2025 Baseball HOF preview: Can any controversial star gain momentum?

With the Baseball Hall of Fame's class of 2025 announcement approaching, it's time to review this year's ballot. Today, we look at returnees with stellar numbers who had on- and off-field controversies that stalled their candidacies - and sent one player's into a tailspin.

Note: All WAR figures from Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted.

Andy Pettitte

Position: SP
Years: 1995-2013
Teams: Yankees, Astros
S-JAWS: 47.2 (82nd at SP)
WAR: 60.2 (64th)
Year on ballot: 7th (13.5% in 2024)

Pettitte never won a major award, but he was consistent on the mound for most of his career and is New York's all-time strikeout leader. His weak regular-season numbers are somewhat offset by his playoff resume, which includes eight World Series appearances, five rings, the 2001 ALCS MVP, and multiple records, including the most wins (19) in postseason history.

But he likely hasn't been able to garner support because his name was in the Mitchell Report alongside other PED users. Pettitte admitted to using human growth hormone shortly after the report's release but said he only did it to speed up his recovery from a 2002 elbow injury and never used any steroids (HGH is a banned substance, but it's technically not a steroid). It's true: He never tested positive for any banned substance after MLB began its drug testing program in 2004. But, even if we ignore the HGH incident, Pettitte's case is far from a statistical lock, relying heavily on his playoff dominance.

Voters have generally given Pettitte the cold shoulder over his first six years on the ballot. This year, however, he seems to be making something of a move. Thanks to a net gain of 18, Pettitte's suddenly sitting at 33.7% in the tracker, by far his best showing on public ballots since arriving in 2019 and more than double last year's final pre-election total. Only Carlos Beltrán (net-20) has a higher net gain so far this cycle.

Manny Ramírez

Position: RF/LF
Years: 1993-2011
Teams: Cleveland, Red Sox, Dodgers, White Sox, Rays
JAWS: 54.6 (10th at LF)
WAR: 69.3 (8th)
Year on ballot: 9th (32.5% in 2024)

Ramírez was one of the most dangerous hitters of his generation. He was an integral part of Cleveland's powerful 1990s clubs and two World Series-winning teams in Boston. The nine-time Silver Slugger ranks 15th all-time in homers and 20th in RBIs, and he owns the sixth-best slugging percentage (.585) and OPS among right-handed hitters. Ramírez is undeniably one of the greatest right-handed hitters since the Second World War and, on paper, a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, his two positive performance-enhancing drug tests - the second of which led to him suddenly retiring in 2011 rather than serving a 100-game suspension - are a massive stain on his resume.

Ramírez is at 36.2% in the tracker right now, up slightly from his final total last winter. But that also means nothing because of a minus-2 net gain, and his final number will drop again once private ballots are included. Not even the inevitable tenth-year bump in 2026 can save him now.

Alex Rodriguez

Position: SS/3B
Years: 1994-2016
Teams: Mariners, Rangers, Yankees
JAWS: 90.9 (2nd at SS)
WAR: 117.6 (2nd)
Year on ballot: 3rd (34.8% in 2024)

Rodriguez redefined the shortstop position before a pretty impressive second act at third base. The raw numbers speak for themselves: three MVPs, four Hank Aaron Awards, 10 Silver Sluggers, top-five all-time in home runs and RBIs, top-10 in extra-base hits, total bases and runs scored, top-15 in both versions of WAR (and second among shortstops), and one of four players with 3,000 hits and 600 homers. If that's not a Hall of Famer, what is?

Alas, nothing is that simple with A-Rod. He admitted to using PEDs while with the Rangers from 2001-03 (before MLB began its drug testing program) after being named in a 2009 report that listed 104 players as having failed MLB's supposedly anonymous drug tests six years earlier.

His name came up again in 2013 when the Miami New Times linked Rodriguez, and several other stars, to the anti-aging clinic that supplied them with PEDs. A-Rod missed the entire 2014 season because of the ensuing suspension.

Rodriguez's tracker total (40.5% of known ballots) looks OK given his situation, but that net gain of minus-1 indicates his support is all but capped out with six years remaining in his candidacy.

Omar Vizquel

Position: SS
Years: 1989-2012
Teams: Mariners, Cleveland, Giants, Rangers, White Sox, Blue Jays
JAWS: 36.2 (45th at SS)
WAR: 45.6 (31st)
Year on ballot: 8th (17.7% in 2024)

Vizquel was a great defensive shortstop with 11 Gold Gloves to his name. But he ranks 18th among shortstops in fielding runs and posted negative total zone run numbers in two of his Gold Glove-winning seasons. He retired as the all-time hits leader among Venezuelans and ranks 13th all-time in games played, but he only got to those marks while in part-time roles until age 45.

Nonetheless, his fielding, longevity, and status as a respected leader of Cleveland's iconic 1990s teams helped Vizquel cross the 50% mark in 2020, usually a sign of eventual induction. That climb stopped following a December 2020 investigation by The Athletic's Katie Strang and Ken Rosenthal into domestic violence allegations. Vizquel was never charged with any crime and has repeatedly denied all the allegations.

The following August, a former bat boy with autism for the Double-A Birmingham Barons sued Vizquel and the White Sox (Birmingham's parent team), alleging that Vizquel, then the Barons' manager, sexually harassed and exposed himself to the bat boy in the shower in 2019. The White Sox fired Vizquel in September 2019.

Vizquel received 49.1% in 2021 because many voters who would eventually stop supporting him had already cast their ballots. He's seen a 66% drop in support since. With just 20 public votes thus far, Vizquel's destined to finish his eligibility at the bottom of the ballot.