2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 2026 inductess. They include Joy Division/New Order, Billy Idol, Phil Collins, Oasis, and others.

Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones Elected to Major League Baseball Hall of Fame

Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have been elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. They join Jeff Kent (who was elected in December by an Era Committee) in the Hall's 2026 class.

Given the very weak candidate slate this year, many returning candidates gained a lot of votes. Chase Utley, Andy Pettitte, Félix Hernández, Bobby Abreu, and others made huge gains in votes. Félix's Hernández's one-year gain is the largest such gain since the Hall of Fame returned to annual voting in 1967. The baseball writers clearly are rethinking how to evaluate Hall of Fame pitchers in the modern era. Hopefully, pitchers like Kevin Brown and Johan Santana (who got almost no support from the baseball writers when they were on the ballot) will be considered at some point by an Era Committee.

Chase Utley got almost 60% of the vote, so he may even be elected in 2027, which is faster than I was thinking. I now think that a 2028 election for Utley is most likely, whereas previously I was thinking that it would take longer. Utley has the highest voe percentage among all candidates who will be on the ballot again next year. Cole Hamels, with just more than 23% of the vote, is the only new candidate who got the requisite minimum 5% to remain on the ballot next year.

See this website and especially this website for the annual Hall of Fame vote tracker, which I use to follow writers' ballots as they make them public. The sites have been very flaky this year, but they're really great when one is able to access them.

Update: Some ESPN pundits have discussed some implications from the results of this year's Hall of Fame voting.

Update: Here's a nice recap of the voting results by Jay Jaffe.

Update (1/22/26): Jay Jaffe has written his candidate-by-candidate breakdown for the results of this year's Hall of Fame cycle.

Update (1/26/26): Jay Jaffe has written his 5-year prognostication for upcoming Hall of Fame ballots.

Jeff Kent Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame!

Second baseman Jeff Kent has been elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame by the Era Committee (which is the current version of the Veterans Committee. I am pleased that Kent is finally in the Hall.

Carlos Delgado did surprisingly well in the voting, so it sounds like he'll eventually make the Hall of Fame. Notably, Dale Murphy and Don Mattingly did not get enough votes (despite the fact that the Powers That Be seem to want them to be selected), and I agree that they should not be elected. Finally, I hope that Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens eventually make the Hall of Fame, but I won't be holding my breath (especially for the latter two).

Clayton Kershaw Records 3000th Career Strikeout!

In today's Dodger game, Clayton Kershaw became the 20th pitcher with at least 3000 career strikeouts. He is the fourth left-handed starter in that club and is the fifth pitcher to record at least 3000 strikeouts for one franchise.

Here is the rank-ordered list of Major League Baseball's sll-time strikeout leaders.

Bradford Doolittle did an interesting exercise to rank the 20 pitchers with at least 3000 strikeouts. (He puts Kershaw at 11th.)

Update (7/03/25): Jay Jaffe has written a nice article about Kershaw's accomplishment and its context.

2025 Inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 2025 inductees.

It's great to see Cyndi Lauper, Warren Zevon, and Joe Cocker take their place in the Hall among the greats!

Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner Elected to the Hall of Fame

Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, and Billy Wagner have been elected to Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. They join Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who were elected to the Hall by one of the era committees in December.

As one can see in the voting results, Suzuki was named on every ballot except for one. (Therefore, Mariano Rivera remains the only player who has ever been elected to the Hall unanimously by the baseball writers.) Suzuki and Sabathia are both in their first year of eligibility, and Billy Wagner is in his 10th and final year of eligibility. I initially thought that Sabathia would get about 50% of the vote in his first year, but I saw quickly from the vote tracker (which I follow religiously every year) that he was going to make it this year. For Suzuki, the only question is whether or not he'd be elected unanimously. Wagner missed election last year by a measly 5 votes, so it was clear that he'd make it this year.

The strong election of Sabathia, the stronger-than-I-expected debut of Féliz Hernández (who got 20.6% of the vote), and the big gains of Andy Pettite (who roughly doubled his vote percentage from last year to 27.9% after making essentially no progress for several years) illustrate that the writers are looking much more intelligently than they used to at what constitutes a Hall-of-Fame starting pitcher.

