New York Yankees & The 2016 Hall of Fame Vote

The 2016 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is coming to the voters in the BBWAA and the IBWAA soon so I wanted to focus on that a bit today before it finds itself in all of our emails. There are quite a few former members of the New York Yankees on the ballot, some more notable than others, so we will showcase them today in preparation for the vote.

• If it were not for the steroid suspicions and allegations Gary Sheffield would be a no-brainer vote for the Hall of Fame this season.  The Yankees signed him before the 2004 season in free agency and got two MVP-like seasons out of the right fielder before Father Time began to catch up to Sheffield a bit. Sheffield finished with 509 home runs, usually a total lock for Cooperstown, and finished his career with a .292 average and more walks than strikeouts. 

• Believe it or not Lee Smith was once a member of the New York Yankees. Smith pitched for the Yankees for about 15 minutes, almost literally, in 1993 before finished his career with 478 career saves. 

• Mike Mussina, another lock (although not as much of one as Sheffield, in my opinion that will forever be held back by the steroid era and overall suspicion of everyone that played in the era. Mussina never won his 300th game and only won 20 games once. Mussina never won a Cy Young Award and never won a World Series. All Mussina did was pitch in the toughest division in all of Major League Baseball, the AL East, during the inflated steroid era and was likely a better pitcher overall than either John Smoltz or Tom Glavine.

• Roger Clemens isn't getting into the Hall. He should, we won over 350 games and never failed a drug test. Clemens was named as a steroid user in the Mitchell Report though in 2003 as a member of the New York Yankees and that will likely keep him out despite his credentials. All the wins, all the K's, the Cy Young Awards and World Series to boot. All for nothing. 

• Tim Raines was a switch-hitter and an on-base machine before Moneyball and will likely never get the credit for it that he deserves. Raines stole 808 bases in his career So what if he did it for Montreal, and the Yankees at the beginning of the Dynasty Years, he was just as good as Tony Gwynn or Rickey Henderson in a lot of categories. Raines was good at everything.