2025 South Side Sox Hall of Fame Vote
Ichiro, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner lead a ballot that is almost certain to see multiple HOFers elected
Once again, our Cooperstown ballot is hosted in this post, so you will be able to see the running results in real time right here, rather than having to vote off-site.
However, again this year I am providing readers less player information in our post. Links are provided below to some key resources, if you do want to brush up a bit as you vote.
We continue to provide a ballot with no voting maximums. There are 28 candidates below, and you can click “yes” and vote for all 28 if you want (not recommended). Or, like some BBWAA voters, you can return a blank ballot by clicking “no” for everyone (also not recommended).
The language for each poll is specific, for a reason. “Should [player] be in the Hall of Fame on this year’s ballot” is meant to allow for some nuance, because while you may feel that 15 players from this list should eventually be in Cooperstown, perhaps not all of them should be elected at once:
- It’s the last dance for Billy Wagner, who has seen his support grow to the point where he might just make the cut before dropping off of the ballot an into Veterans’ Committee limbo.
- PED users like Alex Rodriguez might have an undeniable case for the Hall, but should you make ’em sweat it out for their sins?
- It is a bit outrageous that there was never a unanimous selection in a Hall of Fame general election until Mariano Rivera in 2019, but Ichiro is aiming to become the second unanimous pick in history — will SSS join in that effort?
- In a fairly odd development, among 14 first-year eligibles on the ballot, NONE have playing ties to the White Sox.
So, if the issue was simply “Should [player] be in the Hall of Fame?” you might have a lot of “Yes” votes. But “... in the Hall of Fame on this ballot” is a different question, and could winnow your list of yes votes here.
Which brings up a final point: Each one of these player polls is a yes/no. Unlike a normal ballot, you’re not just checking “yes” for the guys you want to see enshrined. If you don’t check “no” on guys you don’t think should be in the Hall on this ballot, results will be skewed.
We’ll see how all this wrangles out. With 39.0% of ballots known at the time of publication, four players are projected for election, with one other clearing the 70% mark.
Our voting ends on Sunday night, January 19. We’ll post a story with the results the next day.
Also, if you read South Side Sox on Google AMP and Apple News, you’ve undoubtedly seen that our polls don’t show up there, so you’ll need to take another route to SSS in order to vote.
Resources
Baseball-Reference’s Hall of Fame ballot grid
Jay Jaffe’s extremely good candidate bios at FanGraphs.
Last year’s results at South Side Sox, when Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton were elected and Mark Buehrle fell one vote short.
Below is our Hall of Fame ballot for returning players, presented in alphabetical order. Who will join Dick Allen and Dave Parker in Coopertown this summer?
For returning players on the ballot, the legend for the numbers in parenthesis reads as (2024 BBWAA %/2024 SSS %/2025 Projected %/Year on Ballot).
The remaining players on the ballot are appearing for the first time, in alphabetical order. The legend for the numbers in parenthesis reads as (Career rWAR/Career fWAR/JAWS all-time position rank/2025 Projected %).
You made it to the end. Thanks for voting!