Worldwide Sports News

It doesn’t appear Rich Hill will pitch in 2026.

But the aging southpaw stopped short of calling it a retirement.

“I don’t have any plans on playing next year,” Hill said during an appearance on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” show earlier this week.

Hill, who turns 46 years old in March and was the oldest pitcher in baseball last season, said he was willing to stay in baseball, although that might not mean he’ll take the mound this season. 

“I’m looking for open possibilities to stay in the game of baseball and be a contributory factor … I enjoy the work aspect of whatever it might be that’s next,” Hill said. “I think that’s one thing that might be why athletes get hired in other positions, outside of sports, is that they’re highly driven people that want to succeed. That’s something that I’m looking forward to.”

Last season, Hill appeared in two games for the Royals, allowing five earned runs over nine innings. 

When he debuted for the club, Kansas City became the 14th different franchise Hill played for, tying Edwin Jackson for the most a player has joined in a career.

In the 21 years since he broke into the big leagues with the Cubs in 2005, Hill has been on a roller-coaster ride, but he managed to remain a major leaguer into his mid-40s.

A fourth-round pick by Chicago back in 2002, Hill struggled mightily through the first decade in the majors.  

In the second half of his career, Hill turned things around, posting several particularly strong seasons in the 2010s, including a terrific 2016 campaign, when he held a 2.12 ERA across 110 1/3 innings with the Athletics and Dodgers.

From 2017-19, Hill thrived in LA, posting a sub-4.00 ERA in each of those three seasons.

One Mets legend is going into the Hall of Fame.

But a different Amazin’s All-Star is now off the ballot — without receiving a single vote.

Daniel Murphy, in his first year with a chance at Cooperstown, did not receive a single checkmark next to his name and will fall off the ballot because he did not gain the requisite 5 percent to remain eligible to gain entry through the Baseball Writers Association of America voting.

Murphy, a three-time selection to the Midsummer Classic, finished his career with a .296/.341/.455 slash line.

He was one of 11 players — all of in their first year — to fall off the ballot in 2026.

Only two players made it into the Hall’s 2026 class through the BBWAA voting — center fielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones.

Former National League MVP and six-time All-Star Ryan Braun is among the most notable to become a one-and-done candidate, as he received just 15 votes (3.5 percent). Braun was suspended for the second half of the 2013 season after he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during that MVP campaign.

Edwin Encarnación, Shin-Soo Choo, Matt Kemp, Hunter Pence, Rick Porcello, Alex Gordon, Nick Markakis, Gio González and Howie Kendrick all also fell off the ballot after one chance.

González and Kendrick, who had three All-Star appearances between them, failed to garner a vote.

Porcello, another ex-Met who surprisingly won the 2016 American League Cy Young Award with the Red Sox over future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, did get two votes.

Chase Utley received the highest voting percentage (59.1) of candidates who did not gain entry.

Among former notable Yankees, Andy Pettitte got 48.5 percent while Alex Rodriguez landed at 40 percent. Ex-Mets David Wright and Francisco Rodriguez received 14.8 and 11.8 percent, respectively.

The players who did not get elected Tuesday could get other cracks at making the Hall through the museum’s Era Committees that look at players no longer eligible in the BBWAA voting. Jeff Kent gained entry this year through the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.

Now that Mets legend Carlos Beltran was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, the next decision is which cap he plans to don on his plaque.

Beltran played for seven different teams through his 20-year career, but the switch-hitting slugger pinpointed the Mets and the Royals as the two teams he must choose between.

“There’s no doubt there are two teams: the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets,” Beltran said in an interview with MLB Network. “That’s a decision that I would love to sit down with my wife, kids and make that decision. I do really enjoy my time in New York. Now I work as an advisor for the Mets, so there’s a lot of weight wearing the New York cap.”

Beltran was drafted by the Royals in the 1995 draft and spent parts of the first seven seasons in Kansas City, winning Rookie of the Year honors in 1999. During that time, Beltran amassed a .287 batting average, 123 home runs, and 516 RBI, while stealing 164 bases and earning one All-Star selection.

If Beltran is inducted as a Royal, he'll be just the second in franchise history (George Brett). 

The 48-year-old said he enjoyed his time in Kansas City and envisioned being there his whole career, but that wasn’t to be.

He was traded to the Astros during the 2004 season and helped Houston make a deep run with one of the best postseason performances in MLB history.

That offseason, Beltran signed with the Mets on a seven-year, $119 million deal, where he had his best years as a pro.

