8 2025 Hall of Fame candidates of the Contemporary Committee. One elected. I would not vote for any.

Jeff Kent elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame by Contemporary Baseball Era Committee 12/7/2025 baseballhall.org

Results of the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee Ballot (12 votes needed for election): Jeff Kent (14 votes, 87.5%);

Carlos Delgado (9 votes, 56.3%); 

Don Mattingly (6 votes, 37.5%); 

Dale Murphy (6 votes, 37.5%); 

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela each received less than five votes.

__________________

The 16-member Hall of Fame Board-appointed electorate charged with the review of the Contemporary Baseball Era Ballot was comprised of Hall of Fame members (7)

Fergie Jenkins, 

Jim Kaat, 

Juan Marichal, 

Tony Pérez, 

Ozzie Smith, 

Alan Trammell and 

Robin Yount;

major league executives (6)

Mark Attanasio,  

Doug Melvin, 

Arte Moreno, 

Kim Ng, 

Tony Reagins and 

Terry Ryan; and 

veteran media members/historians (3)

Steve Hirdt, 

Tyler Kepner and 

Jayson Stark...

All candidates must not be on Baseball’s Ineligible List.

__________________

As far as I can determine, none of these 8 candidates, including Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, has ever been on the MLB Ineligible List. That does not mean that a voter may not consider things that could/should have gotten them on the list.

Jeff Kent elected to Hall of Fame. NL MVP in 2000. Most HR by 2B.  Sunday, December 7, 2025

https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/ZyrXC

For combined seasons, Playing in the AL or NL, Played at least 75% of games at 2B, in the regular season, requiring Home Runs >= 0 and Wins Above Replacement (WAR) >= 50 and Adjusted OPS+ >= 0 and Defensive WAR (dWAR) >= -9.9 and Offensive WAR (oWAR) >= 0, sorted by descending Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

Rk	Player	WAR	oWAR	dWAR	OPS+	HR

15	Jeff Kent	55.4	60.1	-0.1	123	377

__________________

Kent was #15 among the 19 second basemen produced by that query.

Candidates Carlos Delgado (9 votes, 56.3%) and Don Mattingly (6 votes, 37.5%) Played first base. How do they rank among first basemen?

https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/kKCos

For combined seasons, since 1903, Playing in the AL or NL, Played at least 75% of games at 1B, in the regular season, requiring Wins Above Replacement (WAR) >= 40 and Home Runs >= 0 and Offensive WAR (oWAR) >= 0 and Adjusted OPS+ >= 0 and Defensive WAR (dWAR) >= -99.9, sorted by descending Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

I had been running the query with dWAR set to >= -9.9. But Carlos Delgado was not showing up. Then I noticed that Delgado's dWAR was much worse than that. So I changed the criteria to -99.9. Then Delgado and several others appeared.

32 first basemen met the criteria. These two ranked:

