2026 Election
The discussion thread for the 2026 HOM class is active now. Preliminary ballots and reasoning should be posted to the discussion thread before voting.
We welcome new voters for the Hall of Merit (and Most Meritorious Player) elections but be sure to follow the guidelines set out for these elections. *
2026 Newly Eligible Players
2026 does not represent a particularly strong or deep debut class, but that's not to say there are no HOM candidates here. Cole Hamels has a legitimate shot to make the Hall of Merit as one of the best starting pitchers of his time. Ryan Braun was Rookie of the Year, MVP, and six-time All-Star, and may make some ballots. The rest of the class probably will not be receiving any votes, but they had great careers nonetheless. Alex Gordon was an eight-time Gold Glove winner and Royals hometown hero; Shin-Soo Choo is certainly the most accomplished Korean player in MLB history; Edwin Encarnación was a three-time All-Star with over 400 HRs; and Kendrick, Markakis, and Pence have six All-Star teams and three Gold Gloves between them.
The 2026 election will mostly be a backlog year with Hamels in the mix. The next few elections may be similar, so which returning players will rise to the top?
2025 Top Backloggers
Sal Bando and Tommy John move up one spot closer with the election of previous top backlogeer Buddy Bell. Ortiz, Johnson, Munson, Appier, and Hudson jostle for position as other returning backloggers. Newcombe, Rizzuto, and Oswalt round out the top 10 returners as new faces this year. Rizzuto historically has been off and on the list of top backloggers, but Oswalt makes his debut.
2026 is an elect-four year, with only one new candidate with any shot at election in Cole Hamels. That means at least three of the 2026 election spots will come from the backlog. The interesting wrinkle is that all of the top four backloggers have some degree of opposition, for various reasons. Bando has the 1970s third baseman issue as a headwind. Tommy John has a segment of voters who detest the perceived lack of peak. Ortiz had no defensive value and was a late bloomer, and his case rests somewhat heavily on postseason performance, which not all voters include. Bob Johnson is from an over-saturated era of electees, and had his strongest season in a war-weakened year. Kevin Appier was 4th in total ballots last year, but no voters had him in an elect-me spot. Munson has a segment of voters who see him as just short. What will the voters do? For the first election in a while, it's actually somewhat difficult to say.
I would wager a small sum on Tommy John and Sal Bando as two of the inductees. I'll throw a third spot to Cole Hamels, who if nothing else, hasn't had decades of voters entrenching themselves against him, yet. And that last spot? It really is open. A number of voters have thought Bob Johnson long overdue, and a number of other voters have David Ortiz very high on their ballots. I think it will come down to these two candidates. But Munson is a dark horse here too and can't be counted out.
* There are several steps to take if you would like to participate in voting. The preliminary step is to post your ballot in the 2026 ballot discussion thread on the HOM site. As mentioned in the guidelines, this is more than a mere formality. Voters are expected to display thoughtfulness and logical/internal consistency on their ballots, and first time voters are required to post a preliminary ballot in the discussion which they may be asked to defend (seasoned voters are asked to defend as well, sometimes!). Ballots that are inconsistent or that do not follow the voting guidelines won't be counted.
In short, the HOM asks for voters who take the project seriously and put more than passing thought into the ballot. In particular, it requires being able to appropriately rank or appraise historical players fairly (this is usually the hard part), so unless you are a walking baseball encyclopedia, research is going to be a necessary part of the process. If you're passionate about baseball past and present, then hopefully that sounds like more fun to you than it does work, and the HOM looks forward to your contributions and perspective. Start here: