fregosi. Campy is a gross omission to date, more deserving than J-Roll.

12. Manny Ramírez. Dropping him this year as a “lost cause” candidate, the same way I eventually dropped Big Mac. I’m done at least for now. Numbers are obviously Cooperstown-worthy but no room for him on the 2024 ballot.

13. Bobby Abreu. On-again, off-again bubble pick for me over the years. He ranks 20th all-time in RF WAR, right behind Sheff. Abreu is halfway through his eligibility, and looks like a struggle.

14. Omar Vizquel. Still can’t see it from the BBWAA. And yet I still see him getting in via an Era ballot one day as his glove was so stupendously good. Why is his campaign so lifeless? He has sabotaged his own case with a several off-field issues.

Big cliff dropoff here.

15. David Wright. Coulda shoulda woulda been a contender, just didn’t play long enough for the Mets. Even Don Mattingly made a longer case before he faded from contention. Great guy and great memories, even for the USA in that first World Baseball Classic.

That’s it. Frankie Rodríguez needs too much hype and too much arcane metric creativity, don’t see ever voting for him.

Looking forward next year to Ichiro. Will he be the second unanimous first-ballot selection? I think he should be, but there’s always that someone in our crowd.

Writers are still a good group to do this voting. The Era committees have improved, with many wrongs righted in recent years. There are still missing legends, still plaques that should be yanked off the wall, but bottom line there are awe-struck patrons in the Gallery whenever you walk through the Hall of Fame and that’s what it’s all about, right?

Looking forward to more fun years of elections, at least until the sun sets down here in sunny St. Pete…

Mark Newman is a recipient of the National Magazine Award for General Excellence and author of No. 1 bestseller Diamonds from the Dugout. He has been a pro sports beat writer for The Miami Herald, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and San Jose Mercury News; VP/GM at The Sporting News, and from 2002-2018 was a familiar byline to millions of baseball fans as Enterprise Editor and lead national writer for MLB.com plus the first 26,000 tweets & first 1.2 million followers as @MLB. The Indiana University graduate is a longtime Hall of Fame voting member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America working 25 World Series.

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2024 BBHOF Tracker Summary and Leaderboard

Posted on November 17, 2023 by Ryan

View the full 2024 Tracker with all individual ballots: 2024 BBHOF Tracker

Where Is the Love?

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Mark Newman

Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway asked this little question 50 years ago, and I’m thinking of it now as I fill out my 22nd Hall of Fame ballot with Alexa providing background vocals.

Where is the love? (Where is the love?)

Pete Rose, definition of a Hall of Famer with 4,256 hits, is living out his life at age 81 by signing autographs, doing podcasts and represented with no plaque in Cooperstown.

But you can be sure Ichiro Suzuki, a good guy with 4,367 hits if you include Japan, will have slurpy voters at his feet for a first-ballot selection in 2025.

Where is the love? (Where is the love?)

Barry Bonds, maybe the best player in the history of baseball, just came and went.

Even the Great Era Sages of Cooperstown let him come and go.

Where is the love? (Where is the love?)

Roger Clemens, one of the five best pitchers in the history of baseball, just came and went.

Even the Great Era Sages of Cooperstown let him come and go.

Where is the love? (Where is the love?)

Curt Schilling never had a chance only because his words offended others. It’s like the 3,116 strikeouts, 80.5 WAR and bloody sock never happened.

Even the Great Era Sages of Cooperstown let him come and go.

Where is the love?

Where is the love?

You said, you’d give to me

As soon as you were free

Five year waiting period after retirement. Ten-year eligibility period on the ballot. Great Era Sages of Cooperstown pontifications. In Charlie Hustle’s case, life.

Is this thing really working?

Imagine if Elon Musk got ahold of the Hall of Fame selection process. I detest much of what he’s doing to Twitter, but I’d still love to see him shake the hell out of this thing.

First he would suspend every voter.

Then he would give in to newspaper execs and he would open it up to a public vote.

Then suddenly all of you would decide elections from now on. Hell, you’re the patrons.