Carlos Beltrán made a lot of progress to reach 70.3% of the vote. The newcomers on the 2026 ballot constitute a weak field, so Beltrán will surely be elected in 2026 and the other holdovers should make strong progress. Andruw Jones improved a little bit to 66.2%, and he may well be elected next year. I think it's about 50/50 that Jones gets elected in 2026 — a selection of ESPN baseball writers are much more optimistic than I am — but I am confident that he'll make it in 2027 (his 10th and final year of eligibility) if he does not make it in 2026. Jones barely survived the 5% cut on the ballot in his first couple of years, so he's made a ton of progress since then. Chase Utley also made a lot of progress this year, going from 28.8% of the vote to 39.8% of it. I expect that he will surpass 50% next year, but I think that he's likely still a few years from election.

Update: Here is Jay Jaffe's post to summarize the voting results and his thoughts on them. The navigation bar at the top of that website gives hyperlinks to his other articles for the 2025 Hall of Fame voting cycle.

Update (1/23/25): Here is Jay Jaffe's extended rundown of the election results.

Update (1/27/25): Here is Jay Jaffe's 5-year forecast of upcoming Hall of Fame elections.

Dick Allen and Dave Parker Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

Dick Allen and Dave Parker have been elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. I strongly support Dick Allen's election (which is long overdue), but I don't think that Parker should be in the Hall of Fame. (In my view, he belongs instead to the Hall of Very Good.)

Of the people on this particular Veterans Committee ballot (though the name "Veterans Committee" was retired many years ago), I was most enthusiastic about Dick Allen's candidacy. I also think that Luis Tiant, Vic Harris, and Ken Boyer belong in the Hall of Fame. Jay Jaffe has written excellent summaries of the careers and Cooperstown (i.e., Hall of Fame) cases of the people on the ballot.

RIP Willie Mays (1931–2024)

The legendary Willie Mays died today. Mays was the oldest living baseball Hall of Famer; he took the mantle in 2021 when Tommy Lasorda died. You can see Willie Mays' statistics on this page.

I believe that Luis Aparicio is now the oldest living baseball Hall of Famer.

Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame!

Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer have been elected to the Major Legaue Baseball Hall of Fame! I knew that Mauer would make the Hall of Fame eventually, but he far surpassed my prediction for how he was going to do this year. I am pleasantly surprised to see him make the Hall on the first ballot, as I thought that he would need to wait a year or two to be elected. Adrián Beltré obviously sailed into the Hall on the first ballot.

Billy Wagner, who was named on 73.8% of the ballots, missed election to the Hall by only 5 votes. He'll make it in 2025, which is his 10th and final year on the writers' ballot. Gary Sheffield was named on 63.9% of the ballots in his final year on the writers' ballot. His Hall case is now in the hands of the various small commitees, and I think (and hope) that he'll make it eventually. Andruw Jones had a small gain to 61.6% and Carlos Beltrán made a sizeable gain to 57.1%. Beltrán has an outside shot to be elected in 2025, but I think that 2026 is more likely. Andruw Jones could also ultimately make it through the writers' ballot, but I think that Beltrán will surpass Jones in the vote total in 2025. One way or another, they'll both eventually make the Hall of Fame. Chase Utley got 28.8% of the vote in his debut on the ballot. He did much better in the public ballots than in the private ones. I do think that Utley will eventually make it, but it's going to be a long road for the more sabermetrically-minded folks to convince others that Utley belongs in the Hall of Fame.

In December, a small committee elected former manager Jim Leyland to the Hall of Fame.

As usual, I have been following the ballot tracker very closely these past couple of months.

A discussion of a few ESPN.com writers of this year's biggest winners and biggest losers, as well as an outlook on the 2025 ballot.

Of the players who can debut on the writers' ballot in 2025, the only plausible Hall of Fame candidates are Ichiro Suzuki and C.C. Sabathia. Ichiro will sail into the Hall of Fame in his ballot debut (and hopefully he'll be elected unanimously, but I am not holding my breath). Sabathia will eventually make it, but I think that it's going to take a few years (say, 4 years).

Update (which I forgot to include in the original text of this post): My prediction for the 2025 balloting is that Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner will be the two players elected. I think that Carlos Beltrán will get around 70% of the vote next year and that Andruw Jones will be in the mid 60s (perhaps around 66%). I think that Chase Utley will probably end up at about 35%. Utley's candidacy appears to be the latest battle in the considerations of old-school versus new-school voters.