25 Delgado

29 Mattingly.

Rk	Player	WAR	oWAR	dWAR	OPS+	HR	From	To	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	1B	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB
1	Lou Gehrig	113.7	113.6	-9.0	179	493	1923	1939	20-36	2164	9665	8001	1888	2721	1531	534	163	1995	1508	790	.340	.447	.632	1.080	5060
2	Jimmie Foxx	92.1	90.5	-5.8	163	534	1925	1945	17-37	2317	9677	8134	1751	2646	1529	458	125	1922	1452	1311	.325	.428	.609	1.038	4956
3	Jeff Bagwell	79.9	74.7	-7.2	149	449	1991	2005	23-37	2150	9431	7797	1517	2314	1345	488	32	1529	1401	1558	.297	.408	.540	.948	4213
4	Rafael Palmeiro	71.9	67.5	-10.6	132	569	1986	2005	21-40	2831	12046	10472	1663	3020	1828	585	38	1835	1353	1348	.288	.371	.515	.885	5388
5	Johnny Mize	70.6	68.9	-6.5	158	359	1936	1953	23-40	1884	7372	6443	1118	2011	1202	367	83	1337	856	524	.312	.397	.562	.959	3621
6	Eddie Murray	68.7	62.2	-11.6	129	504	1977	1997	21-41	3026	12817	11336	1627	3255	2156	560	35	1917	1333	1516	.287	.359	.476	.836	5397
7	Willie McCovey	64.5	72.1	-21.6	147	521	1959	1980	21-42	2588	9692	8197	1229	2211	1291	353	46	1555	1345	1550	.270	.374	.515	.889	4219
8	Freddie Freeman	64.2	65.2	-12.7	142	367	2010	2025	20-35	2179	9363	8114	1379	2431	1484	547	33	1322	1070	1763	.300	.386	.511	.897	4145
9	Paul Goldschmidt	63.8	58.3	-6.0	137	372	2011	2025	23-37	2074	8826	7608	1280	2190	1317	477	24	1232	1086	1979	.288	.378	.504	.882	3831
10	Joey Votto	63.6	59.6	-7.7	144	356	2007	2023	23-39	2056	8746	7252	1171	2135	1298	459	22	1144	1365	1640	.294	.409	.511	.920	3706
11	Mark McGwire	62.2	65.4	-12.2	163	583	1986	2001	22-37	1874	7660	6187	1167	1626	785	252	6	1414	1317	1596	.263	.394	.588	.982	3639
12	Todd Helton	61.8	54.5	-5.0	133	369	1997	2013	23-39	2247	9453	7962	1401	2519	1521	592	37	1406	1335	1175	.316	.414	.539	.953	4292
13	Keith Hernandez	60.4	46.3	1.3	128	162	1974	1990	20-36	2088	8553	7370	1124	2182	1534	426	60	1071	1070	1012	.296	.384	.436	.821	3214
14	John Olerud	58.1	48.6	-1.4	129	255	1989	2005	20-36	2234	9063	7592	1139	2239	1471	500	13	1230	1275	1016	.295	.398	.465	.863	3530
15	Bill Terry	56.6	49.8	-0.3	136	154	1923	1936	24-37	1721	7111	6428	1120	2193	1554	373	112	1078	537	449	.341	.393	.506	.899	3252
16	Will Clark	56.5	55.5	-10.1	137	284	1986	2000	22-36	1976	8283	7173	1186	2176	1405	440	47	1205	937	1190	.303	.384	.497	.880	3562
17	Hank Greenberg	55.5	54.0	-4.4	159	331	1930	1947	19-36	1394	6098	5193	1046	1628	847	379	71	1274	852	844	.313	.412	.605	1.017	3142
18	George Sisler	54.9	54.2	-7.6	125	102	1915	1930	22-37	2055	9018	8267	1284	2812	2121	425	164	1178	472	327	.340	.379	.468	.847	3871
19	Fred McGriff	52.6	56.1	-17.3	134	493	1986	2004	22-40	2460	10174	8757	1349	2490	1532	441	24	1550	1305	1882	.284	.377	.509	.886	4458
20	Norm Cash	52.0	50.1	-9.2	139	377	1958	1974	24-40	2089	7914	6705	1045	1820	1161	241	41	1104	1043	1091	.271	.374	.488	.862	3274
Rk	Player	WAR	oWAR	dWAR	OPS+	HR	From	To	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	1B	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB
21	Mark Teixeira	50.5	41.9	-1.0	126	409	2003	2016	23-36	1862	8029	6936	1099	1862	1027	408	18	1298	918	1441	.268	.360	.509	.869	3533
22	Orlando Cepeda	50.2	50.3	-13.8	133	379	1958	1974	20-36	2124	8699	7927	1131	2351	1528	417	27	1365	588	1169	.297	.350	.499	.849	3959
23	Joe Judge	47.9	44.4	-5.6	114	71	1915	1934	21-40	2171	9188	7898	1184	2352	1689	433	159	1034	965	478	.298	.378	.420	.798	3316
24	Mark Grace	46.4	38.6	-5.0	119	173	1988	2003	24-39	2245	9290	8065	1179	2445	1716	511	45	1146	1075	642	.303	.383	.442	.825	3565
25	Carlos Delgado	44.4	50.9	-17.2	138	473	1993	2009	21-37	2035	8657	7283	1241	2038	1064	483	18	1512	1109	1745	.280	.383	.546	.929	3976
26	Gil Hodges	43.8	40.8	-5.4	120	370	1943	1963	19-39	2071	8104	7030	1105	1921	1208	295	48	1274	943	1137	.273	.359	.487	.846	3422
27	Adrián González	43.6	36.1	-3.4	129	317	2004	2018	22-36	1929	8046	7139	997	2050	1284	437	12	1202	782	1401	.287	.358	.485	.843	3462
28	Dolph Camilli	43.2	40.8	-5.0	136	239	1933	1945	26-38	1490	6354	5353	936	1482	896	261	86	950	947	961	.277	.388	.492	.880	2632
29	Don Mattingly	42.4	39.7	-6.2	127	222	1982	1995	21-34	1785	7722	7003	1007	2153	1469	442	20	1099	588	444	.307	.358	.471	.830	3301
30	Ed Konetchy	41.7	37.5	-3.1	121	64	1907	1921	21-35	1933	8037	7073	893	1969	1428	313	164	899	648	667	.278	.345	.396	.741	2802
31	Jack Fournier	41.2	44.8	-9.7	142	136	1912	1927	19-34	1530	6034	5208	822	1631	1130	252	113	859	587	424	.313	.392	.483	.875	2517
32	Anthony Rizzo	40.4	32.5	-1.8	123	303	2011	2024	21-34	1727	7336	6288	922	1644	981	338	22	965	781	1208	.261	.361	.467	.828	2935

