Evaluating 5 former New York Yankees up for 2022 Hall of Fame election

3. Gary Sheffield

Sheffield was an accomplished batter and outfielder during his long 22-year career. He played for the Yanks for three of those seasons from 2004-2006.

Sheff played well his first two years with the Bombers. However, he was injured in 2006 and had a limited number of plate appearances that year. Following the 2006 season, he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers. He also played for Milwaukee Braves, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, and New York Mets.

The slugger was known to have an ideal mix of excellent bat speed and pinpoint control of his swing. Unlike other home run hitters, he rarely whiffed; he exceeded 80 strikeouts only twice in 22 seasons. He’s among MLB’s all-time walks leaders.

Even more notable, however, he hit 509 home runs during his long career, drove in 1,676 RBI, and registered 2,689 hits. He raked a respectable .292/.393/.514 and retired in 2009 with an impressive 140 OPS+. Typically, these numbers would make anyone a serious candidate for inclusion in the HoF. However, his WAR, WAR7, and JAWS are modest (60.5, 38.0, and 49.3, respectively).

Unfortunately, Sheff was mentioned in the Mitchell Report and admitted in 2004 to using a testosterone-based steroid given to him by BALCO after Barry Bonds (of all people) connected him to the operation. He maintained that he didn’t know that he was using a banned drug.

Only 40.6% of the writers supported Sheff last year, his eighth year on the ballot. While he produced good numbers as a player, his prior drug use will likely keep him out of the Hall in 2022 and possibly in future years.