Yankees on the 2021 BBWAA HoF Ballot - Champions Club

After cancelling the usual induction festivities this past summer due to the pandemic, the National Baseball Hall of Fame is looking to add to a class headlined by Derek Jeter with the newly released ballot for 2021. On a ballot with 25 players, there are no slam dunks this year, but eight of them spent at least one season with the Yankees during their career. The results of this year's election will be released on January 26, 2021 but we'll take a look at each former Yankee's case well before then. As always, a player needs at least 75% of the close to 400-member electorate to vote for them in order to gain election.

The first group we'll take a look at here all won at least one World Series as a member of the Yankees. Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte each have a body of work that matches up favorably to other Hall of Fame pitchers, if not for the major controversy that surrounded their careers. A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher were certainly useful players that made significant contributions to the Yankees' World Series campaign in 2009, but this will likely be a token appearance on the ballot for them. Players need to get at least 5% of the vote - a threshold they're not expected to meet - in order to remain on the ballot the following year.

In order to give further perspective on each player's case, the JAWS (Jaffe Average WAR Score, developed by Jay Jaffe) value for the player is given in addition to the the average Hall of Famer's JAWS at the player's position. JAWS is a Hall of Fame rating system based on WAR that incorporates both career and peak value. If you're interested in learning more about this, click here.

Roger Clemens - Starting Pitcher, JAWS: 102.5, HoF JAWS: 61.6

If pitchers are to be judged based solely on what they accomplished on the mound, Roger Clemens is undoubtedly one of the greatest all-time. Pitching in an era that became progressively more advantageous for hitters, he remained a dominant force past age 40. The questionable method by which he was able to accomplish such a feat will forever put a dent in his legacy and makes his Hall of Fame case a complicated one.

Clemens was a hometown hero at the University of Texas and was drafted by the Red Sox in 1983. He made his major league debut a year later and by 1986 he was named both the Cy Young Award winner and MVP of the American League. At 23 years old, he was just getting started.

From 1986 through 1992 Clemens' numbers - standard or advanced - are staggering. Across those seven seasons his average year included 19 wins, 239 strikeouts, and a 2.66 ERA which was good for a 160 ERA+. With uncommon control for a power pitcher, he added two more Cy Young Awards and totaled 58.1 WAR during this period. That total alone would surpass the career marks of Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, and Catfish Hunter, among others.

Clemens' production tapered off a bit over the next three years as his relationship with the Red Sox began to deteriorate. In 1996 he had what seemed on the surface a sub-par season as his record sat at just 10-13. However, his 7.7 WAR - second best among AL pitchers - indicates that he was a victim of circumstance.  A free agent at season's end, the Red Sox chose not to re-sign the 34-year old Clemens coming off a losing season when he had a standing offer of four years and $40 million from the Toronto Blue Jays.

With the Blue Jays Clemens was more dominant than ever. In 1997 and 1998 he won the AL Triple Crown by leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts. He also earned back to back Cy Young Awards, the fourth and fifth of his career. At 36 years old he could stake a claim to being the greatest pitcher of all-time and was still going strong. Yet something was missing from his eye-popping credentials.

To this point in his career, Clemens' teams had made the playoffs four times, but never won the World Series. Clemens himself was conspicuously underwhelming during these series with just one win in nine starts and was embarrassingly ejected from the decisive game of the 1990 ALCS against Oakland. Seeking to exorcise his playoff demons, he desired a trade to the New York Yankees and got his wish when David Wells, Graeme Lloyd, and Homer Bush were sent to Toronto in exchange.

For the next five seasons Clemens pitched in the playoffs every year. While being far from the dominant pitcher the Yankees thought they were getting, he was good enough. He won the World Series clincher over the Atlanta Braves in 1999 and added another victory over the Mets in a successful 2000 Fall Classic. That 2000 run also included a one-hit, no-run, 15 strikeout gem over the Mariners in the ALCS. Mixed in were a handful of October duds, but by 2003 he had two World Series rings and four AL pennants to show for his work.

