Carlos Beltrán is forgiven.
Andruw Jones’ fall-off is forgotten.
Manny Ramirez’s candidacy is over.
Alex Rodriguez’s realistic chance remains on life-support.
Chase Utley is standing on the on-deck circle.
Andy Pettitte’s voting uptick remains confusing.
Welcome to the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame election where there will be precious little suspense when the election results are announced Tuesday at 6 p.m. on the MLB Network.
Beltrán, after being snubbed his first three years on the ballot for being part of the 2017 Houston Astros’ cheating scandal, looks to be a lock. One of the greatest switch-hitters of all time, Beltrán has received 89.2% of nearly half of the ballots already made public according to Ryan Thibodeaux’s Hall of Fame tracker.
Andruw Jones, the 10-time Gold Glove center fielder who hit 434 homers and was one of the greatest defensive outfielders in history – saving 265.9 more runs than the average defender – could also join Beltrán. Jones, whose spectacular career plummeted at the age of 30, has garnering 83% of the early public votes entering Tuesday.
The two should be joining second baseman Jeff Kent, who was elected by the contemporary era committee in December, on center stage July 26 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The most fascinating aspect of this election is not who’s getting in, but who’s gaining momentum, thanks to advance analytics, a new round of voters, and a heavy dose of sentimentalism.
No one’s candidacy is more baffling than starter Andy Pettitte. His chances for election looked dead two years ago. Suddenly, he's flourishing. He received just 13.5% of the vote two years ago, but in his eighth year of eligibility this year, he is now receiving 57.4% of the votes, according to Thibodaux’s tracking.
Pettitte was never the best pitcher on his own team, but was one of the steadiest in the game. He was a postseason fixture, helping lead the Yankees to five World Series championships and three pennants. He pitched in an MLB-record 44 postseason games, winning 19 of them, including eight series-clinching games. He won 256 regular season games, but also had a 3.85 ERA, which would be the highest of any pitcher elected on a BBWAA ballot.
Pettitte’s candidacy gained momentum when Yankees starter CC Sabathia was elected a year ago with eerily similar numbers, with the exception of Sabathia striking out 3,093 batters compared to Pettitte’s 2,448 total.
Still, the elephant in the room is that Pettitte was an admitted PED user, and the Baseball Writers' Association of America has made it quite clear how it views steroid users.
Barry Bonds, who hit the most homers in history and was easily the greatest player of his generation with his seven MVPs, never got close to being voted into the Hall of Fame on the BBWAA ballot. Bonds also has since been snubbed twice by his peers and executives on the contemporary era committee. He must wait six years to be included on the next contemporary era ballot, and if he again receives five or fewer votes, he’ll be permanently off the ballot.
Roger Clemens, who won 354 games and was a seven-time Cy Young winner, also is in the same Hall of Fame doghouse for his links to PEDs. He’s also ineligible to be on the ballot again for six years.
So, why in the world would Pettitte, who was outed in the Mitchell report on PEDs in baseball, and confessed to using HGH once his name surfaced, suddenly receive a huge bump of voting support.
No player in baseball history has ever admitted to PED use and been elected to the Hall of Fame.
Not one.
If Pettitte were somehow elected, how hypocritical would it be to keep Clemens, Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and everyone else out who was linked to PEDs?
And if voters are forgiving Pettitte, who has apologized for using HGH, does that mean that Alex Rodriguez should be too? He has been profusely apologizing at every opportunity for using PEDs, receiving the longest drug suspension in baseball history.
Why are we forgiving Pettitte, because he says he used only HGH to recover for injuries? Or is it because he’s a genuinely good guy, model teammate, was popular with the media, and is the pitching coach for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic?
If Pettitte is elected one day, will we suddenly stop caring who cheated, who was clean, and simply elect whoever had the best numbers, no matter how long they played?
Please, make it make sense.
While Pettite’s candidacy has new life, we’re seeing a rise with other players, too, with second baseman Chase Utley picking up 20 new voters, and trending at 67.9%. Utley’s popularity has grow thanks in part to advanced metrics. His career WAR, according to Baseball Reference, is the 15th highest of all second basemen, and 10 of the top 14 have all been enshrined in Cooperstown. Utley was always respected as a tenacious winning player, and was integral part of the Phillies’ glorious postseason run, but he still ended up with just 1,855 hits.
If Utley gets in, how can his double-play partner, Jimmy Rollins, the former MVP and four-time Gold Glove winner be left out? If you vote for one, shouldn’t both be in? Besides, Rollins is the only shortstop in history with more than 2,400 hits, 200 homers, 400 steals and 800 extra-base hits, according to Jayson Stark of The Athletic.
And if Utley is in, shouldn’t former Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia follow? Pedroia looked to be on the way to Cooperstown – winning an MVP award, four Gold Gloves and two World Series rings – but he suffered a left knee injury that all but officially ended his career after 12 full seasons. He wound up with 1,805 hits, but has picked up 19 new votes since a year ago.
If Pedroia gets in with his shortened career, do we look closer at Mets third baseman David Wright, who picked up 14 new votes? He had a sensational 10-year start of his career, but his career prematurely ended after dealing with spinal stenosis, winding up with just 1,777 hits.
There could be a trickle-down effect for the pitchers, too.
If Felix Hernandez – who is receiving 56.6% of the balloting after picking up 43 voters from a year ago – gets into Cooperstown, will pitchers with nothing-burger Hall of Fame candidacies suddenly look as appealing as prime cuts?
Hernandez was dominant from 2009-2015, winning a Cy Young award with four top-four finishes, but his career cratered when he turned 30. He ended up with 169 victories and never pitched in the postseason in his career. And the only starters voted into the Hall of Fame on the BBWAA ballot with fewer than 170 victories and 2,800 innings are Sandy Koufax and Dizzy Dean.
If Hernandez (169-136, 3.42 ERA) finds his way in, how can you keep out Cole Hamels (163-122, 3.43 ERA, along with eight postseasons)? How about Mark Buehrle (214-160, 3.81, three postseasons)?
How are we going to view Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright in the future? They each had 200 victories, and unlike Hernandez, actually led their teams to World Series championships and pennants.
So, where does it end?
Look, everyone who appears on the Hall of Fame ballot had an outstanding career, but entrance into Cooperstown is supposed to be reserved for the elite of the elite.
It shouldn’t be a popularity contest.
It shouldn’t be sympathy votes because of shortened careers.
We shouldn’t lower our standards.
Come on, if former outfielder Bobby Abreu received only 5.5% of the vote in his first year on the ballot in 2020, there’s no reason to suddenly believe he’s a Hall of Famer because his .395 career on-base percentage is illuminated by analytics. He made only two All-Star teams and never once finished in the top 10 of the MVP voting in any of his 18 years.
It’s perfectly fine to maintain lofty standards and help assure that only the best of the best receive the game’s ultimate honor.
It doesn’t mean that a player must produce 3,000 hits, a slugger has to hit 500 homers, a starter has to win 300 games or a closer obtain 600 saves. The Hall of Fame will have cobwebs waiting for new inductees if we don’t recognize that the traditional benchmarks have changed.
But we don’t have to squeeze in as many players as possible through the Hall of Fame doors while waiting for Albert Pujols, Clayton Kershaw and Miguel Cabrera to arrive.
The Hall of Fame deserves to maintain a membership confined to the greatest who ever played the game.
If it’s no trouble, let’s keep it that way.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Baseball Hall of Fame announcement's red flags on Andy Pettitte voting
