Who decides which hat Baseball Hall of Famers get on their plaques? Here’s how Cooperstown makes the call

Later today, we’ll finally learn the results of the BBWAA voting for the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class. We compared stats and discussed legacies. Now let’s discuss… Fashion?

Each inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame is given a plaque that ends in the actual Cooperstown building, engraved with the player’s likeness. The players wear hats in the inscription as they did while playing. Most feature logos, and are traditionally the team the player has spent most or all of their career with, or with whom they have had the greatest influence.

How is the logo or lack thereof chosen? Let’s dig deeper.

It can be a controversial topic every now and then, and never more so than over the hiring of Wade Boggs. As tradition has it, Boggs was allegedly offered money from Tampa Bay Rays to choose a Rays hat for his Hall of Fame plaque, but the Hall of Fame had to step in and say no. After all, Boggs spent 11 of his 18 seasons with a team Red Soxwon all five batting titles there and collected 2,098 career hits (3,010 hits) there. He spent the final two seasons of his major league career with the then-Devil Rays, where his offense was just below average.

Boggs wears a Red Sox cap on his Hall of Fame plaque. The Rays rumor was false

“That was never an issue,” Boggs said It was said in 2017. “I think it came from when Jose Canseco said, ‘If I get into the Hall of Fame, I’m going in as a devil ray,’ and maybe someone misunderstood that I said that and that Mr. (Vincent) Nemoli [then-owner of the Rays] “I was offered a million dollars to be the first Devil Ray in the Hall of Fame, and that conversation never happened.”

As mentioned, some players can choose a blank logo. Greg Maddox did. He played 11 years for Brave And 10 l Cubs I didn’t want to choose between the two.

This brings us to our main point. Yes, the player’s input is taken into account, but he doesn’t get the final say.

“The Hall of Fame provides guidance to each new inductee as to what logo, if any, may be represented on his or her plate cap,” John Shestakowski, the Baseball Hall of Fame’s vice president of communications and content, told CBS Sports. “While the Hall of Fame has the final say on which logo will be depicted, we are working with the team to come up with an appropriate outcome that accurately reflects the new team’s run in the game. However, all teams are listed in the text of the logo plaque.”

As for who will be in charge this year, we already know that Dick Allen and Dave Parker have been elected through the Epoch Committee.

Allen, who died just over four years ago, played nine years with the team Velezthree with White Sox And no more than one for three other teams. He’ll definitely be wearing a Phillies hat in his painting.

Parker was with Pirates for 11 years, Reds for four and A for two with three other terms of no more than one season. He’s won an MVP award, made four of his seven All-Star Games and won a World Series with Pittsburgh, so the choice there seems obvious.

In the BBWAA vote, it seems so Ichiro Suzuki, CC Spathia Billy Wagner may be the recruiter.

Ichiro is easy and straightforward Sailors to choose.

Spathia He said, “Absolutely.” He wants to wear a yankees Cover on his plate, if he does. An argument can be made for an empty cover. He won the Cy Young Award with Cleveland and spent parts of eight seasons there compared to 11 with New York. He was also perhaps his most influential in his half-season with Brewers In 2008, when he went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA after a deadline trade helped Milwaukee reach the playoffs. Despite spending only a few months in the National League, he finished fifth in NL Cy Young Award voting and sixth in NL MVP voting.

Sabathia, on the other hand, won a ring with the Yankees in 2009 and twice led the AL in wins during his time in New York. He got more professional value there than anywhere else and spent more time there than anywhere else. Given the Hall of Fame’s decision to work with the national team, Sabathia will likely get selected. And while I note that there is controversy over the empty cap, I think that if we pictured Sabatia on one team, we would all immediately think of the Yankees.

Wagner spent parts of 16 seasons in the major leagues, nine of which came with Astros. He had four years with Mets And two with the Phillies. Most of his career value came in Houston, as did 225 of his 422 tackles. he He expressed interest last week By wearing an Astros hat on his Hall of Fame plaque, so this seems like the obvious course of action.

On the ballot, Andruw Jones would be an easy starter for the Braves, as is Chase Utley With Phillies. Carlos Beltran will be one of the interesting people. He spent seven years with the Mets, and seven with the A’s royal familyThree with the Yankees and two with the Yankees Cardinals And a few other small tasks elsewhere. He feels like an empty hat, but maybe he has strong feelings for or against the Mets or Royals? We may find out in a year or two.

The bottom line here is that this is a joint effort between the Hall of Famer and the player being inducted, as has always been the case. And if you’ve heard rumors of tampering, they’re probably not true.