From 2005-2011, Beltran hit 149 home runs, drove in 559 RBI -- both career highs with any team -- and stole 100 bases while hitting .280 across 839 games. He made five All-Star appearances as a Met while winning three Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards.

But New York’s ties to Beltran go further than his playing career.

The Mets actually hired Beltran to manage the team in November 2019, but reversed the decision a couple of months later after the slugger was suspended due to his role in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

New York brought Beltran back in February 2023, hiring him as a special assistant to president of baseball operations David Stearns.

Beltran was asked the cap question again in a Zoom call with assembled media, and the newly-minted Hall of Famer reiterated many of the same points. He’ll take time to decide with his family and even consult the Hall of Fame on how the process works.

But echoed how much the Mets meant to his career.

“The Mets are a big part of my identity as a player,” Beltran said. “Almost seven years in that organization, I got there with a big contract and to be able to stay with the team as an advisor… there’s no doubt the Mets have a lot of weight in that decision.”

If he is inducted as a Met, Beltran will join Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza.

Beltran will receive his plaque in Cooperstown on July 26.

A pair of very good baseball players earned election to the sport’s Hall of Fame Jan. 20, when Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones became just the seventh and eighth center fielders to win a spot in Cooperstown.

While neither are generational and the lone title won by either man in their collective 37 seasons was Beltrán’s 2017 title when he was a part-time 40-year-old DH and full-time illegal sign-stealing mastermind for the Houston Astros, their July inductions will be proof that gains can be made and early deficits overcome in voting.

Perhaps that will offer solace to those lurking a little further down the 2026 ballot. With that, a look at the winners and losers from 2026 Hall of Fame balloting:

Winners

Carlos Beltrán

Any notion that his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal might ding his Hall candidacy was ludicrous, given the widespread Wild West atmosphere of high-tech cheating across the major leagues at that time.

No, Beltrán got in on his fourth try, a nice reward for a guy who broke in playing for some overmatched Kansas City Royals teams and finished it as a highly productive veteran bat in places like New York, St. Louis and Texas. Hopefully the Hall call will reopen the door to the manager’s office for a great baseball mind (and yes, one of its elite sign-stealers, legal or otherwise).

Andruw Jones

Proof that professional life can end at 30 and everything turns out all right.

A phenom in the truest sense of the word, Jones remains the lone two-time winner of USA TODAY Sports’ Minor League Player of the Year Award. At first glance, it might seem like the kind of honor you wouldn’t want to win twice, like a return invite to the Futures Game. Then you realize he was 18 and 19 years old when he got those nods, then hit two World Series Game 1 home runs in the latter year, and it makes a lot more sense.

He never really lost that glow throughout his 20s, but after an anomalous 51-homer year in 2005, it all went south for the lad, as he drifted from Atlanta to Los Angeles (the Dodgers eating the second year of his contract) to Texas, the White Sox and finally the Yankees, and he was out of the game by 35.

Perhaps that bad taste in the mouth lingered early on for voters as he was named on just 7.3% of ballots in his first year, narrowly clearing the 5% necessary to stick around. Eventually, the vision of the otherworldly kid prevailed in voters’ minds.

The Brewers announced two Hall of Famers, CC Sabathia and Dave Parker, will join the team’s Wall of Honor this season after both were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame last year.

Sabathia, 45, pitched for Milwaukee for only 17 games down the stretch in 2008, but a memorable tenure it was.

Over those 17 games, Sabathia went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA, 2.44 FIP, and 128 strikeouts across 130 2/3 innings, accumulating 4.9 bWAR as he tossed a league-best seven complete games, including three shutouts. He even finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting and sixth in NL MVP voting despite only playing in the league for roughly half the season.

Parker, who passed away last summer just before his induction into the Hall, played for the Brewers for just one season toward the tail end of his career. In 1990 with Milwaukee, Parker appeared in 157 games, hitting a solid .289/.330/.451 with 21 homers, 92 RBIs, 71 runs, and four steals. He was named an All-Star for the seventh and final time while also picking up his third Silver Slugger and earning MLB’s Designated Hitter of the Year award. He then finished his career in 1991, splitting the year between the Angels and Blue Jays.

Both players will be honored on Friday, May 8 prior to the Brewers’ game against the New York Yankees. The event will include appearances from both Sabathia and Parker family members, including ceremonial first pitches and videos on the scoreboard.

