Yankees on the 2021 BBWAA HoF Ballot - AV (Aging Veterans) Club

A few weeks ago we covered the former Yankees on the 2021 Hall of Fame ballot who earned a championship ring in pinstripes. Here we'll take a look at four players who joined the Yankees when they were well into their 30's and past their prime.

For each player, their JAWS (Jaffe Average WAR Score, developed by Jay Jaffe) value is given along with the average Hall of Famer's JAWS at they 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.

Gary Sheffield - Right Field, JAWS: 49.3, HoF JAWS: 57.2

A Gary Sheffield at bat was a sight to behold. Most of the great swings throughout baseball history could be described as beautiful, elegant or graceful, but a Sheffield swing would best be described as an act of violence. Before each pitch he would tilt his bat from an upright position back and forth towards the pitcher, like a pendulum getting increasingly out of control, until he lunged forward and unleashed his fury on the ball. It was unlike any swing in baseball seen before or since. Few could argue with the results.

After a tumultuous early career with the Milwaukee Brewers in which he never saw eye to eye with the organization, Sheffield got his career on track with a trade to the San Diego Padres in 1992. That year as their full-time third baseman he hit 33 home runs with 100 RBI's, led the major leagues with 323 total bases, and won the batting title with a .330 average. However, that didn't stop the Padres from trading him the following year to the Florida Marlins.

And so began the nomadic career of Gary Sheffield, where he consistently battered baseballs at every stop. In 1996 with the Marlins he put up numbers that impress even in the context of the high octane late 1990's. He slashed .314/.465/.624 for a league-leading 189 OPS+ with 42 home runs, 120 RBI's and an absurd 66:142 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

In three full seasons with the Dodgers he hit .312 with an average of 38 home runs, 103 RBI's, 99 walks and just 67 strikeouts per season. After two nearly identical seasons in Atlanta he became a free agent for this first time in his career in 2003 season.

Gary Sheffield was nearly named AL MVP as a Yankee.

Googie man/Wikimedia Commons

Desperate for a right-handed masher, Brian Cashman forked over nearly $40 million for the 35-year old Sheffield. During his first two seasons in pinstripes he was worth every penny and was even the runner-up for AL MVP in 2004. Injuries and a hearty disagreement with management in 2006 forced his way to Detroit where his batting skills waned significantly. He finished out his career with the Mets as a 40-year old in 2009.

Gary Sheffield's career numbers with the bat scream Hall of Famer. He is part of the 500 home run club, had a .292 career batting average, and displayed amazing plate discipline - he walked more than he struck out in 16 of his 22 career seasons. His bat may have been a violent weapon, but he wielded it with the cold calculation of a mafia hitman. Advanced metrics back him up too, as his 561 career Batting Runs Above Average rank 29th all-time.

Even with those eye-popping numbers, Sheffield received only between 11% and 14% of the BBWAA vote between 2015 and 2019. This was mainly due to three things holding him back in the eyes of voters: (1) He switched positions mid-career from third base to right field, but by all accounts and measures was a very poor fielder at both positions, (2) Starting with his minor league career he had a sizable chip on his shoulder and would wear out his welcome as quickly and forcefully as his swing, (3) As a friend of Barry Bonds he was linked to steroid use as part of the BALCO scandal and was named in the 2007 Mitchell Report.

Despite the strikes against him, 2020 was a turning point in the voting for Gary Sheffield. He showed up on a little over 30% of the ballots last year, more than double the support he had received in any year prior. With players being elected in record numbers over the last few years, writers seem to finally be finding some room on their ballot for one of the greatest hitters of all-time. There is still a sizable gap to close, though, and he has only four years of eligibility left. Enshrinement via the BBWAA will be an uphill battle for Sheff.

Andruw Jones - Center Field, JAWS: 54.6, HoF JAWS: 58.0

The Hall of Fame case for Andruw Jones may have been doomed before it even started. As a young player he often drew comparisons to fellow center fielder Willie Mays, which ensured that no matter what he did he would fall short of expectations. What he did though, was pretty damn impressive.