I’ve got nothing on you season-ticket holders in the field boxes who attend every home game and travel on the road, who watch your team wherever including Spring Training.

But for now this process is still up to people like me: about 400 of us BBWAA voters who covered the game a long time, and then the rotational Era Committees get their hands on the leftover scraps like Harold Baines or Fred McGriff.

I don’t know about my peers but I read your comments. Does any other organizational body get as soundly trashed as Hall voters? You say nice things, too. But I’m not blind or deaf.

Will it ever be?

Where is the love?

Now I’m looking at the ballot for 2023 Induction Weekend and it’s kind of a blend of privilege and satisfaction, confusion and futility. I read the accompanying materials in the big envelope as usual, including No. 5 on the BBWAA Rules for Election. It reads verbatim:

5. Voting — Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.

If I’m counting right, that’s six criteria, and exactly half of them pertain to whether a guy is a good guy or not. Integrity, Sportsmanship, Character — the “ISC” clause. And the first two on-field criteria are basically the same thing.

We need to start by rewriting that sentence. Morality is clearly being dictated. This is not about raising children, it’s about putting the best players in the Hall of Fame.

We suck at it right now. Some clique-ish press box buds will see it as “mission accomplished” — kept those assholes out of Cooperstown! No, you just denied fans some all-time greats.

Do the best players of our lifetime even have a legitimate chance?

You told me that you didn’t love him

And you were gonna say, goodbye

But if you really didn’t mean it

Why did you have to lie?

Was it a lie?

I’m looking at this ballot and my first thought is that some of these guys who I used to see as sure Hall of Famers don’t have a chance based on what we’ve just seen. It’s not even close. Sorry, folks, but shutout-a-comin’.

Álex Rodríguez jumps off this ballot, head and shoulders above the rest. He could have 1,000 home runs and no shot ever. Wasn’t good guy enough, wasn’t ISC.

Manny Ramírez? I considered putting him in the Lost Causes group and unchecking. He could have 1,000 home runs and no shot ever. Wasn’t good guy enough, wasn’t ISC.

Carlos Beltrán should be a first-ballot pick, second at worst. He’s already getting the ISC treatment. Some voters are doing it just to make a statement, then they’ll hit him up after supposedly making him sweat.

But I also see a lot of REALLY GOOD GUYS, so technically they should have just as good a chance this year. It’s half the criteria! Torii Hunter, best guy ever! R.A. Dickey, I remember him playing Wiffle ball with inner-city kids and writing a book. Bronson Arroyo, WHAT A GUY! Vote them all in. J.J. Hardy speech coming up.

John Lackey, I’m afraid, has virtually everything going against him, but “contribution to his team(s)” does make him stand out. Kind of like Josh Beckett, not a voter friend.

There are only three ways I see this moral ballot mentality changing:

A) Rule No. 5 is rewritten to make sense.

B) Infusion of younger voters as BBWAA 10-year sunset clause purges morality voters.

C) The Elon approach, blow it all up, piss off Elton John, and have everyone vote.

Man, this isn’t covering the 2024 Election. It’s about a baseball pantheon.

Where is the love?

You said, was mine, all mine

Till the end of time

Was it just a lie?

Where is the love?

I thought I would be happy to reach the point where no one was going to ask whether I’m voting for Bonds and Clemens. With those two gone, with Schilling gone and David Ortiz inducted, that’s four of my last 10 check marks that are replaced. I thought it would feel like a “fresh” era in the voting process, and refreshing not to be asked about Bonds and Clemens.

It’s not how I pictured it, though. It feels moot and ridiculous. But I still take it seriously. So without further ado, here are the 10 checks on my ballot. Since I’m just listening to Roberta Flack, you can refer to last year’s column for actual supporting baseball data:

1. Álex Rodríguez.
If you had, had a sudden change of heart

I wish that you would tell me so

2. Carlos Beltrán.
Don’t leave me hangin’ on the promises

You’ve got to let me know

3. Manny Ramírez.
Oh, how I wish, I never met you

I guess, it must have been my fate

To fall in love with someone else’s love

All I can do is wait

That’s all I can do, yeah yeah