This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf's Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

On Tuesday, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will reveal its 2025 Hall of Fame Class. Whoever is elected will be joining a pair of players who were voted in by the Classic Era Committee in December: Dick Allen and Pirates legend Dave Parker.

¡°I was finally glad that justice was done,¡± former Pirate John Candelaria said over the phone the day after the vote. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure [it would happen], but I was hoping.¡±

Better late than never, and just because a player doesn¡¯t get the writers' vote doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯ll never make it to Cooperstown. Parker might have been the player most fans and former teammates wanted to see get inducted, but he is hardly the only Pirate who deserves another look.

RHP Kent Tekulve
So far, The Rubber Band Man¡¯s Hall of Fame candidacy has been pretty open and shut. He received just 1.3% of the vote in 1995, fell off the BBWAA ballot and hasn¡¯t been on a committee¡¯s ballot yet. Perhaps he will get another chance via a committee down the road. After all, he was one of the best relievers in the game for a long stretch.

From 1976-84, no pitcher appeared in more games than Tekulve (677). In that stretch of his prime, he ranked in the top 10 of relievers in¡­

Innings pitched (959, fifth)
Saves (153, fifth)
Home runs per nine innings (0.4, fourth (min. 300 IP))
ERA (2.63, eighth (min. 300 IP))

Tekulve was right there with Hall of Famers like Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter during their prime and enjoyed a decade as one of the best relievers in the game.

Tekulve is one of just 16 pitchers to pitch in more than 1,000 games. Of those 16, his 132 ERA+ is fifth best, tied with Hall of Famer Lee Smith. Saves are king when it comes to reliever Hall of Fame candidacy, and Tekulve lacks there (184), but his 638 career games finished showed that he knew how to close out a ballgame.

OF Barry Bonds

Bonds might be Cooperstown¡¯s most glaring omission. Nobody has hit more home runs and won more MVPs and Silver Sluggers. He¡¯s the only Pirate to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in a season, and the only player to win multiple MVP Awards with Pittsburgh.

There¡¯s also an elephant in the room that prevented him from receiving 75% of the BBWAA vote. Now, his case will be re-evaluated by committees every few years. So rather than make a statistical case, here¡¯s a Hall of Famer¡¯s words:

¡°[Pirates fans] got to watch one of the greatest players to ever play this game,¡± Jim Leyland said about his star outfielder during the duo¡¯s induction into the Pirates Hall of Fame on Aug. 24, 2024. ¡°I don¡¯t get into who¡¯s the greatest. I don¡¯t want to get into any controversy. But you can make an argument that they got to watch one of the top three, five players of all time play. That¡¯s pretty special.¡±

Bonds could be eligible for the Cooperstown again in December if he makes it onto the Hall¡¯s Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee ballot.

¡°I just hope my mom is still around if anything else comes along in my life,¡± Bonds said during the Pirates Hall of Fame induction. ¡°Big if. I hope my mom is alive to see it.¡±

Manager Danny Murtaugh

Of the eight managers in baseball history with more than 1,000 wins, at least a .540 winning percentage and multiple championships, six are in the Hall of Fame: Joe McCarthy, Walter Alston, John McGraw, Sparky Anderson, Miller Huggins and Billy Southworth. One (Terry Francona) is still managing. The eighth is Murtaugh.

Murtaugh has had a couple of goes at Cooperstown via committees but fell short in 2008, ¡¯10 and ¡¯22. He received 50% of the vote in ¡¯10, so he has come close, giving some hope for the future.

The only manager to lead Pittsburgh to multiple World Series (1960 and ¡¯71) and four division championships (¡¯70, ¡¯71, ¡¯74 and ¡¯75), Murtaugh helmed the Bucs in four stints ranging from 1957-76. Perhaps he would be already in Cooperstown if health issues hadn¡¯t forced him to step down at times throughout his career. Regardless, Murtaugh¡¯s body of work is among the best for managers of his era and in team history.