Ever the rebel, Roger Clemens pushed the limits of the Yankees' facial hair policy.

Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons

During the regular season Clemens approached ordinary in pinstripes after being otherworldly for so long. His ERA in five seasons with the Yankees was more than a full run worse than his combined mark in Boston and Toronto and even his sixth Cy Young Award in 2001 was suspect. It owed more to his favorable run support and won/loss record than truly great performance (see the Mike Mussina chapter in The New York Yankees All-Time All-Stars for more detail on this).

After a brief retirement, the Houston Astros convinced Clemens to pitch again close to home. For three seasons he pitched miraculously for a man on the wrong side of 40. In 2004 he earned his seventh Cy Young Award and his 7.8 WAR the following year helped Houston reach the World Series, albeit in a losing effort.

Fluidly transitioning in and out of retirement, Clemens pitched partial seasons for the Astros in 2006 and the Yankees in 2007. Still an effective pitcher, he decided to call it a career at age 45 following his last Yankees stint. His Hall of Fame candidacy should have been an open and shut case, but his reputation would be tarnished forever immediately following his last retirement.

In December 2007 the Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball was released and Clemens' name was peppered throughout. Brian McNamee - Clemens' personal trainer who was also employed by the Yankees for a time - revealed in the report details on the steroids he personally injected Clemens with starting in the late 1990's. The story was corroborated by Clemens' teammate and friend Andy Pettitte (more on this below).

In the court of public opinion, this revelation called into question a significant portion of the big Texan's career. Clemens became an even better pitcher at an age that most hurlers begin to decline rapidly. It's not unreasonable to think that his success at an advanced age was made possible by copious amounts of steroids. Rather than admit any fault or wrongdoing, he fought back hard against the allegations.

For years Clemens engaged in legal battles as part of a desperate attempt to salvage his legacy. In the end, he was never formally found guilty of anything, but also didn't change any minds. Despite his steadfast insistence that he's innocent, there are few people in the baseball world, if any, that believe he never used steroids to enhance his performance.

When it comes to BBWAA voters for the Baseball Hall of Fame, they have certainly held the allegations against Clemens. He earned 354 career victories, is third all-time with 4,672 strikeouts and 139.2 WAR and has an ERA+ that ranks in the top ten all-time among starting pitchers. With that unparalleled résumé he garnered less than 40% of the vote in his first three years of eligibility.

Yet in 2017 there was a distinct shift in the BBWAA's stance on Clemens. That year more than 50% of the voters included him on their ballots and that number is increasing. It's no coincidence that 2017 was the year Bud Selig was elected to the Hall of Fame. As the commissioner of baseball for the majority of Clemens' career, Selig turned a blind eye to steroid use and didn't implement formal testing and penalties for positive results until it publicly reached a fever pitch. If he's a Hall of Famer, it's less defensible to keep out any players that may have taken advantage of his incompetence.

That argument aside, it is reasonable to make the point that Clemens' steroid use gave him a competitive advantage over non-users, especially as he got deeper into his career. It may have even allowed him to keep a roster spot over pitchers that avoided steroids in the name of good sportsmanship. However, if history tells us anything about Hall of Fame voting, it's that a player creating and maintaining an unfair competitive advantage does not disqualify them for enshrinement in Cooperstown.

Cap Anson was one of baseball's first superstars before the turn of the century. He was without doubt the most influential figure in baseball for a time, and willfully used that influence to ensure that baseball became and remained racially segregated. Those efforts caused a competitive imbalance in baseball that lasted more than 50 years, yet his plaque is celebrated in the Hall of Fame to this day.

Roger Clemens is far from a perfect person, but he is unquestionably one of the greatest pitching talents to ever enter the baseball world. For better or worse, the story of baseball is incomplete if he's not a character in it. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. This is an idea the BBWAA is gradually warming up to. Last year Clemens received 61% of the vote, marking the sixth straight year that his share increased. With two years of eligibility left, it's looking like it will be a photo finish for Clemens in his race to Cooperstown.

