Former Philadelphia Phillies Fan Favorite Eligible for Hall of Fame Next Year

A former Philadelphia Phillies fan favorite will be eligible for the MLB Hall of Fame starting next year.

Jun 21, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels reacts with designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) during a ceremony before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The trio of players inducted into Cooperstown in 2025 are a more than deserving group of men, with one spending part of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, and the other two spending the entirety of their careers tormenting the club.

Billy Wagner joins a long list of players in the Hall of Fame who have spent time with the Phillies, while Ichiro Suzuki and his career .302 batting average against the team, and CC Sabathia are the newest inductees.

Next year brings a new crop of players that will be eligible for induction for the first time, though none may be as deserving of the nod as former Philadelphia ace Cole Hamels.

Hamels was drafted in the first round of the 2002 MLB draft out of Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego, California.

The lefty quickly rose through the minors, debuting in MLB on May 12, 2006, with a five-inning, one-hit shutout performance against the Cincinnati Reds that included seven strikeouts.

Hamels would spend the first 10 seasons of his career with the Phillies, pitching to a 3.30 ERA across 1,930 innings in 295 games with 1,844 strikeouts and a 124 ERA+ in that time.

The ace would be overshadowed for the majority of his tenure as part of one of the best rotations in the history of the sport that included Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee, but would earn three National League All-Star nods, and finish in the top 10 for National League Cy Young voting four times while with Philadelphia.

Hamels was a key part of the 2008 World Series Championship squad, putting up one of the best postseason performances from the mound the sport has ever seen with a 1.80 ERA across 35 innings in five starts with 30 strikeouts. He earned NLCS and World Series MVP awards for his performance.

The rest of his career would come with the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Atlanta Braves, seeing the fan-favorite post a career ERA of 3.43 across 2,698 innings in 423 games with 2,560 strikeouts and a 123 ERA+.

Overall, it is a weak crop of talent that will be first-time eligible in 2026, but Cole Hamels certainly stands head and shoulders above the rest for his contributions on the mound.