The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a shrine to Remembering Some Guys. While some hold distaste for the organization’s arcane machinations, the Hall is a critical resource for something preciously
integral to sports fandom: arguing passionately about things that only matter *because* we care about them. In this tradition, the staff of Lookout Landing have filled out their ballots, which have been compiled along with their reasoning below alongside the final tallies. —John
Kate Preusser
I will aways err on the side of giving out more votes than fewer, even with this somewhat underwhelming ballot class. For me, only Bobby Abreu here is a hard checkmark/someone I’d try to sell to “small hall” people. Abreu is the type of player I feel gets overlooked often, similar to Edgar in his early candidacy years, for being an all-around good player who doesn’t have the star power/postseason accolades to garner a ton of votes on name alone. I sure hope there’s some Phillies fan out there who wants to take up the #BobbyAbreuHOF mantle.
With the others, it’s more of a case of kicking the decision down the road some as voters feel out what they want the HOF to represent. I voted for the “workhorse” pitchers–I think Félix is the most dominant/was best at his peak out of that crew but also appreciate the dogged consistency of a Mark Buerhle (justice for Jamie Moyer, who fell off the ballot in his first year of eligibility). I also voted for the injury trio of Wright-Utley-Pedroia because I don’t think it’s fair to punish a player whose body breaks down but that’s a decision I go back and forth on (see “kicking can down road”). Then there are the “character question” guys, be that cheating or domestic violence situations; hard no on the second category, but I don’t think you can have a true Hall of Fame without A-Rod and Manny, two of the best to ever play the game steroids or no (I am pro putting guys in with asterisks for steroids). But not you, Carlos Beltrán, who fled the Astros’ sinking ship relatively consequence-free; there’s cheating and then there’s cheating cheating.
John Trupin
In our episode of the Meet at the Mitt Podcast this week, I was effectively walked back off the Beltrán train. The delineation of “this player cheated” and “this player received the consequences deemed acceptable by the sport at the time for the transgression” makes a major difference, so long as there is a consequence. That sentiment makes space for Ramírez and A-Rod, both of whom were Hall of Famers as far as I see it before any evidential misconduct that saw them suspended. A-Rod’s entire career prior to becoming a Yankee was a more accomplished performance than the entire career of Rollins or Vizquel, both of whom had astounding baseball lives but don’t meet the extremely high threshold of a Hall of Fame shortstop to my mind. Beltrán, like the rest of the Houston Astros players in their cheating scandal, is subject to no consequence save for public opinion, and this is my public opinion. Jones has not seemingly made a meal out of denying the consequences of his off-field incidences the way Vizquel has, but I wasn’t quite comfortable putting him on the ballot at this time.
Pettitte skates by on the same sentiment as Manny & A-Rod to some degree, having admitted to HGH use amidst the roids-laden Yankees clubs of the early 2000s. I have a softness towards pitchers who were workhorses, though injecting supplements would be right at home with contemporaneous horse-racing, I suppose. Pedroia and Wright don’t need to be Hall of Famers, but I have immense respect for their careers. They are their clubs’ Félix’s, and while The King means more here and seemingly nationally and internationally, if the Steroid Brigade can be granted appreciation for their efforts, those who didn’t benefit from pharmaceutical regeneration should be extolled in their own humanity. Buerhle and Abreu, for their parts, split the difference much in a way Utley did, in his way. Simply stellar, for an eternity in baseball’s arc, they are the sum of their parts and then some. Hamels does not quite extend the same shadow in his wake, but splits the difference between Félix and Pettitte in a capacity I couldn’t quite justify dismissing. I need not see all 10 of my votes come to fruition, but I see 10 players I’d feel content celebrating.
Jake Mailhot
As Lookout Landing’s unofficial #FélixHoF booster, my 2026 Hall of Fame ballot obviously starts with his name checked. And if Félix gets the call, then Cole Hamels — a very near statistical comp — and Andy Pettitte — statistically superior but with PED concerns — get checked too. And if I’m good with overlooking Pettitte’s PED connections (though no suspensions), I’m checking A-Rod and Manny too. And if we’re moving past career longevity and relying on peak value to make a Hall of Fame case, then Chase Utley gets a vote too.
