Cole Hamels, who captured the 2008 World Series MVP and threw a no-hitter in his final start with the Phillies, is among 12 newcomers on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released Monday.
Howie Kendrick, who played one season in Philadelphia and is currently in the club’s front office, and Hunter Pence join Hamels as former Phillies now on the ballot. Gio González is another newcomer on the list with ties to the Phils. González was acquired along with Aaron Rowland in 2005 from the White Sox for Jim Thome and then traded back to Chicago for Freddy GarcÃa a year later.
Chase Utley, Bobby Abreu and Jimmy Rollins are among 15 holdovers from the 2025 ballot.
Hamels retired with the Phillies in 2023 after a 15-year career. He made four All-Star teams, three with the Phillies, and helped lead Philadelphia to its second World Series title in 2008. He’s among just three lefties since 1995 to have nine seasons with at least a 4.0 bWAR, joining Randy Johnson and Clayton Kershaw. He enters the ballot with a 163-122 record, 3.43 ERA and 59.0 bWAR, the highest among the newcomers.
The newcomers on the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot
Hamels, Pence, Kendrick and González are joined by Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, Daniel Murphy, Rick Porcello, Shin-Soo Choo, Edwin Encarnación, Alex Gordon and Nick Markakis as newcomers on the ballot.
Braun, the 2011 MVP and a six-time All-Star, hit .296 with 352 homers and 1,154 RBIs for Milwaukee from 2007-20. He was suspended for the final 65 games of the 2013 season for violations of baseball’s drug program and labor contract. A 50-game suspension for an alleged positive test in 2011 was overturned after Braun challenged the chain of custody of the urine sample.
Kemp, a three-time All-Star, batted .284 with 287 homers and 1,031 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2006-14, ’18), San Diego (2015-16), Atlanta (2016-17), Cincinnati (2019) and Colorado (2020).
The holdovers on the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot
Carlos Beltrán heads 15 holdovers after falling 19 votes shy in 2025 balloting. Beltrán received 277 of 394 votes for 70.3% in the 2025 balloting, when Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were elected.
A nine-time All-Star, Beltrán hit .279 with 435 homers and 1,587 RBIs over 17 seasons with Kansas City (1999-2004), Houston (2004, ’17), the New York Mets (2005-11), San Francisco (2011), St. Louis (2012-13), the New York Yankees (20014-16) and Texas (2016).
He received 46.5% support in his first ballot appearance in 2023, then rose to 57.1% in his second.
Beltrán was the only player cited by name in baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred’s 2020 report concluding the Astros used electronics in violation of rules to steal signs during Houston’s run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season. Three days after the report was issued, the New York Mets said Beltrán was out as their manager, just 2 1/2 months after he was hired.
Other holdovers include steroids-tainted stars Alex Rodriguez (146 votes, 37.1%) and Manny Ramirez (135, 34.3%) along with Andruw Jones (261, 66.2%), Utley (157, 39.8%), Andy Pettitte (110, 27.9%), Félix Hernández (81, 20.6%), Abreu (77, 19.5%), Rollins (71, 18%), Omar Vizquel (70, 17.8%), Dustin Pedroia (47, 11.9%), Mark Buehrle (45, 11.4%), Francisco RodrÃguez (40, 10.2%), David Wright (32, 8.1%) and Torii Hunter (20, 5.1%).
Pettitte is on the ballot for the eighth time after doubling support from 13.5% in 2024. A player can appear on the ballot up to 10 times.
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. 20. Anyone elected will be inducted on July 26, along with anyone chosen Dec. 7 by the hall’s contemporary baseball era committee ballot, considering eight players whose greatest contributions to the sport were from 1980 on.
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy are being considered by the contemporary era committee along with Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela.
More from CBS News