Victor Martinez Hall of Fame vote tracker: How many more does he need?

Victor Martinez spent the last seven years of his 16-year career with the Detroit Tigers, and even though he was 39 when he retired in 2018, he was still playing at top form throughout. He hit .290/.349/.440 in Detroit to round out a 246 home run, 1178 RBI career, and was present on all four of the superstar, Jim Leyland-led Tigers playoff teams from 2011-2014. The best year of his entire career happened with the Tigers in 2014, when he batted an astounding .335/.409/.565.

It stands to reason that Martinez is a Hall of Fame nominee for the first time this year. He's a five-time All-Star, an MVP votes recipient, and the winner of two Silver Sluggers. How close is he to joining Jim Leyland, who was elected in December, in Cooperstown later this month?

How many votes does Victor Martinez need to get into the Hall of Fame in 2024?

There's no set number of eligible voters every year, and no telling if all eligible voters will turn in a ballot. However, the benchmark for players to be elected is to appear on 75% of all ballots received. Based on data from previous years, an estimated 384 BBWAA members can vote in 2024, but a smaller crop of 288 are expected to actually cast their votes. Both of those numbers are suppositions, and we won't know how many votes were cast, or for which players, until elections are announced on Jan. 23. However, 75% of 288-384 votes is a good standard for setting expectations.

First-ballot Hall of Famers are rare (only 58 have been elected), and there are also qualifications to stay on the ballot beyond a player's first year. While election might seem out of Martinez's grasp in 2024, he still needs the appear on at least 5% of votes this year to be on the ballot again in 2025.

Victor Martinez Hall of Fame vote tracker

The numbers here are taken from Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame tracker, which meticulously logs public ballots and nominated players' progress toward election into Cooperstown. The important distinction here is public ballots. Only a fraction of voters make their voting known, while the others are a mystery until the official announcement. Reasoning for sharing or not sharing varies, but public ballots are typically much kinder to the nominees than private ones. Some share their ballots to stir the pot, others do so in the name of transparency, but generally, public ballots include more 'yeses.'

With 126 votes currently made public, Martinez has yet to earn a vote. This eliminates the possibility of an election this year, so we turn our attentions to whether or not he'll get another shot in 2025. Here are where things stand for Martinez right now.

All information has been updated as of January 8th, 2024

When is the Hall of Fame announcement?

2024's Hall of Fame class will be announced on Jan. 23, with the ceremony in Cooperstown to follow on July 21. Although Thibodaux's tracker will give us a good idea of whether or not Martinez will stay alive on the ballot in 2025, we may not know for certain until the official announcement on the 23rd.