Phillies all-time saves leader Jonathan Papelbon is in a hilarious Hall of Fame predicament

Philadelphia Phillies all-time saves leader Jonathan Papelbon is in quite a hilarious position in his first year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

You see, he never technically retired from Major League Baseball.

Papelbon made his big-league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 2005, was the AL Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2006, and an All-Star four seasons in a row from 2006-09.

He was already a 2007 World Series champion when he signed a four-year, $50M deal with the Phillies in November 2011. The club he was joining was coming off five consecutive division titles, back-to-back pennants in 2008-09, and a championship in 2008.

While Papelbon led the NL with a career-high 64 games finished in his first season with the club, the Golden Era was officially over; the Phillies have not earned a postseason berth since 2011.

The Phillies traded Papelbon to the Washington Nationals in 2015, and he played his final MLB season with them in 2016.

However, he never officially retired, and told WEEI‘s Rob Bradford on Live BP Show this week that he never will:

“Never, never, I’m never gonna retire, it’s never happening. I don’t care if I’m on my deathbed like Ted Williams thinking he could still hit at age 90, I’m never retiring. That’s just a fact, that’s how it goes…To hell with retiring, no no no no, not happening, dude. Who knows, they may come up with some pill in the future and then all of a sudden I feel like I’m 25 again, so no retirement, dude. But can I still go in the Hall of Fame if I don’t retire, though?”

Philadelphia Phillies all-time saves leader Jonathan Papelbon is in his first year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame, despite never officially retiring from MLB

The BBWAA election requirements do not explicitly state that a player must officially retire, so technically, Papelbon is golden, for now, anyway.

Eligible Candidates — Candidates to be eligible must meet the following requirements:A baseball player must have been active as a player in the Major Leagues at some time during a period beginning twenty (20) years before and ending five (5) years prior to election.Player must have played in each of ten (10) Major League championship seasons, some part of which must have been within the period described in 3 (A).Player shall have ceased to be an active player in the Major Leagues at least five (5) calendar years preceding the election but may be otherwise connected with baseball.

However, if Papelbon does get elected to the Hall of Fame, it’ll essentially definitively render him retired. All dreams of a baseball Benjamin Button scenario will be dashed.

Like most MLB players, Papelbon’s time as an active player ended rather unceremoniously. There was no farewell tour across the league with speeches and personalized gifts, à la longtime teammate, David Ortiz, nor was there a one-day contract so he could retire with his favorite team, à la Shane Victorino and the Phillies.

But according to the Hall of Fame tracker, the longtime closer currently only has 0.6% of the votes. So, since it looks like he’s not getting into the Hall any time soon, maybe he can come help out the struggling Phillies bullpen, instead.