Baseball Hall of Fame - 2026

On Sunday July 26, Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

A few years ago, I wrote an unpublished paper about the Baseball Hall of Fame. I considered the years from 2000 to 2023, and I undertook this exercise: assuming that each year I had to pick two players, and only two players, who would I have elected to Hall of Fame, who would be in and who would be out. I developed a set of criteria, the most important of which were JAWS (Jaffe WAR Scoring System ) and career WAR (Wins Above Replacement, plus some other career stats or milestones, at each position. With those criteria in mind I gave each player who was on the baseball writer's ballot a grade from A+ to F. I adjusted those grades, primarily to reward great careers in defense and in stolen bases, and to penalize (but not eliminate from consideration) players who took PEDs, played primarily DH, or were relief pitchers. I did not care about any other negative issues, and I did not care about popularity, and I did not make players “wait their turn”.

This is how Beltran, Jones and Kent fared in my paper.

1. Carlos Beltran. I would elected Beltran in 2023, his first year of eligibility. I graded Beltran a B- among all-time center fielders. On my presumed HOF 2023 ballet, he was the highest ranked player. I did not penalize Beltran for being involved in the 2017 Astros sign-stealing scandal. When I wrote the paper, Beltran was the 8th ranked all-time center fielder in JAWS, and 9th in career WAR.

2. Andruw Jones. I would have elected Andruw Jones in 2020, his third year of eligibility. I initially graded Jones at C+ among center fielders. He was 14th in career JAWs, 11th in career WAR, and he had 5 All-Star appearances. Then I boosted his grade up to a B for defense. This is some of what I wrote about him:

“Jones was flat-out the best defensive outfielder in the history of the game. He was the Ozzie Smith of the outfield. He won 10 gold gloves at centerfield. He was the career leader in defensive WAR among outfielders (24.4 — compare to Willie Mays’ 18.2). He was also a power hitter, with a career 434 home runs in major league baseball and another 50 in the Nippon Professional Baseball League.”

3. Jeff Kent - Kent was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee after 10 years on the baseball writers’ ballot. I rated Kent with a D grade among second basemen. Among all-time second basemen, he was 20th in JAWS and 20th in career WAR. I would have not elected him and also eliminated him from my ballot after 10 years. (However, I must add that one of my favorite baseball memories is being in the stadium and seeing Jeff Kent hit his walk-off home run in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS for the Astros.)

As I had already elected Beltran and Jones, who would I have elected in 2026? Alex Rodriguez, tainted by PEDS, remains on the ballot until 2031. I would have elected him in his first year of eligibility, even with the 1 grade penalty I gave to all players who I took PEDS. I probably would have elected Chase Utley and Bobby Abreu, both of whom I graded a C. It was a pretty weak field this year.