Carlos Beltrán has the most slam dunk case on the ballot this year and he’s served his one year “penalty” for devising the Astros’ banging scheme in 2017. Bobby Abreu is criminally underrated and I think he’s well deserving of a place in the Hall of Fame, especially when you consider his numbers against Tim Raines. My final vote goes to Andruw Jones, though I seriously considered voting for David Wright instead for the same reason I voted for Utley. Still, Jones was one of the best defensive center fielders ever and had more than 400 career home runs.
Nick Tucker
A little over a week ago, the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish released his ballot to the public and my immediate reaction was, “wow, this is almost perfect.” Fortunately, his mistake is easily rectifiable as Mr. Divish politely (and incorrectly) only used nine of his votes. So by simply checking Mark Buehrle’s name, I can become the change I wish to see in the world.
Zach Mason
I could see myself being talked into Mark Buehrle and Dustin Pedroia over time. I’m voting yes on A-Rod and no on Manny because I wouldn’t withhold my vote as punishment for PEDs, but it does affect how I evaluate the players; I think it’s obvious that A-Rod would have been one of the greatest players in history even if he’d never touched a PED, whereas with Manny, I just don’t know. I will withhold my vote from Carlos Beltrán as punishment, and I’m surprised more people don’t. I really hate how many players on recent ballots raise these questions, but Andruw is yet another. I’ve never come to a firm conclusion on whether I think domestic violence is disqualifying for the Hall; I’m saying yes today, but ask me again tomorrow. On this year’s ballot, my strongest held HOF opinion is that the 47 (and counting!) actual voters who voted for Billy Wagner but not for King Félix should have their voting rights stripped. Ten good seasons, only one great one, while not having to see guys more than once in a game, while pitching about a third the innings of the starters of the era, while making no broader impact on the game? That’s good enough for you? Explain to me how that squares with not voting for the King.
Ryan Blake
It seems the two most correct ballots are either zero selections or the minimum 10 with an eye towards 15. Small Hall or Big Hall? That’s what’s on the ballot this year. Evaluating my ballot, it seems I prefer Big Hall. Why? Mostly because I’d like to see Félix get elected (even if I don’t think they deserve him), and that only happens in a Big Hall. I also don’t see over-electing as betraying the sanctity of the Plaque Room; it’s already filled with worse players and less savory humans than anyone who could be elected today. For me, the point of the (never ending) HoF cycles is the chance to remember some guys, more than appropriately deifying the exact right few. And so I voted for the six or so I thought to be the most deserving, and then I voted for four more who I’d like to remember when we do this exercise again next year.
Isabelle Minasian
Despite the fact that I still have stress dreams about the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Jane and the BBWAA will never let me have a vote, (nor should they).
Félix, duh. / Abreu, because wow was he underrated in my memory and when he played. If he had a little more one-team centrality and/or Philly sports fans weren’t occupied with hunting down Kevin Patullo and AJ Brown Taken style, he’d be a prime candidate for some #EdgarHOF type campaigning. Just listen to the MATM pod. / In doing my research for this ballot, I’ve actually grown extremely attached to the idea of Mark Buerhle getting into the Hall. Workhorses deserve to get their flowers too! / Before there was José Bautista and the Bat Flip Heard ‘Round the World, and a slow-but-steady IV drip of culture and personality into baseball, and there was Manny Being Manny. The greatest right-handed hitter of his generation, and one of the best hitters, period, he also brought so much energy and nonsense to the game. / A-Rod, because not even I could be so hypocritical as to vote for Manny and keep him off. The man’s lost J-Lo twice; hasn’t he suffered enough? / Every year, on the eve before Induction Day, Jane Clark hosts a dinner with every living Hall of Famer. It’s exceptionally private; absolutely no external folks are allowed and it’s all kept tastefully under wraps. I love the mental image of Chase Utley in that room, perhaps being lightly loathed from near/far while he eats his chicken picata. (But really, he was an exceptional baseball player, and heels are great for the game (when they’re just being kinda obnoxious, not when they’re breaking legs)) / This is a gloopy, partially-baked ooze of a ballot. I’m not a small-Hall gal, but it’s extremely defensible to not use all 10 of your votes this year. That said, I’ve got a few left here, so why not toss a bone to the guy whose nickname has always amused me: K-Rod.