Update: Jay Jaffe has written a rundown of the results of this year's writers' ballot.

Update (1/24/24): Here is Jay Jaffe's candidate-by-candidate dissection of this year's writers' ballot.

Update (1/29/24): Here is Jay Jaffe's five-year forecast of Hall of Fame balloting.

Jim Leyland Elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame

Former manager Jim Leyland has been elected to Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame in a vote of the Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee.

"Leyland received 15 of a possible 16 votes (93.8%), while Piniella received 11 (68.8%), White received 10 (62.5%) and Gaston, Johnson, Montague, Peters and West each received fewer than five votes." A candidate needed to receive 12 or more votes (i.e., from at least 75% of the committee) to be elected.

Jay Jaffe wrote a particularly compelling case in favor of Bill White.

Scott Rolen Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame!

Yesterday, Scott Rolen was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame in his 6th year of eligibility. He and Fred McGriff (who was elected to the Hall of Fame by an era committee in December) will be officially inducted into the Hall this summer. I am very pleased that both Rolen and McGriff are now in the Hall of Fame!

Scott Rolen is eminently merits his election, and it's great that he got in after several years of rising vote counts. Todd Helton and Billy Wagner made huge gains this year and should be joining the Hall in 2024. Andruw Jones and Gary Sheffield also made huge gains, although Sheffield is in his last year of eligibility for election by the writers in 2024 and is likely to instead be elected later by an era committee. It now looks like Andruw Jones will likely be elected by the writers in the next few years (but probably not in 2024) after getting under 8% of the vote (!) in his first year of eligibility. Jeff Kent, who was in his 10th and final year of eligibility, surged to 46.5% of the vote and is likely to be elected later by an era committee. Carlos Beltrán debuted on the ballot with 46.5% of the vote (matching Kent). I expect that Beltrán will get up to the high 50s in 2024, have some chance (but unlikely) of election in 2025, and probably be elected in 2026.

A strong set of players is debuting on the Hall ballot for the 2024 cycle. This set of players is led by Adrián Beltré, who will surely be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Joe Mauer also is debuting on the ballot, but I think it will take 2 or 3 years (most likely 2, in my view) for him to get in. Chase Utley is also debuting in 2024. He'll make it eventually, but his counting stats don't stand out, so it's going to take a few years for him to get in (but I think that he will eventually.)

As in each of the past several years, I was closely tracking the Hall of Fame tracker during the past couple of months as writers released their ballots to the public.

Here is Jay Jaffe's recap of the voting results.

Here are some "way too early" predictions (from Bradford Doolittle David Schoenfield) of Hall of Fame results for the next few cycles. For the most part, my views are far closer to Schoenfield's than the Doolittle's.

Update (1/26/23): Jay Jaffe has written his annual ballot round-up of the candidates on this year's ballot.

Update (1/30/23): Jay Jaffe has written his 5-year Hall prognostication.

Fred McGriff Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame!

The Crime Dog (i.e., Fred McGriff) finally has his day, as the latest (and ever-changing) incarnation of a veterans committee has elected him to Baseball's Hall of Fame. Finally!

McGriff was elected unanimously by the 16-member committee. 12 or more votes of the 16-member committee were necessary for election. The other three people who got enough votes for their vote counts to be released are Don Mattingly (8 votes), Curt Schilling (7 votes), and Dale Murphy (6 votes). Everyone else had 3 or fewer votes.

2022 Comeback Players of the Year

Baseball's Comeback Players of the Year for 2022 are Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers and Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.

2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 2022 inductees! They include Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Pat Benatar, and Harry Belafonte.

David Ortiz Elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame!

The Baseball Hall of Fame results were announced today, and David Ortiz is the only person who was elected by the writers this year. As usual, you can see all of the ballots that have been made public so far at this website. You can also see a discussion of winners and losers from this year's results.

Two of the era committees elected several Hall of Famers last month.

