Multiple Yankees Appear On This Year’s Hall of Fame Ballot

The Baseball Writers Association of America unveiled their 2015 Hall of Fame ballots today, and several former Yankees highlight what is sure to be a loaded class of “Steroid Era” superstars, and those who dominated the game like no collective group had previously aside from possibly the original classes into the Hall. Without further adieu, let’s take a look at which former Bronx Bombers are up for election to Cooperstown.

More from Yankees News

• Yankees chose worst possible player to ring in New Year on 2023 team calendar
• Yankees make upside play, sign former Rangers top prospect outfielder
• Michael Kay’s Anthony Volpe story will get Yankees fans amped for Opening Day
• No, Yankees should not acquire Trevor Bauer for 2023
• Yankees’ Marwin González replaces Red Sox LF in Japan in logical next step

–Randy Johnson, Starting Pitcher: Many in the Bronx would claim that Johnson’s two-year tenure in the Bronx was a failure, but forget that over two seasons, he recorded 34 victories, and a very un-Big Unit-like 4.39 ERA, but he did have 383 Ks. Aside from two disastrous playoff outings against the Angels and Tigers, he’ll be best remembered for his run-in with a cameraman as soon as he arrived in the Bronx. It was the start of a troublesome two seasons, and overall, basically something to forget.

The 303-game winner is best remembered for helping to save baseball in Seattle, and then putting baseball on the map for an expansion team in the Arizona Diamondbacks, when he and Curt Schilling ending the Yankees late 1990s/early 2000s dynasty out in the desert, with a magical Game Seven victory over Mariano Rivera. He’s a no-brainer, first-ballot entrant.

–Roger Clemens, Starting Pitcher: Along with Johnson, two of the most dominant forces on the mound from their era, the Rocket left his mark in the Bronx, both good and bad. A member of the 1999 and 2000 World Series teams, Clemens won a Cy Young in pinstripes after being acquired for fan favorite David Wells. During that 2001 season, Rocket went 20-3, with a 3.51 ERA and 213 Ks. Over his Yankees career, he finished with 83 victories–all coming after the age of 35.

One of the biggest moments in Rocket’s Yankee career came during the 2000 World Series when he chucked a piece of broken bat to another HOF candidate, Mike Piazza, just missing him coming up the first base line. Clemens’ connection to steroids, lawsuits and PEDs, most likely keeps him out of Cooperstown again this coming year.

–Mike Mussina, Starting Pitcher: One of the most unheralded hurlers of his generation, Mussina came to the Bronx as a free agent after the 2000 season. Moose fell thirty victories short of the magical 300 mark–almost a guarantee call to Cooperstown, he was never suspected of illegal drug use. A smart, and calculating pitcher, Mussina finally won 20 games during his eighth and final season in pinstripes, going 20-9, with a 3.37 ERA, his best in six years.

While Moose never did get a ring, he was one of the most durable starters in the game during his 18-year run in the bigs, having gone over the 200+ innings mark in 11 of his full big league seasons. He won 18 or more games six times, and was the true ace of multiple Orioles’ teams prior to joining up with the likes of Clemens, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, and the rest of the star-studded Yankees rotation of the era. Mussina was snubbed last year while Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine were celebrated. He’s got an 83 WAR, just one less than sure-fire inductee Pedro Martinez, has more career victories, and his career ERA is just over 0.75 higher. While Mussina never grabbed the headlines of a Martinez or Schilling, he just went out and won ball games. Fingers crossed on a loaded class in 2015.

–Tim Raines, Outfielder: Rock was always considered the poor man’s Rickey Henderson. I should know, this was my childhood era of baseball. By the time Raines came to the Bronx, he was a shell of his former self, no longer the dominant lead-off type, but a solid reserve outfielder who brought leadership and professionalism to a team that was getting ready to begin a dynasty. A member of two World Series winners in 1996 and 1998, Raines stole a total of 26 bases, a small number when you look at his career 808.

As with Mussina, Raines just went out and handled business without making much of a fuss. He left the talking to Henderson, as he and Hall of Famer Andre Dawson were the Montreal Expos during the 1980s. Long before Larry Walker and Vladimir Guerrero were playing at Olympic Stadium, Raines won an NL batting crown with a .334 batting average in 1986. He also led the NL in runs scored twice, and plate appearances twice. With a loaded class, 2015 might not be Raines’ year, but he should receive the call within the next couple of years.

–Gary Sheffield, Outfielder: After playing over 150 games in each of his first two seasons in the Bronx, his mouth and his body broke down, and he only played in 39 contests his final season in pinstripes. The nephew of another former Yankee in Dwight Gooden, Sheffield is one of those enigma “Steroid Era” players–an admitted user, but claims it was inadvertent, and nobody seems to care.

With arguably the quickest wrists in baseball history, Sheffield joined the 500-home run club, once a guarantee to enshrinement, wearing a Mets uniform. In two full seasons with the Yankees, Shef averaged 35 home runs and 122 runs batted in, all while hitting .290. The Yankees would KILL for that kind of production from their right fielder nowadays. He was the MVP runner up in 2004, his first season in the Bronx, and contract squabbles and accusations against Joe Torre of racism, ended a nice, solid run for Sheffield in New York. It’s a coin toss as to whether he gets in. I think he does, just not this year.

–Don Mattingly, First Baseman: The Captain of my childhood Yankees, and the gold standard for professionalism in the Bronx during a time when it was the exception, not the rule. The greatest Yankees never to see a World Series, Mattingly continues to be ignored, because “he didn’t play long enough.” That wasn’t the case for Kirby Puckett, who played the exact same amount of time, and whose numbers are identical to Mattingly’s, except for the two World Series rings.

A 9-time Gold Glove winner, an AL MVP, a batting title, and three Silver Slugger awards, and Donnie Baseball is still waiting for the call that most likely will never come. As a hitter, according to Baseball Reference, he’s ranked as the 112th best slugger in baseball history. In his one postseason appearance during his final campaign of 1995, Mattingly flashed the brilliance of old, hitting .417, with a home run, six RBI, and four doubles in a five-game defeat to the Mariners. Now as the skipper of the Dodgers, perhaps he can close the gap, much like Joe Torre, and become a great manager, to link his playing career, and end up in Cooperstown where he rightfully belongs.