And none for Carlos Beltran byeeeeee
Eric Sanford
To be extremely clear, I’m drawing a line here in my baseball values about cheating. Using video or any kind of organized sign stealing system that goes beyond stealing signs when you’re on second base = fuck you, you do not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Using PEDs and getting busted for it while unknown numbers of players have used them and not gotten busted and/or are already in the Hall of Fame = Sure, if you’re in the discussion for the Hall of Fame, you were good enough at baseball to probably not have needed PEDs, but hey you added 10 feet to your long ball and recovered from injuries faster, so good for you. Hope it was worth the negative health impacts. All that said, big ol’ no to Carlos Beltrán and big ol’ yeses to Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramírez, who should clearly already both be in there already along with Bonds. As a long time hater of both players and fanbases, it pains me to vote yes for Pedroia and Utley, but they have the elite second base numbers to prove they belong and so I must begrudgingly vote for them. Regarding Félix, I am overjoyed that the shift I had hoped for years ago regarding how Hall of Fame voters regard pitchers from the mid 00’s to present is already happening and Félix is already garnering a ton of support in his first years on the ballot. It’s extremely vindicating that the guy we all took so much pride and joy in rooting for and believing in for so many years is getting the type of respect he deserves from non-Mariners fans. Félix may be ours, but we will share him with the MLB Hall of Fame.
Ezra Roberts
I’m a Big Hall enjoyer. They give you 10 votes; I’m going to use all 10. Will everyone get elected? Probably not. But there is weight and meaning to showing players that even being nominated and receiving votes is an honnor. Moreover, there have been plenty of great players who have fallen off the ballot because of poor timing, and plenty of mediocre players who have made it due to popularity within the Veterans Committee. Now, performance is important, but that has obviously never been the only factor for getting into the Hall of Fame. So there are a few selections where I felt like the player deserved a vote, he worked hard day in and day out, and has the accolades to show for it, but unfortunately was never able to accumulate the time or WAR to actually qualify for the Hall. That being: Bobby Abreu, Mark Buerhle, Shin-Soo Choo, Dustin Pedroia, Jimmy Rollins and David Wright. They may never be elected to the Hall of Fame. Still, their individual impact and contributions to the game are invaluable, and baseball is better for having had them in the league.
Now, Francisco Rodriguez, #6 on the all-time saves list and only recently passed by Jansen and Kimbrel, also has an iconic look, rotation, and nickname. Some argue that closers don’t even belong in the Hall of Fame, which makes no sense to me, especially with the way pitching is developing now. The days of the starter going 8 or 9 innings are long over; having a solid bullpen and a reliable closer are more crucial than ever. Rodriguez did the job well across multiple seasons, in both leagues and with multiple different teams. It’s difficult to look at the body of work and say this person wasn’t a major contributor to his team’s success. I also selected Felix Hernandez because obviously. But more than that, Felix was an icon of the sport throughout the 2000s and 2010s, a Cy Young Award winner, a multi-time All-Star, a perfect game pitcher, and, at his peak, absolutely dominated the league.
Alex Rodríguez and Manny Ramirez are both easy yes’s to me. Steroids of course are the major issue here, but I will give them the advantage that they never lied to congress about it. A-Rod, incredible hitter and fielder, who willingly moved positions for the good of the team. 600 Homeruns, 117 career WAR, it would not shock me if he was kept out, but his general continued association with MLB makes me think the juicing will be overlooked for the most part. Manny Ramirez is one of the icons of my childhood, so I was always going to pick him. He also happens to be one of the all-time greats. 500 homeruns, 69 (nice) career WAR is an easy choice. There is the caveat that he was never a very good fielder and spent a large amount of his career at DH but with the election of Ortiz and Edgar Martinez, this isn’t as damaging a part of a career as it used to be. Finally, the juicing: Manny got popped several times in his career and ended up suspended for 50 games in 2009 and 100 games in 2011. Luckily, I don’t care about any of that, see the ball hit the ball baby put Manny in the hall.
