November 12, 2025 • 9 mins
Rick Walls is the Executive Director of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. He joined us to discuss voting on the Modern Player Ballot for the Hall's Class of 2026.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, it's twenty two minutes after four o'clock. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moeggers. The twenty twenty six
Reds Hall of Fame candidates for the Modern Player ballot
came out last week. You can vote right now for
a group of players that consists of Homer Bailey, Francisco Cordero,
zat Cozart, Aaron Harang, Mike Leak, Brandon Phillips, Scott Rowland,
(00:24):
and Edinson Volcez. You can vote right now at Redsmuseum
dot org. Two modern Players will be selected as part
of the Class of twenty twenty six. Here to tell
us more, by the way, Hall of Fame Weekend, the
induction weekend is going to take place April twenty fourth
through twenty six, so a little bit earlier than usual.
Rick Wall's, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame
(00:45):
m Museum, is with us.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Rick. It's awesome to have you. How are you great?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Thanks for having me. Exciting time of the year for
the Hall of Fame prepping for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting you and I talk about
this every year, and for a while we had talked
about you know, what coming down the pike were there's
going to be a lot of guys.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Theres gonna be a lot of guys.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Who are part of those teams, you know, the two thousand's,
early twenty tens, and we're here Rick time flies.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It does. It's fun to kind of evaluate and vote
on players that I remember more recently playing. And that's
why we put the vote back into the fans, right,
so the fans have a say and who's going to
be going into the Reds Hall of Fame. They get
a vote. It's going to be combined with the alumni
as well as media, so the three components will make
up who the two people are they're going to go
(01:30):
in next year and twenty twenty six. Now they'll be
a veteran candidate as well, one or two, but two
players this time around from the twenty twenty six for
this twenty twenty six ballot.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
All right, what was the criteria to be included on
the modern player ballot?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So you've got to have played The minimum for any
candidates of the Hall of Fame is three years with
the Reds. And remember we're just considering Red's careers. You've
got to kind of remove some of their successes or
accolades or even failures from other teams when you're evaluating
the candidates. But three years, you have to be out
of baseball for five years, and then you have to
have played within the last fifteen pretty much mirrors National
(02:06):
Baseball Hall of Fame number of rules, at least the
beginning where you have to be out five years. So
you start looking at some of the new guys that
are on the ballot this time, and this ballot changes.
Some come on, some go off, and the ones that
go off will go to a veterans committee. So that's
your basic criteria. There's no particular number of batting average
or strikeouts as a team hall of Fame, and we
(02:27):
want the fans to help evaluate who they think belongs
in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I believe, and you can correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I think this is the first time you've had two
players get voted on this ballot. I also think it's
the first time you've had as many as eight.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Am I correct, well, I think eight might be the
right number, But we did take two back I think
in two thousand and four. Possibly. I mean, you're going
pretty far back to when balloting came back into play,
so there was another time of that, but no, there's
traditionally there has only been one from this and this year.
There's an election Governance Committee of the Boarder Directors of
(03:03):
the Hall of Fame that reviews all the candidates, and
given the last ten years there's only been eight inductees,
We've had a couple of years where there's only been one.
Pete Rose in sixteen, Marty Brenneman went in twenty one,
and then there was also a couple of years where
we didn't have inductions, so we got off our every
other year cycle a little bit. Twenty twenty five was
targeted to be a year for induction since we did
(03:24):
one in twenty three, but due to the focus and
emphasis on the fiftieth anniversary the seventy five championship, we
decided to move it off to this year and that
was strategically done. And here we are, and I think
we're going to have a good class.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
When do the other members of the Class of twenty
twenty six get announced?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So everybody will be announced in one single announcement, so
probably about the second week of December. So while the
fan voting is going on, we're mailing out ballots to
the alumni and also to media. Now to be a
Reds alum to be eligible to votes, you also have
to have played three years with the Reds, so a
lot of the teammates of these players will be voting,
so that really does play into this. The Veterans Committee
(04:07):
will meet the first week of December. We'll take the
results of both of those that come out with the
class announcement in the second week of December, right before
the holidays, and hopefully we'll have these players back in
and visiting the Hall of Fame and the ballpark offen
maybe even Red Cest next year. So look a lot
to look forward to. And you mentioned it earlier, that
induction to little earlier this year April twenty four, twenty five,
(04:28):
twenty six, the celebration will have meet and greets in
the museum with not just the current inductees, but this
is a great celebration of Red's history. We bring back
all of the Hall of famers to visit them and
their families and just have a wonderful celebration.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You can cast her ballot Redsmuseum dot org through November
the twenty seventh. One ballot per person slash email address
per day. You mentioned something that's important because it was
sorely missed last year due to the construction of the
Convention Center downtown.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
But Reds Fest will be back.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It will be you know, and it's another reason why
there was an induction last year. We really wanted the
gala at the Convention Center, a big fundraiser for the museum.