Per the Brewers’ press release, “[T]he Brewers Wall of Honor is a distinction awarded to players, coaches, and executives who meet a set of criteria based on service to the organization and career accomplishments. Sabathia and Parker will join the permanent exhibit with a bronze plaque affixed to the exterior of the ballpark commemorating their contributions to the franchise.”

To view the full list of players, coaches, and executives included on the Brewers Wall of Honor, click here.

Centerfielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, it was announced today.

This was Beltran’s fourth year on the ballot, and he received 358 votes out of 425 ballots cast, giving him 84.2%, comfortably above the 75% threshold required for election. Jones, in his ninth year on the ballot, got 78.4% of the vote, with 333 total votes.

The only other candidate to receive over 50% of the vote was second baseman Chase Utley, who received 59.1% of the vote in his third year on the ballot. Andy Pettitte received 48.5% in his eighth year on the ballot. Felix Hernandez, in his second year on the ballot, had the largest year-over-year jump in BBWAA voting history, going from 20.6% last year to 46.1% this year. Alex Rodriguez received 40% of the vote in this, his fifth year on the ballot. This was Manny Ramirez’s tenth and final year on the ballot, and he received 38.8% of the vote.

Beltran and Jones each had brief stints with the Rangers, and are the 10th and 11th players to have played for the Rangers and be elected to the Hall.

The only newcomer to this year’s ballot to get more than 5% of the vote was Cole Hamels, who received 23.8%.

The other former Rangers on the ballot were Omar Vizquel, who got 18.4% of the vote in his 9th year on the ballot, and one-and-dones Edwin Encarnacion (6 votes), Shin-Soo Choo (3 votes), and Hunter Pence (2 votes).

Congratulations to Beltran and Jones, who are both very worthy selections. Hopefully, Chase Utley, another guy who should have already have been voted in, will join them next year.

You can see the full results here.

Former outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have been elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2026 class, as both players reached the 75% threshold for induction as voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA).

The duo will join second baseman Jeff Kent in the 2026 class, as Kent was selected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee back in December.

Both Beltrán and Jones finished just shy of making the Hall a year ago, as Beltrán received 70.3% of the vote and Jones hit 66.2%. Beltrán, now in his fourth year on the ballot, received 84.2% of the 425 ballots cast, while Jones, in his ninth year on the ballot, reached 78.4%.

Beltrán, 48, seemed like a first-ballot lock near the end of his career, but after he reportedly took a key role in the 2017 Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, he lost his managerial job with the Mets before coaching a game, and his reputation was tarnished.

Still, Beltrán finished his career with 70.0 bWAR, batting .279/.350/.486 with 435 homers, 2,725 hits, 1,587 RBIs, 1,582 runs, and 312 steals over 2,586 games during his 20-year career. He was also named AL Rookie of the Year with the Royals in 1999, and he was selected as an All-Star nine times, won a pair of Silver Sluggers, and three Gold Gloves.

Jones, also 48, had a slightly shorter career than Beltrán, playing 17 seasons from 1996 to 2012, though he still accumulated 62.7 bWAR. One of the greatest outfield gloves in baseball history, Jones won 10 Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger, and was named an All-Star five times. For his career, he hit .254/.337/.486 with 434 homers, 2,196 hits, 1,289 RBIs, 1,204 runs, and 152 steals over 2,196 games.

Beltrán will likely enter the Hall as either a Kansas City Royal or a New York Met. He spent seven years with both clubs, starting his career in Kansas City and accumulating 24.8 bWAR there before spending 2005-2011 in New York, totaling 31.1 bWAR with the Mets. Jones will almost certainly go in as an Atlanta Brave, having spent 12 of his 17 MLB seasons in Atlanta and totaling 61.0 of his 62.7 bWAR with the Braves.

Beyond Beltrán and Jones, the only other player to break the 50% threshold was former second baseman Chase Utley, who garnered 251 votes, good for 59.1%. Andy Pettitte and Félix Hernández both fell just shy of 50%, as Pettitte received 48.5% of the vote on his eighth ballot and Hernández got 46.1% of the vote in his second year on the ballot.

Of the 12 first-year candidates, Cole Hamels is the only name to remain on the ballot entering next year, as the left-handed starter received 23.8% of the vote. Ryan Braun led the group of players who won’t return to the ballot, as he picked up 15 votes (3.5%). Former Brewer Gio González received no votes, while former closer Francisco Rodríguez received 50 votes (11.8%) and will remain on the ballot for a fifth year next time around.

Congratulations to Beltrán and Jones on joining Kent and the other 354 elected members (281 players) in the Hall this summer! The full voting results of this year’s ballot are below.