Provided by Stathead: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 12/8/2025.

Mattingly had 6 HoF caliber seasons 1984-1989: cumulative OPS+ 144. MVP in 1985. Better in 1986. But after that he was below average for a first baseman.

Hernandez was the only one with positive dWAR!

These are Hall of Famers on that list:

Rk	Player	WAR	oWAR	dWAR	OPS+	HR	From	To	Age
1	Lou Gehrig	113.7	113.6	-9.0	179	493	1923	1939	20-36
2	Jimmie Foxx	92.1	90.5	-5.8	163	534	1925	1945	17-37
3	Jeff Bagwell	79.9	74.7	-7.2	149	449	1991	2005	23-37
4	Johnny Mize	70.6	68.9	-6.5	158	359	1936	1953	23-40
5	Eddie Murray	68.7	62.2	-11.6	129	504	1977	1997	21-41
6	Willie McCovey	64.5	72.1	-21.6	147	521	1959	1980	21-42
7	Todd Helton	61.8	54.5	-5.0	133	369	1997	2013	23-39
8	Bill Terry	56.6	49.8	-0.3	136	154	1923	1936	24-37
9	Hank Greenberg	55.5	54.0	-4.4	159	331	1930	1947	19-36
10	George Sisler	54.9	54.2	-7.6	125	102	1915	1930	22-37
11	Fred McGriff	52.6	56.1	-17.3	134	493	1986	2004	22-40
12	Orlando Cepeda	50.2	50.3	-13.8	133	379	1958	1974	20-36
13	Gil Hodges	43.8	40.8	-5.4	120	370	1943	1963	19-39

Provided by Stathead: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 12/8/2025.

__________________________

Candidates Dale Murphy (6 votes, 37.5%), Bonds and Sheffield each received less than five votes.

All were primarily outfielders. Bonds and Sheffield played the corners. Murphy played almost half his games in center.

Bonds:

SUMMARY

Career

WAR

162.8

AB

9847

H

2935

HR

762

BA

.298

R

2227

RBI

1996

SB

514

OBP

.444

SLG

.607

OPS

1.051

OPS+

182

Sheffield:

SUMMARY

Career

WAR

60.5

AB

9217

H

2689

HR

509

BA

.292

R

1636

RBI

1676

SB

253

OBP

.393

SLG

.514

OPS

.907

OPS+

140

Murphy:

SUMMARY

Career

WAR

46.5

AB

7960

H

2111

HR

398

BA

.265

R

1197

RBI

1266

SB

161

OBP

.346

SLG

.469

OPS

.815

OPS+

121

Obviously, Bonds has overwhelming stats. Sheffield is borderline and played with many teams.

Murphy won two consecutive MVP awards but his stats are lacking. Does he make up for that with his good reputation?

__________________________

Pitchers:

Clemens : ERA+ 143; high 226 

Valenzuela: ERA+ 104; high 141. Why is he even nominated?

Clemens:

SUMMARY

Career

WAR

139.2

W

354

L

184

ERA

3.12

G

709

GS

707

SV

0

IP

4916.2

SO

4672

WHIP

1.173

__________________________

It comes down to Bonds and Clemens. I think they both used Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED) and lied and/or weaseled about it for decades. If they came clean, I might consider them.

None of the other six are compelling and I don't see any reason to support them.