Twelve players are on the 2026 Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. Every member of that dozen secured their spot on the ballot by putting up huge numbers, winning awards, making All-Star teams and/or being at their best in the postseason over an MLB career that spanned at least a decade.
And for this story, we don’t really care about any of that stuff.
No, let’s instead focus on one funny, unusual, strange or possibly embarrassing highlight from each player’s accomplished career.
Braun, the Brewers’ all-time home run leader, spent his entire 14-year career with Milwaukee. Only Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor had more hits with the club. The 2011 National League MVP was a Brewer through and through. During a game against the Mets on April 28, 2019, Braun’s deep ties to the franchise became hilariously literal.
While going back to the wall on a deep fly from Mets rookie Pete Alonso, Braun jumped and didn’t come down with the ball. He did, however, come down with about half a cup of beer on his uniform. A Mets fan inadvertently spilled their beverage all over Braun right in front of the fence, dousing the left fielder. The play resulted in Alonso’s first career triple and in Braun probably needing a little wardrobe change after the inning.
Choo is at the center of the most painful and unfortunate entry on this list. Facing Royals left-hander Danny Duffy on May 24, 2018, Choo watched a pitch sail wide and into the dirt. The offering was so far off the plate that Rangers teammate Delino DeShields decided to take off from first base and try to steal second. And he probably would have made it safely … if not for Choo’s face.
That’s because when the pitch hit the dirt, it bounced up, deflected off of Royals catcher Salvador Perez and then nailed Choo right in his mug. As he staggered away from the plate, the ball died right in front of Perez, who picked it up and fired a strike to second base to nab DeShields.
Encarnación bashed 424 homers across 16 big league seasons, and an imaginary parrot was perched atop his raised right arm for most of those strolls around the bases. The Blue Jays celebrated the slugger’s distinctive trot with “Edwing Day” on June 22, 2016. There was an Edwing T-shirt giveaway. There were some fake parrots in the stands — and at least one in Toronto’s dugout.
Hamels and fellow ace Cliff Lee commandeered the Phillie Phanatic’s famous hot dog cannon at least twice while they were teammates in Philadelphia. They fired off some franks in 2013, and while that’s fun, everything seemed to go off without a hitch then. It’s much more entertaining to watch the cannon fail, and that’s what happened during an exhibition game against the Pirates on March 28, 2014.
Hamels loaded up hot dogs for Lee to shoot, but both could only watch as most of them either failed to launch or just plopped onto the Citizens Bank Park grass. The Phanatic did its best to fix the malfunction, but nothing could be done. So, Hamels decided to start chucking hot dogs over his shoulder and into the crowd. Then he pelted the iconic mascot with the rest of the sausage supply.
González makes his second appearance in this story; he threw the pitch to Alonso that led to Braun getting a beer bath. That led to a run that hurt the left-hander’s ERA with Milwaukee. But it probably didn’t hurt his ego as much as one errant offering against the Brewers on Sept. 22, 2012.
On a 1-2 pitch to Martín Maldonado, González stumbled on the mound, airmailed his pitch to the backstop and wound up lying prone on the field. Initial concerns about a possible injury were quickly erased as his Nationals teammates began laughing while González tried to compose himself. Once Gio climbed back on the hill, he topped off the embarrassing moment by tipping his cap to the home crowd.
González finished that at-bat by striking out Maldonado en route to his 20th win of the season. His 21 victories in 2012 led the Majors and stand as the franchise’s single-season record.
A Royals legend, a World Series hero, and one of the best defensive outfielders of his era, Gordon has a massive collection of amazing catches on his career highlight reel. Let’s spotlight one catch that is as funny as it is impressive.
Gordon ran a country mile to track down a foul ball off the bat of White Sox infielder Micah Johnson on April 26, 2015. As he neared the stands along the left-field line, Gordon skied into the air and landed in the second row of seats. During his flight, the Royals’ No. 4 absolutely trucked a fan in a No. 4 White Sox jersey. Gordon landed with his legs sticking up in the air — and with the ball in his glove. If you wanted a snapshot of why Gordon was an eight-time Gold Glove winner and a two-time recipient of the Platinum Glove, there you go.
If you’re sporting a No. 94 jersey in a Spring Training game, you are either a fresh-faced prospect looking to crack The Show or a veteran hoping for one last shot in the bigs. That number usually doesn’t go to multi-time All-Stars who are just a few years removed from being an NL MVP runner-up. But for a March 18, 2016, Spring Training game while with the Padres in Scottsdale, Ariz., Kemp’s regular No. 27 got left behind at San Diego’s facility in Peoria. Thus, for two innings and one at-bat, Kemp was No. 94.
He singled with his “new” jersey before his usual threads arrived prior to his second at-bat. Kemp homered in that AB just as he did 281 times when wearing No. 27 during the regular season.
In 2017, Kendrick took a couple of minutes out of his pregame routine prior to a Nationals-Astros matchup to have a little fun with Houston’s mascot, Orbit. The pair engaged in what looked like a game of human ring toss with a giant Astros cap. There were more misses than hits — some of which were playfully intentional by Kendrick. He was a good sport with the friendly shenanigans and waved to the fans in Houston as he returned to warmups.
Did you accidentally break a window while playing baseball in the yard when you were growing up? Really, who didn’t? On July 19, 2016, a 32-year-old Markakis provided many with a childhood flashback when he lined a pitch from the Reds’ Jumbo Diaz foul down the left side. The ball traveled toward a suite at Great American Ball Park and shattered a window, leaving a huge hole in the middle.
A few innings later, Markakis would help break the hearts of Reds fans as he scored in the 11th inning of a 5-4 Braves victory.
For Murphy, we have to give an honorable mention to this incredible play he and Mets pitcher Carlos Torres made against the Phillies in 2015. It’s just … how??
But if we really want to stay weird, we have to go to April 24, 2019. Murphy was a member of the Rockies in the penultimate season of his 12-year career. But we’re lucky that his career didn’t end on that day at Coors Field. Playing in his first game after missing nearly a month due to a fractured finger, Murphy went to take his position at first base, stepped out of Colorado’s dugout and was nearly steamrolled by a huge tooth with legs.
Yes, that’s a real thing that happened during a baseball game.
We’re not sure what frightens Murphy off the field, but you can see that he just about jumped out of his skin following that close encounter.
Where do we even start with this one?
Ultimately, it’s best if we just spotlight Pence’s reaction to a play from the Giants’ Sept. 29, 2016, game against the Rockies. Pitcher Johnny Cueto put down a bunt that led to a throwing error from Nolan Arenado and two runs for San Francisco. And Pence is just loving every second. He is shaking teammates. His eyes are bugging out. His arms are completely out of his control. And speaking of out of control — just look at that hair!
Hunter Pence is a treasure.
Porcello, like most pitchers, was not exactly a threat in the batter’s box. He had eight hits in 45 career at-bats with 19 strikeouts, two extra-base hits and five RBIs.
Do you want to see his first extra-base hit? You should, because it drove in three runs and came off of none other than Max Scherzer. And this was in the middle of 2018, when Scherzer was still at the peak of his powers. He was the NL Cy Young Award winner two years running, and he would finish second for the award in ’18. Yet, here is Porcello, a former teammate of Scherzer’s in Detroit, drilling a 96 mph fastball to the wall, over the head of Nats rookie Juan Soto, for a bases-clearing double that put the Red Sox in front.
