The responsibility as a first-time voter for the National Baseball Hall of Fame is obviously one I take seriously, and one that requires careful consideration of each candidate. Some were easy and others not so much, with nuance and generational context coming into play.
I exercised seven of my 10 possible votes for the candidates I saw as HOF-worthy. Here are the arguments for some of my votes and non-votes on the 2026 ballot:
This was the easiest one to check for me. Being part of the 400 home run and 300 stolen base club with Barry Bonds, Alex Rodríguez, Willie Mays and Andre Dawson speaks for itself, as do his 2,725 hits, 1,587 RBIs, nine All-Star Games and 70.0 bWAR. Most people suspect that Beltrán’s support took a little more time to gain steam than if he had not been implicated in the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. But any way you slice it, he seems like a rock-solid choice for Cooperstown.
Jones’ huge drop-off after his Atlanta years, starting in 2008, has been his main obstacle for election — but it’s impossible for me to ignore his 434 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves and his ranking as the No. 11 center fielder of all time in Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system in Baseball-Reference. Jones got my vote.
This one has been debated time and again, which is part of what makes being a Hall of Fame voter fun…and makes it such a big responsibility. As has been well-documented, Abreu was a “moneyball” type player before it became fashionable, posting a .416 on-base percentage from 1998 to 2006, along with a .305 average and a .918 OPS. This flew right in the face of a home-run happy time in MLB — fueled in large part by the steroid era — and was a precursor to the type of offensive game that gained tremendous value in the eyes of evaluators and pundits in later years. With 400 stolen bases, 574 doubles and a 60.2 bWAR — among other numbers that place him favorably among Hall of Famers — his case was convincing enough for me.
A few years ago, there was a trend among baseball analysts labeled “Kill the Win”. The idea, of course, was that we should stop giving so much weight to wins and losses when evaluating a pitcher. Not only do I understand the logic, but I also support it. However, Pettitte’s 256 wins are persuasive to me in the context of longevity and reliability in the era in which he pitched, and on some of the best Yankees clubs in their history (which is obviously saying something). Of course, the reason they’re considered some of the best teams in the Bronx is their seven pennants and five World Series titles between 1996 and 2009. In the middle of most of the Yankees’ playoff runs in that stretch, Pettitte holds the Major League records for postseason starts (44), wins (19), innings pitched (276 2/3) and quality starts (28). So, in a Hall of Fame with so many pitchers based on wins and longevity, I had to give Pettitte and his five World Series rings their due with my vote.
The second-base dilemma: Dustin Pedroia and Chase Utley
This is one I’ll have to look at very carefully next year. In Pedroia’s case, he has numbers that by comparison can be considered HOF-worthy — or at the very least, on the margins. His bWAR (51.8) and JAWS (46.5) are superior to those of Hall of Famers Jeff Kent, Bobby Doerr and Nellie Fox (in addition to several others), and his four Gold Gloves, 2007 AL ROY Award and 2008 MVP honors had an impact on my decision. Pedroia got my vote.
So, why Pedroia and not Utley? Utley’s career totals in most traditional and non-traditional categories are slightly higher than Pedroia’s, with the difference largely due to Utley’s nice swan song with the Dodgers for the final three and a half years of his career — a period which coincided in part with Pedroia’s last few injury-riddled seasons. But Utley’s lack of Gold Glove recognition and having finished no higher than seventh in MVP voting (yes, I’m aware of competition he had in the National League in his prime) led to the decision to leave him off my ballot. Believe me, it was a tough one, and one that, again, I’ll look at very closely next time.
A-Rod and Manny a no-go for me
I’ve never been a strict “if there was even a hint of PED use, I’ll never vote for them” person. Hence, my vote for Pettitte despite his admitted use of HGH in two separate seasons to recover from injuries. But in the cases of Alex Rodríguez and Manny Ramírez, there are factors that led me to leave them off my ballot.
Rodríguez admitted in 2009 that when he joined the Rangers in 2001, he began using PEDs and did so only in his three years in Arlington. In those three seasons, he hit 156 home runs and was the 2003 AL MVP. But in later years, of course, A-Rod — who was traded to the Yankees in 2004 — was implicated in the Biogenesis scandal in Miami. So it’s impossible for me to know what his numbers would have looked like without his admitted and documented PED use.
The same essentially goes for Ramírez. Being named as one of the 104 players testing positive on the leaked 2003 PED results — which were supposed to be anonymous — is one thing. Another is having two suspensions for PED use in later years, 2009 and 2011. For me, that was damning enough to question his career numbers to the point of not giving him my HOF vote.
Bobby Abreu
Carlos Beltrán
Andy Pettitte
Andruw Jones
Omar Vizquel
Francisco Rodríguez
Dustin Pedroia