Andy Pettitte - Starting Pitcher, JAWS: 47.2, HoF JAWS: 61.6

No pitcher in Yankee history has started more games than Andy Pettitte. He and Whitey Ford both have 438 career starts in pinstripes, which is poetic in a way. They were both tough as nails lefties with confidence that far exceeded their talent and for that reason were especially lethal in October.

When it comes to his Hall of Fame case, Pettitte's achievements in the regular season come tantalizingly close to the Hall of Fame standard. He fell short of 300 wins, but his 256 career victories are more than Hall of Famers Jack Morris, Carl Hubbell, and Bob Gibson. He never earned a Cy Young Award, but he finished within the top six of the voting five times. His arm wasn't overpowering, but he rode an effective cut fastball to a career ERA that was 17% above average. If you squint hard enough, he could be worthy of enshrinement.

Where Pettitte's case really comes into focus, though, is his playoff record. From his sophomore season in 1996 all the way through to the end of his career, he was the man the Yankees looked to when they absolutely needed a win come October. No pitcher in major league history has started more playoff games, pitched more playoff innings, or won more playoff games than Pettitte.

As a 37-year old in 2009 Pettitte cemented his legacy as a great big game pitcher. That year he became the first ever starting pitcher to win the series-clinching game in the Division, League Championship and World Series in the same year. Those three victories gave him six playoff series-clinching wins for his career, also an all-time record. This adds some serious heft to his credentials, and under normal circumstances would probably push him over the bar for most voters. But for Pettitte, there's a catch.

Regardless of his Hall of Fame status, Pettitte is one of the greatest pitchers in Yankee history.

Chris Ptacek/Wikimiedia Commons

Like his good friend and teammate Roger Clemens, Pettitte was named in the Mitchell Report as having used HGH (human growth hormone) multiple times illegally in 2002. The source of the information was Brian McNamee - Clemens' trainer - and Pettitte readily admitted to using HGH twice in order to expedite his recovery from an elbow injury while denying any further use. This was a far cry from Clemens' take on the matter.

A few months after the Mitchell Report was released, it was revealed that during a court hearing that went public Pettitte had also admitted to further HGH use in 2004 when his father was prescribed it for a serious illness. He also described Clemens as detailing his steroid use to him in the late 1990's, just as McNamee had done in the Mitchell Report.

It would have been nice if Pettitte had revealed this additional use during his first admission of guilt for the 2002 evidence. The fact that he didn't made it reasonable to question anything he was saying as fact, but when he reported to spring training in 2008, he came clean on everything and offered heartfelt apologies to his teammates, fans and family.

It was refreshing that Pettitte eventually was honest and forthcoming about his transgressions. It wasn't a popular tactic among those found guilty of steroid use at the time and cost him his friendship with Clemens. Still, he hasn't scored any points with the BBWAA as a result. In his debut on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2019 he received only about 10% of the vote and saw just a modest increase to 11.3% of the vote last year. If HGH use was not a part of his past, those numbers certainly would have been higher.

What seems likely for Pettitte is that he'll remain in Hall of Fame purgatory at the hands of the BBWAA. That means a 10-year stay on the ballot where he won't get particularly close to a plaque in Cooperstown. By the end of that run, however, the stance on steroid use in baseball may have softened quite a bit. If so, it wouldn't be surprising to see a special veterans committee elect Pettitte somewhere down the line. Given his contrite apologies regarding his HGH use, he'd be far from the worst character in baseball to be enshrined.

As a starting pitcher in The New York Yankees All-Time All-Stars, a full profile on Andy Pettitte can be found there.