That's associated with the induction, of course, but RedFest is
an exciting time for the museum and all Reds fans
back in the Convention Center, the first major event there
chance you know, tickets just went on sale yesterday, so
(05:23):
it's a great opportunity to meet with current players and coaches,
the photograph opportunities. You just know, there's memorabilia everywhere, so
much to do and a lot to kind of look
forward to. Is we're prepping for this great twenty twenty
sixth season. I know there's high hopes with a lot
of fans. We've got a taste of the playoffs and
feeling like getting back to the Convention Center is a
way to get back to normal here and have RedFest
(05:46):
and have a great baseball season.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Am I allowed to tell you who I will be
voting for.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Well, you're getting a ballot in the mail, so up
to you. I would not divulge your votes if you
sent your ballot back in this but you're more than
welcome to announce who you're voting for.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Let's let well, I'm voting for Brandon Phillips.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
All right, Okay, I mean check.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I still want you to send me a ballot because
I like having them, but I'm voting for Brandon Phillips.
Literally the best defensive player that I've ever seen, really
sort of, you know, I remember when they acquired him,
and there was this breadth of fresh air with this
guy who boy, it felt like he was one of
those dudes who can build around. And God, here before
the Vados and the Bruces and all those guys, was
here for the twenty ten team. The twenty twelve team
(06:34):
led off Game two in twenty ten with a home
run hit, the home run that gave the Reds lead
against the Giants, Game one of twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Bunch of gold gloves, silver sluggers. So Brandon Phillips.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And then for me, and I vetted this out, I'm
going Aaron Harang eight years here, you know. Really, Unfortunately
never got the full taste of twenty ten that he
should have gotten. But there was a run here in
six and in seven where there were a few pitchers
in baseball as good as Aaron Harang pitched here for
a while.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Those are my two guys.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Great choices. There's several great choices on the ballot. I
can't argue with anything that you've said, and some of
the other candidates on here as well. And I think
that's what's great about this is you remembered so much
these players. Everyone that's looking at the ballot remember some
of these great stories. They were part of the ten,
twenty ten, twelve thirteen teams that that was fun time
(07:27):
for being a Reds baseball fan. That was a really
good time. And here we are already talking about these
guys making their way into the largest team Hall of
Fame and all of baseball, greatest museum that you'll find
for any team, and they have all been to Gallas.
So now you're into a time frame where the candidates
have all seen how the Reds handle Hall of Fame
(07:50):
inductions and it's something that other teams don't do quite
as well. Some teams do it well, but not like
the Reds do with the induction festivities and of course
the big gallo at the convention center. So we're excited
to have that moniker, and I hope everybody will vote
and vote off it.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Vote now.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Redsmuseum dot Org runs through the twenty seven, so you
have a couple of weeks eight quality candidates. Two will
get voted in and be a part of the class
of twenty twenty six next April. Rick, always awesome to
have you man, Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Hey, thanks for having me. I look forward to talking
to you same.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Most definitely, that's our guy, Rick Walls, Executive Director, Reds
Hall of Fame Museum, Redsmuseum dot org. You can vote
for any of those guys and it would make sense.
Brandon Phillips was a no brainer. I think the moment
he retired, we all thought, well, first time on the ballot,
he's getting in.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
He'll get in.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I cannot imagine a world where he's not voted in
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
The rest are a little tricky, you know. Aaron Harangue.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Unfortunately his best years didn't happen on teams that were great.
He was on the twenty ten team. My memory serves
me correct didn't even make the postseason roster. I ended
up pitching for a number of years after he left Cincinnati,
but a couple of years the six team, which was
in first place by mid August, as late as mid August,
the one two was Harangue and Arroyo.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
And that was not that was not insignificant at that time.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So I'll go Aaron harang I'll go Brandon Phillips. You
could vote for whoever you choose at Red's Museum dot org.
