The Baseball Buffet for 12/8/2025

Issue #476

The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

The Winter Meetings are now getting underway, so yesterday was again quiet on the free-agent and trades front.

There was, however, big Baseball Hall of Fame news, as Jeff Kent was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. As described at the Hall of Fame press release: “Kent was one of eight candidates on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee Ballot, which was considered by a 16-member committee that held meetings today in Orlando, Fla. The ballot was comprised of player candidates whose primary contribution to the game came since 1980.”

Here are the voting results, with 12 of 16 (75%) being required for election:

In his ten years on the standard BBWAA ballot from 2014-2023, Kent’s vote total rose to a high of 46.5% in his final year (there too, 75% is required for election). He had between 14-18% for six years, then his vote total climbed in his final four years.

Personally I’m not surprised Kent was elected, as he is the all-time HR leader (377) for players who were primarily 2B, was a five-time All-Star, and was NL MVP In 2000 when he hit a career-high .334 with 33 HR, 125 RBI, and 12 SB. As the Hall of Fame release also noted: “Kent is the only player who appeared at second base in at least 75 percent of his games to total at least 350 home runs, 550 doubles, 1,500 RBI, 1,300 runs and 800 walks, one of only 13 players at any position to amass that combination of numbers.”

I was hoping to see Dale Murphy also be elected, but he came up short. I was surprised that both he and Don Mattingly received fewer votes than Carlos Delgado, given that the latter only had 3.8% of the vote in his one year on the BBWAA ballot in 2015. I felt like that was far too low of course, but Mattingly stayed on the BBWAA ballot for 15 years (the maximum at the time), and in 2023 got 50% of the Veterans Committee votes cast. Similarly, Murphy was on the BBWAA ballot for 15 years, and achieved 37.5% of the votes cast by that 2023 Veterans Committee.

Interestingly, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Gary Sheffield came up very short this time around, after each having achieved over 60% of the vote in their last years on the BBWAA ballot. By their numbers, all three would already be in the Hall of Fame if not for varying degrees of PED-related issues—more so for Bonds and Clemens than Sheffield, but then their career accomplishments are also greater than his.

Can I make a suggestion?

Importantly, the Hall of Fame press release noted the following: “The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee will next consider player candidates in 2028 for the 2029 Induction year, as part of the three-year era committee cycle. By rule, candidates who received fewer than five votes in this election are not eligible for consideration by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in 2028.”

This is very interesting, because it means that Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield, and also Fernando Valenzuela, will not be on the ballot in 2028. Can I make a suggestion to the nominating committee? Do NOT include Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodríguez, Rafael Palmeiro, or anyone else who have great numbers but whose accomplishments are obviously tainted by the PED issue. If sentiment ever changes regarding that era, then presumably Bonds and Clemens should be the first two inducted (leaving Sheffield aside as potential exception). Since Bonds and Clemens can’t be on the ballot in 2028, including any of these others like McGwire, etc., will just be waste of slots that could be given to others we’d like consider. Have Bonds, Clemens, or other PED-cases on the ballot again in 2031.

For the next (in 2028, for 2029 induction) Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot (which is for players whose primary contributions came after 1980), I’d like to see a ballot that includes only Delgado, Mattingly, and Murphy again, plus guys like Lou Whitaker, Dwight Evans, Kenny Lofton, Keith Hernandez, Bobby Abreu, Jim Edmonds, etc.

As noted below, one of today's Birthday Boys is Vernon Wells. He played most of his career as a CF for the Blue Jays, and had 223 HR for that team. Which three players have had more HR for the Blue Jays?

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. Unless otherwise noted, the descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.

📅 On December 8…

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Mike Mussina (1968)

Josh Donaldson (1985)

Vernon Wells (1978)

Hank Thompson (1925-1969)

Currently active players who were born on December 8 include LAD Andy Pages and CLE Andrew Walters.

One of the new features I’m starting up during the offseason is a baseball-related quote of the day. These will include quotes by players or managers that are insightful or funny, and interesting quotes from others about the game itself. I’ll try to mix it up over time.

Here are two interesting ones about greatness:

"If you expect greatness, greatness shouldn't surprise you." – Justin Verlander

"Good is not good when better is expected." – Vin Scully

Carlos Delgado, José Bautista, and Edwin Encarnación. Here are the six players who have had 200+ HR for the Blue Jays:

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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