A.J. Burnett - Starting Pitcher, JAWS: 25.2, HoF JAWS: 61.6

When A.J. Burnett was acquired by the Yankees much of the talk was about the "electric stuff" that their new pitcher had. This was unusual when considering that type of description is usually reserved for young prospects with raw but promising arms, not a 32-year old with 10 major league seasons under his belt. But even by that point Burnett hadn't really shaken the control issues typical of a hard-throwing youngster with a nasty curveball. He merely wielded enough control over that electricity to become a viable and sometimes stellar major league pitcher.

When he actually was nothing more than a prospect with a live but wild arm, Burnett was sent to the Florida Marlins by the Mets as part of the trade the brought Al Leiter back to New York. He spent the first seven seasons of his major league career with the Marlins as they mostly occupied the bottom of the National League. 

During their only successful season of his tenure, Burnett had to watch from the dugout, recovering from Tommy John surgery, while his teammates defeated the Yankees in the 2003 World Series. The only real personal highlight of his career in Florida was a no-hitter that he threw against the San Diego Padres in 2001. The nine walks he doled out in that game embodied how nerve-wracking an A.J. Burnett start could be, even at his most dominant.

Fed up with the Marlins front office and coming off one of his finest seasons in 2005, Burnett struck a free agent deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Pitching north of the border he was effective but injury prone until 2008 when he made a career high 34 starts. In those starts he set career highs in wins, innings pitched, and strikeouts with 18, 221.1, and 231, respectively. He then opted into free agency at a time when the Yankees were ready to spend big.

A.J. Burnett's personal splash in free agency with the Yankees was a drop in the bucket for the team in 2009.

Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons

Coming off their first playoff-less season in 15 years GM Brian Cashman secured Burnett's services for a little more than $82 million over five years. Under normal circumstances this would have qualified as a huge signing, but it was overshadowed by the combined $341 million that the Yankees committed to CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira that same winter.

Burnett fit perfectly into the middle of the rotation for the 2009 Yankees. He was durable with over 200 innings pitched, won 13 games, and posted a 4.04 ERA which was nearly 15% above league average. As always, control was an issue as he led the AL with 97 walks and the majors with 17 wild pitches, but he was reliable enough to serve as one-third of a three-man rotation for the Yankees in the playoffs along with Sabathia and Andy Pettitte. The team won three of Burnett's five starts in October and ultimately they all got the championship hardware they desired.

It was all downhill from there for Burnett as a Yankee. His 2010 season was undoubtedly the worst of his career. The already shaky command he had over his curveball went off the rails as he struggled to miss bats while not struggling at all to hit the guys holding them. He allowed 19 free passes by hitting batters which led the majors and posted a putrid -0.7 WAR for the year. He also got rocked in his only start that October.

Things improved only marginally for Burnett in 2011. He led the majors in wild pitches again - this time with 25 - and surrendered home runs at a career high rate. This made him a liability in the rotation down the stretch and had him on the outs with the organization. Instead of keeping him around for the final two years of his contract, the Yankees decided to send Burnett to Pittsburgh that winter along with enough cash to cover about two-thirds of his remaining salary for a couple of minor leaguers. The glory of 2009 was a distant memory.

The final four seasons of Burnett's career were mostly spent in Pittsburgh with a very forgettable season pitching for the Phillies sandwiched in. To his credit, Burnett got his career back on track with the Pirates. There he finally learned how to "pitch" rather than just throw hard and hope for the best. He cut down significantly on four-seam fastballs and curveballs in favor of an effective sinker and contributed to the Pirates becoming contenders in the NL after years of misery. At 38 years old in 2015 he was even named an All-Star for the first time in his career and retired on a high note.

A.J. Burnett spent 17 seasons as a mostly viable major league pitcher, and that alone is quite an achievement even if it feels like he should have accomplished more with the arm he was blessed with. Barring a miracle, he'll fall off the Hall of Fame ballot after his inaugural appearance and will probably never be mentioned in a Cooperstown conversation again thereafter. For the Yankees, the Burnett experiment may not have ended well, but he and his "electric stuff" did help land another World Series ring in the Bronx. We'll always have 2009.

