Days from the January 24, 2023, announcement by the National Baseball Hall of Fame of candidates who may have been elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), the burning question is not who those candidates, if any, will be. Instead, the burning question is: What morality are BBWAA voters going to legislate for the Hall of Saints this year?

For more than a decade, the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs (PED) has consumed discussion about who should or should not be elected to the Hall, capped by the late Hall of Famer Joe Morgan's now-infamous 2017 missive to voters about keeping the PED Penitents out of Cooperstown. But although the PED predicament remains—among the returning candidates on the 2023 BBWAA ballot are Manny Ramirez and Álex Rodriguez—voters are now finding other performance flaws in candidates to deny them entrance to the Hallowed Hall.

J.J. Hardy was a two-time All-Star who was one of the better defensive Shortstops of his day and four times over his career he had a Defensive bWAR over 2.0 that placed him in the top eight of his respective league.  Hardy was a two-time All Star (2007 & 2013), the second of which took place with the Baltimore Orioles where he had the best part of his career.  Hardy won three Gold Gloves with Baltimore (2012 to 2014) and he would also win the 2013 Silver Slugger Award.  Five times he would finish with 20 or more Home Runs and he had 1,488 Hits over his career.  His career On Base Percentage of .305 does however leave a lot to be desired.