All right, it's twenty two minutes after four o'clock. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moeggers. The twenty twenty six
Reds Hall of Fame candidates for the Modern Player ballot
came out last week. You can vote right now for
a group of players that consists of Homer Bailey, Francisco Cordero,
zat Cozart, Aaron Harang, Mike Leak, Brandon Phillips, Scott Rowland,
(00:24):
and Edinson Volcez. You can vote right now at Redsmuseum
dot org. Two modern Players will be selected as part
of the Class of twenty twenty six. Here to tell
us more, by the way, Hall of Fame Weekend, the
induction weekend is going to take place April twenty fourth
through twenty six, so a little bit earlier than usual.
Rick Wall's, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame
(00:45):
m Museum, is with us.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Rick. It's awesome to have you. How are you great?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Thanks for having me. Exciting time of the year for
the Hall of Fame prepping for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting you and I talk about
this every year, and for a while we had talked
about you know, what coming down the pike were there's
going to be a lot of guys.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Theres gonna be a lot of guys.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Who are part of those teams, you know, the two thousand's,
early twenty tens, and we're here Rick time flies.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It does. It's fun to kind of evaluate and vote
on players that I remember more recently playing. And that's
why we put the vote back into the fans, right,
so the fans have a say and who's going to
be going into the Reds Hall of Fame. They get
a vote. It's going to be combined with the alumni
as well as media, so the three components will make
up who the two people are they're going to go
(01:30):
in next year and twenty twenty six. Now they'll be
a veteran candidate as well, one or two, but two
players this time around from the twenty twenty six for
this twenty twenty six ballot.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
All right, what was the criteria to be included on
the modern player ballot?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So you've got to have played The minimum for any
candidates of the Hall of Fame is three years with
the Reds. And remember we're just considering Red's careers. You've
got to kind of remove some of their successes or
accolades or even failures from other teams when you're evaluating
the candidates. But three years, you have to be out
of baseball for five years, and then you have to
have played within the last fifteen pretty much mirrors National
(02:06):
Baseball Hall of Fame number of rules, at least the
beginning where you have to be out five years. So
you start looking at some of the new guys that
are on the ballot this time, and this ballot changes.
Some come on, some go off, and the ones that
go off will go to a veterans committee. So that's
your basic criteria. There's no particular number of batting average
or strikeouts as a team hall of Fame, and we
(02:27):
want the fans to help evaluate who they think belongs
in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I believe, and you can correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I think this is the first time you've had two
players get voted on this ballot. I also think it's
the first time you've had as many as eight.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Am I correct, well, I think eight might be the
right number, But we did take two back I think
in two thousand and four. Possibly. I mean, you're going
pretty far back to when balloting came back into play,
so there was another time of that, but no, there's
traditionally there has only been one from this and this year.
There's an election Governance Committee of the Boarder Directors of
(03:03):
the Hall of Fame that reviews all the candidates, and
given the last ten years there's only been eight inductees,
We've had a couple of years where there's only been one.
Pete Rose in sixteen, Marty Brenneman went in twenty one,
and then there was also a couple of years where
we didn't have inductions, so we got off our every
other year cycle a little bit. Twenty twenty five was
targeted to be a year for induction since we did
(03:24):
one in twenty three, but due to the focus and
emphasis on the fiftieth anniversary the seventy five championship, we
decided to move it off to this year and that
was strategically done. And here we are, and I think
we're going to have a good class.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
When do the other members of the Class of twenty
twenty six get announced?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So everybody will be announced in one single announcement, so
probably about the second week of December. So while the
fan voting is going on, we're mailing out ballots to
the alumni and also to media. Now to be a
Reds alum to be eligible to votes, you also have
to have played three years with the Reds, so a
lot of the teammates of these players will be voting,
so that really does play into this. The Veterans Committee
(04:07):
will meet the first week of December. We'll take the
results of both of those that come out with the
class announcement in the second week of December, right before
the holidays, and hopefully we'll have these players back in
and visiting the Hall of Fame and the ballpark offen
maybe even Red Cest next year. So look a lot
to look forward to. And you mentioned it earlier, that
induction to little earlier this year April twenty four, twenty five,
(04:28):
twenty six, the celebration will have meet and greets in
the museum with not just the current inductees, but this
is a great celebration of Red's history. We bring back
all of the Hall of famers to visit them and
their families and just have a wonderful celebration.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You can cast her ballot Redsmuseum dot org through November
the twenty seventh. One ballot per person slash email address
per day. You mentioned something that's important because it was
sorely missed last year due to the construction of the
Convention Center downtown.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
But Reds Fest will be back.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It will be you know, and it's another reason why
there was an induction last year. We really wanted the
gala at the Convention Center, a big fundraiser for the museum.