Nick Swisher - Right Fielder, JAWS: 22.4, HoF JAWS: 57.2

For Nick Swisher, playing baseball was NOT serious business. That makes the fact that he was adored by the Yankee fanbase - the same fans that worship the most serious of competitors like Joe DiMaggio and Derek Jeter - truly remarkable. Swisher played the game with a carefree enthusiasm and fun-loving spirit that you'd expect more from a Little Leaguer than a seasoned professional. But it was that unusual personality that made him the most infectious and irresistible member of any clubhouse he entered.

The son of former major league catcher Steve Swisher, Nick also had a ton of natural ability. A top football prospect out of high school he turned down a scholarship at Notre Dame to focus on baseball at The Ohio State University. After a successful collegiate career he was drafted as a first round pick by the Moneyball Oakland A's in 2002 on the strength of his powerful, switch-hitting bat. Although he also had solid range as an outfielder thanks to his experience as a safety on the gridiron.

At 24 years old Swisher became a regular in the starting lineup for the A's and hit like a seasoned veteran from day one. He had an elite ability to draw walks and consistent home run power despite playing his home games in one of the most extreme pitcher-friendly parks in the majors. He also injected some much needed energy and life into an Oakland team that was trying to stay competitive while their core was getting either too old or too expensive to keep around.

By 2008 Swisher became one of those players deemed too expensive and was traded to the Chicago White Sox. His power and patience at the plate remained as strong as ever in Chicago but his batting average dipped to .219 and was an apparent cause for concern for the White Sox. Brian Cashman no doubt noticed that Swisher was hitting the ball as well as he ever had in his career and that his average was due to bounce back. He then swung a deal to bring him to New York for spare parts in what was the smartest transaction of an off-season filled with massive spending by the Yankees' front office.

Nick Swisher was a fan favorite in every city he called home.

Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons

While he was set to platoon with Xavier Nady coming out of Spring Training, Swisher quickly became the Yankees' everyday right fielder. He also established early on that he would be a guy that could keep the all-business Yankees loose in the clubhouse during baseball's grind. In an April game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the team was getting blown out and running out of pitchers. In came Swisher to pitch the only inning of his major league career. Looking the part of a beer league softballer, he could barely hide a smile with every pitch as he held the Rays scoreless. In the process he reminded his teammates that baseball can be fun even when you're getting shelled.

On the field Swisher rebounded from his disappointing 2008 season as expected. His batting average returned to the level it was at in Oakland and he was always a threat to either wear down a pitcher with a long at bat or take him deep. In other words, he fit in perfectly with a Yankee lineup that brought home the Yankees' 27th World Series title in 2009.

For the rest of his Yankee career, Swisher remained a metronome of consistency. During his four years in pinstripes his average season included 83 runs scored, 87 driven in, 82 walks, 26 home runs, and a .268/.367/.483 slash line which yielded a healthy 124 OPS+. The team wouldn't win another World Series in these years, but thanks to guys like Swisher, they were contenders every season.

In 2012 the suddenly spendthrift Yankees were wary of a looming luxury tax and decided not to bring back Swisher when his contract expired. That decision didn't really work out for either party as the Yankees embarked on their first multi-year playoff drought in 20 years while Swisher's career fizzled out after singing with Cleveland. Yet that shouldn't put a damper on his tenure as a Yankee. In a career chock full of savvy trades, the deal for Nick Swisher remains one of Brian Cashman's best moves as a GM.

The Hall of Fame case for Swisher doesn't really hold any water. He simply wasn't good enough for long enough to get serious consideration for a plaque in Cooperstown and like Burnett will fall off the ballot for next year. But that just means we need to take the opportunity this year to celebrate Nick Swisher for the childhood dream that he was able to bring to life. He was a high quality big leaguer for nearly a decade and made nearly $100 million along the way, yet never forgot how fun baseball is and how lucky he was to play it. A 10-year old kid couldn't have scripted it better.

All numbers used in this article were obtained from Baseball Reference.