Good morning, baseball fans!
I’ve been a little distracted over the last couple of weeks, so I completely missed the fact that the 2026 Hall of Fame ballots had been announced. The most notable name on the ballot for San Francisco Giants fans this year will be none other than former outfielder and current broadcaster Hunter Pence!
Now, I don’t expect Pence to make it into the 2026 class. Not only is it his first year on the ballot, it’s just a difficult thing to accomplish altogether. To be inducted, a player needs to appear on 75% of submitted ballots. Which is an extremely difficult feat to accomplish for the very best players.
However, in order to avoid falling off of the ballot completely, Pence will need to appear on 5% of this year’s submitted ballots. So let’s make the case for those 5% of voters who might be considering throwing a vote his way to keep him in the conversation.
Now, as far as I’m concerned, Pence is a first-ballot Vibes Hall of Famer easily. His contributions to the 2012 and 2014 World Series championships can be measured on the field, but possibly even more important were his off-field contributions. His pep talks were the stuff of legend, building his team’s confidence when their backs were against the wall. By 2014, Pence had become a national meme sensation, as good-natured digs at him appeared on signs at every ballpark the team played at.
Does any of that matter to your average Hall of Fame voter? Absolutely not. But that’s where you come in.
In the comments below, let’s make a case for those 5% of voters who will need to be convinced in order for him to stay in the Hall of Fame conversation. Share your favorite Pence highlights, memes, stats, etc. and hopefully we can help keep him in the running to maybe make it in some day.