That's associated with the induction, of course, but RedFest is
an exciting time for the museum and all Reds fans
back in the Convention Center, the first major event there
chance you know, tickets just went on sale yesterday, so
(05:23):
it's a great opportunity to meet with current players and coaches,
the photograph opportunities. You just know, there's memorabilia everywhere, so
much to do and a lot to kind of look
forward to. Is we're prepping for this great twenty twenty
sixth season. I know there's high hopes with a lot
of fans. We've got a taste of the playoffs and
feeling like getting back to the Convention Center is a
way to get back to normal here and have RedFest
(05:46):
and have a great baseball season.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Am I allowed to tell you who I will be
voting for.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Well, you're getting a ballot in the mail, so up
to you. I would not divulge your votes if you
sent your ballot back in this but you're more than
welcome to announce who you're voting for.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Let's let well, I'm voting for Brandon Phillips.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
All right, Okay, I mean check.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I still want you to send me a ballot because
I like having them, but I'm voting for Brandon Phillips.
Literally the best defensive player that I've ever seen, really
sort of, you know, I remember when they acquired him,
and there was this breadth of fresh air with this
guy who boy, it felt like he was one of
those dudes who can build around. And God, here before
the Vados and the Bruces and all those guys, was
here for the twenty ten team. The twenty twelve team
(06:34):
led off Game two in twenty ten with a home
run hit, the home run that gave the Reds lead
against the Giants, Game one of twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Bunch of gold gloves, silver sluggers. So Brandon Phillips.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And then for me, and I vetted this out, I'm
going Aaron Harang eight years here, you know. Really, Unfortunately
never got the full taste of twenty ten that he
should have gotten. But there was a run here in
six and in seven where there were a few pitchers
in baseball as good as Aaron Harang pitched here for
a while.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Those are my two guys.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Great choices. There's several great choices on the ballot. I
can't argue with anything that you've said, and some of
the other candidates on here as well. And I think
that's what's great about this is you remembered so much
these players. Everyone that's looking at the ballot remember some
of these great stories. They were part of the ten,
twenty ten, twelve thirteen teams that that was fun time
(07:27):
for being a Reds baseball fan. That was a really
good time. And here we are already talking about these
guys making their way into the largest team Hall of
Fame and all of baseball, greatest museum that you'll find
for any team, and they have all been to Gallas.
So now you're into a time frame where the candidates
have all seen how the Reds handle Hall of Fame
(07:50):
inductions and it's something that other teams don't do quite
as well. Some teams do it well, but not like
the Reds do with the induction festivities and of course
the big gallo at the convention center. So we're excited
to have that moniker, and I hope everybody will vote
and vote off it.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Vote now.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Redsmuseum dot Org runs through the twenty seven, so you
have a couple of weeks eight quality candidates. Two will
get voted in and be a part of the class
of twenty twenty six next April. Rick, always awesome to
have you man, Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Hey, thanks for having me. I look forward to talking
to you same.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Most definitely, that's our guy, Rick Walls, Executive Director, Reds
Hall of Fame Museum, Redsmuseum dot org. You can vote
for any of those guys and it would make sense.
Brandon Phillips was a no brainer. I think the moment
he retired, we all thought, well, first time on the ballot,
he's getting in.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
He'll get in.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I cannot imagine a world where he's not voted in
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
The rest are a little tricky, you know. Aaron Harangue.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Unfortunately his best years didn't happen on teams that were great.
He was on the twenty ten team. My memory serves
me correct didn't even make the postseason roster. I ended
up pitching for a number of years after he left Cincinnati,
but a couple of years the six team, which was
in first place by mid August, as late as mid August,
the one two was Harangue and Arroyo.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
And that was not that was not insignificant at that time.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So I'll go Aaron harang I'll go Brandon Phillips. You
could vote for whoever you choose at Red's Museum dot org.
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