Is Dustin Pedroia a Hall of Famer? We asked him about his chances.

In the last couple of years, as the steroid era faded, we’ve gotten back to real baseball debates, which this summer produced a fine foursome of Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton, and (contemporary era committee vote) Jim Leyland.

As a longtime Hall voter (1988) who reluctantly withheld support for some of the biggest names in the game, it was refreshing last winter to cast votes for Beltre and Mauer. And it’ll be a pleasure to check the names of first-time candidates Ichiro Suzuki (could he be unanimous?) and CC Sabathia when the Class of 2025 ballot arrives in December.

So what about Boston’s own Dustin Pedroia? The diminutive second baseman is eligible for the first time this winter and faces a high hurdle for admission.

Case for Pedroia: American League MVP (.326, 17 HRs, 83 RBIs) in his second full season. AL Rookie of the Year. Two-time World Series champ. Career batting average: .299. Four Gold Gloves. Four-time All-Star. Higher WAR than second basemen Bobby Doerr, Nellie Fox, and Bill Mazeroski, who are in the Hall.

Case against: Career shortened by injury (thanks to Manny Machado’s slide in 2017). Only 11 full seasons and 1,512 games. Lower WAR than second basemen Bobby Grich, Lou Whitaker, Willie Randolph, and Jeff Kent, who never got in. Pedroia’s hit total (1,805) would be low for selection. He’s certainly better than Mazeroski (.260 lifetime), who was rejected by the writers on 15 ballots but elected by a veterans committee.

I caught up with Pedroia (who just got back from a three-week family trip to Africa) this past week to ask about his candidacy and what the Hall means to him.

“It’s an honor to be on the ballot,” he said. “I respect the game so much. It’s the best sport in the world. It teaches you life lessons. Just to be on the ballot is an achievement and I’m proud of the way my career went. I think I opened up a lot for a lot of players. Today you see guys get drafted in the first round that are 5-8, 170 pounds. In my time, if you did that, the GM’s fired.”

What does Pedroia think of his chances to gain election?

“I don’t know,” he answered. “I spent my whole career working, with my head down, trying to get better. I never thought about what the process is of being elected to the Hall of Fame. I was a player. I didn’t think about it. Now, I still don’t because it’s something I can’t control. I tried to do the best I can with what I was given in my career . . . I just don’t know how it goes.”

Colleague Peter Abraham correctly believes that Pedroia in many ways resembles Thurman Munson, a Yankee captain/catcher who was killed in a plane crash during his 11th season in 1979. Munson played a critical position in a big market, was AL Rookie of the Year, AL MVP, and won two World Series, but was never elected by the BBWAA in 15 years on the ballot.

Does Pedroia worry that voters will penalize him for his relatively short career?

“That’d be the worst luck in the world,” he said. “If I would have played three more years hitting .270 with 10 home runs and 30 doubles? Then, I’m a Hall of Famer? I don’t know if three mediocre seasons would guarantee me being a Hall of Famer. In my heart, I can’t believe that that would be the case . . . That would be terrible if that’s one of the reasons why I don’t get in. If I wasn’t good enough, then I understand that.”

Pedroia was at David Ortiz’s induction in 2022 and returned to Cooperstown last month when one of his three sons played a Little League tournament.

“It was great,” he said. “Showing those kids the history of baseball and what it means to me. It’s just a special place.”

▪ Quiz: Name four Hall of Fame pitchers who have had their uniform number retired by more than one franchise (answer below).

▪ Here’s Pedroia on your 2024 Red Sox: “They’re fun to watch. They play the game different. It’s like some teams you’ve been on and you look at them different. You think they’re going to finish last. But there’s something about them, their fight, their will to win. There’s something about the way Alex [Cora] does it. He keeps guys together and it fits with that city. Boston wants you to show up every day, play your ass off, do the right things, and play to win, and that’s exactly what that team is doing. It’s hard not to pull for them. You watch them every night and you’re seeing guys step up that you’ve probably never heard of and they’re playing the right brand of baseball and winning baseball. I think ownership is going to step up here and give them a little push or two for the stretch run. I hope.”

▪ The Copa America chaos at Hard Rock Stadium (home of the Miami Dolphins) last Sunday night has us wondering about America’s fitness to co-host the 2026 World Cup, which includes games at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff between Argentina and Colombia was delayed by more than an hour after many ticketless fans stormed the turnstiles. Some fans even tried to snake into the game Shawshank-style, shimmying through the stadium’s ventilation system. Yeesh.

