14 Newcomers Make Baseball's Ballot

Outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and pitcher CC Sabathia are among 14 new candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot released Monday, joining 14 holdovers. New to the ballot, per the AP:

• Carlos González, outfielder
• Curtis Granderson, outfielder
• Felix Hernández, pitcher
• Adam Jones, outfielder
• Ian Kinsler, infielder
• Russell Martin, catcher
• Brian McCann, catcher
• Dustin Pedroia, infielder
• Hanley Ramírez, infielder
• Fernando Rodney, relief pitcher
• CC Sabathia, pitcher
• Ichiro Suzuki, outfielder
• Troy Tulowitzki, infielder
• Ben Zobrist, infielder/outfielder

• Top holdover: Those returning to the ballot are led by reliever Billy Wagner, who received 284 votes and 78.3% in the 2024 balloting, five votes shy of the 75% needed. Wagner will be on the ballot for the 10th and final time.
• Others: Other holdovers include steroids-tainted stars Alex Rodriguez (134 votes, 34.8%) and Manny Ramirez (125, 32.5%), along with Andruw Jones (237, 61.6%), Carlos Beltran (220, 57.1%), Chase Utley (111, 28.8%), Omar Vizquel (68, 17.7%), Jimmy Rollins (57, 14.8%), Bobby Abreu (57, 14.8%), Andy Pettitte (52, 13.5%), Mark Buehrle (32, 8.3%), Francisco Rodríguez (30, 7.8%), Torii Hunter (28, 7.3%), and David Wright (24, 6.2%).
• Dropped: Gary Sheffield was dropped after receiving 246 votes and 63.9% in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He will be eligible for consideration when the ballot is selected for the committee that considered contemporary era players in December 2025.
• Voting: BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of membership are eligible to vote. Ballots must be postmarked by Dec. 31 and results will be announced Jan. 23. Anyone elected will be inducted on July 27 along with anyone chosen Dec. 8 by the hall's classic baseball committee considering eight players and managers whose greatest contributions to the sport were before 1980.

(More Baseball Hall of Fame stories.)