This year, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa were all in their 10th and final years of eligibility. Clems and Bonds crept up to 65% of the vote, but that's still below the 75% that is needed for induction. Schilling, given his repeated crap, lost many votes. With Clemens, Bonds, Schilling, and Ortiz no longer on the ballot next year and few newcomers of note joining the ballot, holdover Scott Rolen (who went up to around 63% of the vote this year) will likely be elected in 2023 (yay!). Newcomer Carlos Beltrán is the only new person on the ballot next year with any chance. The weak ballot will help him, but we'll see how the Astros cheating scandal affects his vote total. Todd Helton and Billy Wagner finally surpassed 50% of the vote this year, and I expect Todd Helton to make another big jump next year. Both merit election, but it it may take some time for Wagner and I think that Helton is more likely to be elected in 2024 than in 2023. Andruw Jones surpassed 40%, so he's also trending upward. Support for Omar Vizquel tanked because of his shenanigans, and he doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame anyway. Jimmy Rollins and Alex Rodriguez were the only other newcomers to the ballot besides David Ortiz to get at least 5% of the vote.

We will see how the era committees deal with Bonds, Clemens, and Schilling. They'll get into the Hall eventually (as they should, even with their horseshit), but it may take a while.

Update (1/26/22): Also see the voting round-up from Jay Jaffe.

Update (1/27/22): Here is Jay Jaffe's candidate-by-candidate breakdown of the 2022 voting.

Update (1/31/22): Here is Jay Jaffe's five-year outlook of the Hall of Fame balloting in the writers' ballot.

New Hall of Famers from Two of the Era Committees

We have some new Hall of Famers!

The Golden Days Era Committee has elected Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, and Gil Hodges to the Hall of Fame. I'm glad that Oliva, Hodges, and (especially) Miñoso are finally in the Hall of Fame. However, Jim Kaat should not have made it, and fellow Golden Era candidate Dick Allen bloody well should be in the Hall of Fame. Take a look at this series of articles for discussions of each of the candidates.

The Early Baseball Era Committee has elected Bud Fowler and Buck O'Neil to the Hall of Fame. Take a look at this series of articles for discussions of each of the candidates.

You can track the regular Hall of Fame ballotting on the usual ballot tracker. I am guessing that they're going to throw a shutout for the second year in a row, but players such as Todd Helton and Scott Rolen (and some others) should make good progress towards eventual election.

Update (12/06/21): As discussed in this article, Dick Allen fell one vote short for the second time in a row. :( Maybe next time, although even then he is no longer alive to enjoy it.

The Baseball Hall of Fame Throws a Shutout

There will be no new 2021 Hall of Famers for Major League Baseball. (Curt Schilling would have made it—and his playing career is clearly of Hall of Fame caliber—but he's a collossal dipshit.) None of the "Veterans Committees" met because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the 2021 induction ceremony will honor the 2020 inductees (along with the broadcasters and writers, who get particular awards).

Here is a tabulation of the 2021 ballot's winners and losers. As usual, I have been following things very closely on the Hall of Fame tracker, so I already had a very good idea of what was going to transpire (with very good estimates of final vote percentages). Now we also have the precise voting outcomes.

Scott Rolen, Todd Helton, Bill Wagner, Andruw Jones, and Gary Sheffield all mae very large strides.

Players who will debut on the ballot in 2022 include Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz.

Update (1/27/21): Here is Jay Jaffe's roundup of how each candidate performed in the voting, as well as their prospects for future enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.

Update (1/27/21): Dan Haren has a fantastic sense of humor. Also check out his Twitter handle, which is an homage to the speed of his "fastball". I love it! (Tip of the cap to Jay Jaffe.)

Update (2/01/21): Here are Jay Jaffe's forecasts of the Hall of Fame voting for the next few years.

RIP Hank Aaron (1934–2021)

Baseball has lost yet another giant: Hank Aaron died this morning, becoming the third baseball Hall of Famer to die this year already. (Baseball lost quite a few Hall of Famers last year, and we're off to a horrible start this year.) You can read about Hank Aaron's many accomplishments in his Wikipedia entry.

(Tip of the cap to Gregg Schneider.)

RIP Don Sutton (1945–2021)

We have lost yet another Hall-of-Fame Dodger: pitcher Don Sutton has died.

(Tip of the cap to Gregg Schneider.)

RIP Phil Niekro (1939–2020)

The great knuckleballer and Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro died in his sleep last night.

Yet another great baseball player has left us this year.