▪ It was good to see former Brighton neighbor Dave Jauss throwing BP meatballs to Pete Alonso during Home Run Derby. Jauss, who went to Amherst with Dan Duquette and Mark Manning (father-in-law of New York Rangers GM Chris Drury) was a first base coach with the Red Sox under Jimy Williams in the late 1990s and got to know Alonso while he was Mets bench coach.

▪ I kind of feel sorry for Bronny James.

▪ Sad to hear of the passing of Kobe’s dad, Joe Bryant, at the age of 69. Bryant played at La Salle, then eight NBA seasons with the 76ers, Clippers, and Rockets from 1975-83. De facto NBA commissioner Bob Ryan covered “Jellybean” and recalls: “He was a talented knucklehead. When the Sixers traded him to the Clippers, his famous remark was, ‘Well, guess they don’t want a Magic Johnson type around here.’ One of those guys who only hurt himself. Not a bad person. Apparently beloved by the La Salle community.”

▪ Jellybean was drafted and later traded by the great Pat Williams, who died this past week at the age of 84. Williams was one of the more fascinating sports figures of his time. Born in Philly, Williams played minor league baseball (he was Fergie Jenkins’s catcher in D-ball in Miami), ran the 76ers for 12 seasons — assembling the Julius Erving-Moses Malone “fo’, fo’, fo’ ” Sixers of 1983, and basically invented the Orlando Magic, drafting Shaquille O’Neal in 1992. Williams wrote more than a dozen books and had 19 children (14 adopted).

▪ Now that Joe Castiglione is taking his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, can someone intervene and stop making him read the “Drains by James” commercial that claims, “We give a poop about your pipes”?

▪ Love how Fox commentator Derek Jeter refers to his longtime big league manager as “Mr. Torre.”

▪ The Yankees went into the break worried about Alex Verdugo. Average Al was all the rage in New York early in the season, and things never got better than when he hit a big homer at Fenway June 14. Verdugo slumped badly in the four weeks leading into the break. In his final season with the Red Sox, he had an OPS of .856 in his first 72 games, but only .620 in his final 70. Verdugo’s on-base percentage has dropped every season since 2020. He’s a free agent at the end of the season. As Michael Kay would say, “See ya!”

▪ In the hours after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last Saturday, Roger Clemens tweeted a photo of the bloodied, defiant ex-president, adding, “Speechless right now. Could not be more mad. I stand for this man. This picture says it all. The angry American is here and y’all aren’t ready for it.”

▪ RIP Winchester’s Dr. Roman DeSanctis, a 93-year-old cardiologist who died July 8. DeSanctis was Red Auerbach’s doctor, treated John Wayne, Henry Kissinger, and King Hassan II of Morocco, and was one of the “dream team of cardiologists” that recommended Reggie Lewis stop playing basketball in the spring of 1993. Tragically, Lewis rejected the advice and died on the court at Brandeis in July of that year.

▪ According to the vaunted New York Post, UConn’s madman coach, Dan Hurley, is shopping a book.

▪ Prayers to the family of Richie Lewis, longtime sports information director at Holy Cross and Providence College, who died in June at the age of 81. Lewis, who once worked with Leigh Montville at the New Haven Register, was SID at Holy Cross from 1966-79.

▪ Big congrats to Kayla Burton, daughter of WBZ’s Steve Burton, granddaughter of the late Ron Burton (first player ever drafted by the Patriots), who’s coming to NBC Sports Boston as a multiplatform host. Like her sisters Kendall (Villanova) and Veronica (Northwestern, Connecticut Sun), Kayla was a star hooper at Newton South High and went on to play Division 1 (Lehigh).

▪ The Boston K Men, Fenway fanatics who’ve been tracking strikeouts in center field since Pedro ruled, are raising awareness for The BASE in Roxbury, an urban academy that uses the power of sports to engage youth in a positive, success-driven culture. If you want to pitch in, check out bostonkmen.org.

▪ Quiz answer: Rollie Fingers (A’s and Brewers), Roy Halladay (Blue Jays and Phillies), Greg Maddux (Cubs and Braves), Nolan Ryan (Angels, Astros, and Rangers).

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.