Alex Rodriguez congratulated two of his former teammates for their election into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 21, posting on X.com about both CC Sabathia and Suzuki Ichiro. Once considered a lock to also be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, it’s becoming clearer that the former Yankees’ slugger is unlikely ever to make it into Cooperstown’s hallowed hall.
After a career tainted by PEDs, Rodriguez received 146 out of 394 votes for 37.1% in 2025, his fourth year on the ballot. That is better than the 34% he got in 2024, but he is not making up enough ground to see him earn the 75% needed to earn election in the next six years he has on the ballot.
Anthony Gruppuso-Imagn Images
That puts him in a Baseball Hall of Fame purgatory because it is unlikely he will ever drop below the 5% which would take him off the ballot.
Rodriguez is a three-time American League MVP and 14-time All-Star. A-Rod had 3,115 hits, 696 home runs, a career .295 batting average and a 117.5 WAR in 22 seasons in the big leagues with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees.
He would easily have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but the stench of PEDs has been too much for voters to ignore.
He was suspended by MLB for the entire 2014 season, citing the use and possession of PEDs “over the course of multiple years” and interfering with an MLB investigation.
Joining Rodriguez in this limbo is former Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte, who received just 27.9% of the vote in his seventh year on the ballot. He’s up from 13.5% in 2024, but not nearly close enough to get there in the next three years.
His candidacy is obviously also tainted by his admission that he used Human Growth Hormone in 2007.
Pettitte has five World Series rings and ended his career with 256 wins, 2,448 strikeouts and a 3.85 ERA. He was a three-time All-Star.