Former Cleveland Indians slugger Manny Ramirez’s Hall of Fame candidacy is in serious doubt after he exhausted his eligibility on the baseball writers’ ballot.
CLEVELAND — 2026 was now or never for Manny Ramirez, and as predicted, the ultimate answer appears to be a resounding “never.”
The former MLB slugger who spent his first eight seasons with the Cleveland Indians failed to gain election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his 10th and final year on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot on Tuesday. Ramirez finished with 38.8% support from the scribes, and while it was the highest vote total he had ever received, it was well short of the 75% threshold required for induction into Cooperstown.
During a 19-year MLB career mostly spent with the Indians and Boston Red Sox, Ramirez made the AL All-Star team 12 times and hit 555 homers to go with a yearly home run crown and batting title as well as a World Series MVP. His 236 homers with Cleveland still rank fourth in franchise history, and he helped the Tribe to a pair of AL pennants while also leading the majors with an astonishing 165 RBIs in 1999.
But while Ramirez’s numbers are certainly Hall of Fame worthy, his reputation was forever tarnished by his confirmed use of performance-enhancing drugs, which earned him a pair of suspensions after MLB officially implemented its testing policy in 2005. Though some have attempted to grant leeway to players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens who played in the “Wild West” of the steroid era, Ramirez’s verifiable positive tests made him a no-go for the vast majority of writers, including some who were publicly more forgiving on the PED issue.
That line of demarcation caused Ramirez’s candidacy to flounder — always collecting enough votes to remain on the ballot while never coming all that close to enshrinement. With the 10-year limit now reached, he will not be considered again until December 2028 at the earliest, when the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee meets to vote on overlooked candidates whose careers took place after 1980.
If history is a guide, Ramirez might have a harder time with the veterans committee than he did with the BBWAA. Last month, the 16-member panel of former players, executives, and journalists elected Jeff Kent but gave fewer than five votes to Bonds, Clemens, and Gary Sheffield — meaning the polarizing trio are barred from being considered again any earlier than 2031 under the Hall of Fame’s current bylaws.
On Tuesday, the BBWAA did elect center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, who both hit over 400 home runs and earned multiple Gold Gloves. Beltrán’s own candidacy was clouded by his involvement in the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal, and he was not elected until his fourth turn on the ballot.
Elsewhere, former Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel saw his vote total continue to stagnate at 18.8%. The 11-time Gold Glove winner was once considered a virtual shoe-in for induction before varying allegations of assault and sexual harassment destroyed his candidacy. He, too, will have just one more chance on the BBWAA ballot next winter.
Besides Vizquel and Ramirez, former Cleveland players Edwin Encarnacion and Shin-Soo Choo were also on the ballot. Encarnacion finished his career with 424 homers and Choo is considered the best Korean player in the game’s history, but each failed to remain on the ballot with just six and three total votes, respectively. The threshold to retain eligibility is 5%.
Beltrán, Jones, and Kent will all be inducted this July in Cooperstown. While Kent is best known for his six seasons in San Francisco, he was infamously part of the 1996 trade that sent beloved second baseman Carlos Baerga out of Cleveland to the New York Mets. Kent played 39 games that year for an Indians team that won the AL Central before being flipped to the Giants that offseason in a deal for Matt Williams.