The Yankees and the 2017 Hall of Fame Ballot

The 2017 Hall of Fame Ballot has been released and the 2017 IBWAA ballot is now in my mailbox, it's that time of the year ladies and gentleman. Already once we've discussed here on the blog the possibility of certain players like Manny Ramirez and Pudge Rodriguez making the final vote and being inducted into Cooperstown but today we will focus on the Yankees connection to the ballot and see if any of our former heroes will be enshrined forever. Let's take a look.

Roger Clemens
Mike Mussina
Pudge Rodriguez
Tim Raines
Gary Sheffield
Fred McGriff
Jorge Posada
Lee Smith

Yes, Lee Smith spent exactly eight appearances with the Yankees if you didn't know that. It seems unlikely he, Posada, or McGriff (never played for the Yankees officially but was drafted by the team in 1981 and traded in 1982) really have a shot at making the ballot whatsoever in 2017.

Clemens and Pudge likely won't make it due to steroid concerns and questions and the same can likely be said for Gary Sheffield despite an impressive stat line for his career leaving Raines and the Moose.

Raines had 69% of the 75% necessary in 2016 and in the final year of his eligibility I think "Rock" finally makes the ballot which should bring up a whole new set of questions. Raines openly and admittedly used cocaine in the dugout and clubhouse during games, if that's not (A) illegal and (B) performance enhancing than I don't know what is.

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.