Evan James
Max Ellingsen
I think Manny and A-Rod were good enough to argue they had HOF careers without PEDs, Abreu and Jones should just be in, and Félix had the peak and longevity to warrant a selection. Excluding Hamels in that same breath is a purely vibe based decision, you can’t be Hall of Fame with 5th in Cy Young voting as your best finish.
Nick Vitalis
Abreu: whole career numbers are a little bit weaker than you’d like, but his peak is so good and he held on to it for long enough that it feels wrong to exclude him. Beltran: his longevity is so impressive, even though he was never the best player of his day at any given time. Playing center field pretty consistently into his early 30s doesn’t hurt his case either. Hamels: honestly if I think about this one too much I might start talking myself out of it. This would be one where if I had more time to think about it (if I didn’t miss John’s slacks about it) I might leave him off. Felix: Sure, the numbers are too close to Hamels for comfort. But I do think that part of the hall isn’t just about who got certain career statistics over a certain threshold – it’s about the story of the league in the history of it, and by that metric, he almost certainly belongs. Jones: another fringy candidate, but I don’t necessarily think that it’s fair that career numbers reward certain skill sets that don’t always age as well. The fact that he is probably the greatest center fielder of all time at his peak has to mean something. And it’s not as though he didn’t hit, either.
Pettitte: another longevity candidate. Being as good as he was for so long matters. Hell, he was an All-Star in his age 38 season, and did it in a tough era. Francisco: relievers have been getting shafted by the hall for too long. Let the greatest relievers in! 6th most saves! Also, when he burst on the scene, it was unlike anything else at the time. Utley: easy inclusion for me. Another guy who was never one of the best five players of his day, but was an absolute stalwort for so many of those good Phillies teams, and he was really out of this world during his peak. He fell off hard after 2014, but he was 35. The hall shouldn’t only be for superhumans who don’t age. Vizquel: 7th most dWAR of anyone who isn’t in black and white on Baseball Reference. That means something to me. Someone being the best at what they did, when that thing is as important as defense at SS? HoF. David Wright: see: Felix.
Grant Bronsdon
There’s something subjective about Hall of Fame players. Perhaps “you know it when you see it” is too vague, but I do think that anyone in the Hall should have been deemed exceptional by their peers, who created a sense of awe while watching, and whose accomplishments have stood the test of time. As a result, I tried to emphasize a combination of All-Star appearances, MVP votes, Gold Gloves, and Silver Sluggers (which is why Bobby Abreu isn’t on my ballot; a two-time All-Star doesn’t meet that criteria, even as we view his stats differently nowadays).
Starting pitching is evaluated & used differently in the modern era than at any point, which is why I deemed the Hamels/Hernández/Pettitte group worthy even without the typical counting stats that pitchers in the 1900s accumulated. King Félix get bonus points in my mind, since spending one’s career with one team is both rare and causes endearment among one’s community.
For hitters, my first comment about exceptional accomplishments was what I kept coming back to. Dustin Pedroia? MVP. Andruw Jones? Ten straight Gold Gloves. Chase Utley? Six All-Star appearances, four Silver Sluggers. And David Wright rounds out the group with seven All-Stars, two Gold Gloves, MVP votes in six seasons, and Silver Sluggers in two. I also drew the line at players who received PED suspensions vs. implicated in the Biogenesis scandal; I would have voted for David Ortiz, but I wasn’t willing to check the box for Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, or Ryan Braun. Carlos Beltran’s role in sign stealing for the Astros is what kept me out on him.
All totaled, our 13 voters who responded left just eight of the 27 possible players voteless. Tallied below, if just this council of writers would elect four Hall of Famers off this ballot, with three players narrowly missing the 75.0% cutoff (in part due to the tyranny of small sample sizes.
Congratulations to the LL Hall of Fame Class of 2026!
Félix Hernández – 100% (no dinner invites needed here)
Bobby Abreu – 84.62%
Álex Rodríguez – 84.62%
Chase Utley – 76.92%
