Former Superstars Line Up For Upcoming Cooperstown Elections

Strong first-time candidates could dominate the next three Baseball Hall of Fame elections.

Buster Posey and Jon Lester headline the potential Class of 2027, with Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina virtually certain to succeed on their first shot the following year and 2029 choices Miguel Cabrera, Zack Greinke, Adam Wainwright, and Joey Votto all considered Hall of Fame probables – maybe their first time around.

In addition, at least three holdovers whose voting percentages rose in this year’s election could vault over the required 75 per cent next year.

Utley Moving Up

Chase Utley, long-time star second baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, jumped from 39.8 per cent last year to 59.1 per cent this year, while pitchers Andy Pettitte (48.5 per cent) and Felix Hernandez (46.1 per cent) also moved up the list.

At the same time, Manny Ramirez used up his 10 years on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot and will now be considered by the Eras Committees, once known as Veterans Committees.

Alex Rodriguez, like Ramirez accused of using performance-enhancing substances, remains on the ballot, however, and will get his sixth shot in 2027.

Of all the upcoming first-timers, Pujols and Cabrera were generational stars widely considered locks for election on the first ballot.

Molina, who caught for the Cardinals while Pujols played first base, is the next best thing. So is Wainwright, who won more than 200 games while spending his entire career in St. Louis – just as Molina did.

Unlike the Cooperstown Class of 2026, which has only three members, next year’s inductions should be overflowing with star power.

In addition to Posey, a former MVP and three-time world champion, and Lester, who had a better winning percentage than Greg Maddux or Tom Glavine, former managers Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy are odds-on favorites to win election from the next conclave of the Eras Committee.

That panel, which meets every third year, will consider managers, executives, and umpires.

Managers To Watch

It’s even possible that three or four former pilots will file through the Hall of Fame turnstiles. Lou Piniella has missed election by one vote several times while both Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson, like Piniella, managed teams to world championships.

The 16-member committee gave unanimous votes to three managers in one year in 2014, when Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa, and Joe Torre won plaques in the Cooperstown gallery.

In the “regular” election, conducted by more than 400 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Posey poses a minor problem: his 1,500 career hits seem like a shortfall. Not since 1962, when Jackie Robinson got in with 1,600, has anyone with so few gone so far.

But few catchers win batting titles, as Posey did, or MVP awards, not to mention a Gold Glove and a batting title. Plus Posey is still in the public eye as president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants, the team for whom he played.

As for Lester, he joins a group of left-handed starters on the cusp of Cooperstown immortality. Pettitte, Mark Buehrle, and Cole Hamels – the only 2026 first-time candidate who survived the 5 per cent elimination rule – as decent candidates for enshrinement.

In fact, Lester might be more than decent: he pitched for nine playoff teams, including three world champions, and crafted the best post-season ERA (2.51) and WHIP (1.019) among starters with at least 20 starts and 75 innings pitched.

That .631 winning percentage overshadows his career ERA (3.66) and pedestrian win total (200). Lester was lights-out in World Series play, going 3–0 with a 1.77 ERA in six outings.

Dandy Andy

Pettitte has a similar case, with a record 19 wins in post-season play. But time is running out for the lanky lefty, who spent most of his career wearing Yankees pinstripes. He’ll make his ninth try next year but will need a substantial hike from the percentage he received this time around. Pettitte is still short of 50 per cent in the voting totals.

Hamels has much more time to parlay his Championship Series and World Series MVP awards into a spot in the Hall of Fame gallery. Pitching mostly for the Phillies, he went 163-122 – numbers that held his first-year voting percentage to 23.8 per cent. But he was the only one of the 11 first-timers to remain a ballot holdover.

He’ll contend with Felix Hernandez, returning for a third time. Like Hamels, he was spectacular at his peak but not blessed with longevity (169 wins). He’s on the right path, however, as his vote percentage jumped from 20.6 per cent last year to this year’s 46.1 per cent – tied for the biggest one-year improvement in the history of the voting.

Like 2026 electee Andruw Jones, Hernandez declined so severely in his early 30s that many writers did not consider him for Cooperstown. That may be changing in direct proportion to the rise of relief pitching and dearth of 20-game winners.

Star Infielders

Other holdovers whose percentages are on the rise are infielders Jimmy Rollins, Dustin Pedroia, and David Wright. Rollins and Pedroia have MVP awards on their trophy shelves. In addition, Rollins should be aided by the voting surge for former double-play partner Chase Utley.

A sea of red will dominate the field of fans at Clark Sports Center in 2028 for the expected elections of former Cardinals icons Pujols and Molina, with Wainwright right on their heels in 2029. The Wainwright-Molina battery started more games together than any pitcher-catcher duo in baseball history.

The featured crowd color is certain to be orange in 2029, when Cabrera could join the elite group of electees who polled more than 90 per cent of the vote. The game’s last Triple Crown winner won four batting titles, two MVP awards, and a dozen All-Star selections.

Only 1 per cent of major-leaguers are enshrined in the Hall of Fame, which held its first election in 1936 but opened its doors three years later.

The 27-man ballot of 2026 drew 425 votes, with Jeff Kent elected a month earlier by the Contemporary Players Eras Committee.

During the 2026 election announcement televised on MLB Network, several hosts were asked how the results will influence the men involved.

According to Sean Casey, one of the commentators, “Their lives will change.”

Hall of Famers got more frequent and more lucrative requests for public appearances and are able to add three meaningful letters underneath their autographs:

“HOF”