Any conversation about Jones should always start with his supreme fielding ability. At 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds he had astonishing range for a big man with an arm that could gun down runners from anywhere in the outfield. Per Baseball Reference's Runs from Fielding metric, he is by far the greatest player to patrol the outfield in baseball history, and fifth all-time at any position. This would appear to be no fluke as he earned 10 straight Gold Gloves from 1998 through 2007 in support of some all-time great pitching staffs for the Atlanta Braves.

Jones still had his detractors. Some felt he played a lazy center field and could actually have been better. After all, he was not an effective fielder after age 30 and was banished strictly to corner outfield spots for the last four years of his career. However, it wasn't his fault that he made it look easy, and as a bigger than average center fielder who started his career at just 19 years old, his body simply broke down in his 30's. Jones was truly one of the great ones in his day.

When it came to hitting, Jones was no slouch. With power uncharacteristic of a center fielder, he maintained a very productive bat for an extended period. From age 21 through 29 his average season included a .270/.347/.513 slash line, a 118 OPS+, 35 home runs, 104 RBI's, and 99 runs scored. This included a major league-leading 51 home runs in 2005. For his career he hit over 400 home runs and both scored and drove in over 1,200 runs. That puts him in rare company among center fielders all-time.

Andruw Jones spent the twilight of a superb career with the Yankees.

Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons

For the last five years of his career, Jones was nothing more than a power bat off the bench. This included a successful season as a reserve for the Yankees in 2011 where he put up an OPS+ of 126. Still, it was a far cry from the player he had been, and five years is a long time for writers to see a once great player deteriorate into a lesser one. After a dismal 2012 season with the Yankees he would never play in the major leagues again.

Thanks to the perceived laziness and long, slow, painful decline to end his career - a 2012 domestic violence incident couldn't have helped things either - Jones got very little support in his first two years on the Hall of Fame ballot. Yet last year a less crowded ballot seemed to significantly help him in the polls. He secured nearly 20% of the vote after a previous high of 7.5% in 2019. There's a long way to go, but with six years of eligibility left, we may see one of the greatest fielders ever enshrined in Cooperstown before long.

Bobby Abreu - Right Field, JAWS: 50.9, HoF JAWS: 57.2

For about a decade, Bobby Abreu was a metronome of baseball excellence. Every year he would hit .300 with 20 or 30 home runs, steal 20 or 30 bases, smack 40 doubles, score 100 runs, drive in 100 runs, and walk 100 times. Early in his career he was also a terrific fielder. Under normal circumstances this would make for a compelling Hall of Fame case.

However, Abreu was and still is rarely recognized as the great player he was during his career. This is almost solely attributable to his reserved nature that kept his demeanor low key no matter the situation on the baseball diamond. Fans and media members mistook his stoicism as a lack of passion or enthusiasm for baseball.

Truth is, nobody could be that productive for that long as a major leaguer while lacking passion for the game. From day one, Abreu took a sober, patient approach to hitting that made him an on-base machine but lacked the aggression that many around baseball crave. Productive as he was, he couldn't win over fans, especially in a city with a rabid fanbase like Philadelphia where he spent most of his career. This despite his heavy involvement in the local community, as evidenced by his Roberto Clemente Award in 2004.

It didn't help that the Phillies were a middling team that never made the playoffs during Abreu's tenure there. A 2006 trade to the Yankees meant that he would get to play meaningful October baseball. Although the Yankees lost the two playoff series that Abreu appeared in for New York, he hit well in both of them with an even .300 batting average. Despite his reputation, he could perform in high pressure situations.

Bobby Abreu joined a contender in New York but never won a playoff series with the Yankees.

Googie Man/Wikimedia Commons

As a member of the Yankees Abreu's home run and walk totals dipped a bit even as a lefty in Yankee Stadium, but he still remained a quality bat in the middle of the lineup. After signing as a free agent with the Angels in 2009, his production steadily tapered off until he retired at 40 years old.

Based on merit alone, Abreu's career achievements should warrant serious consideration for Cooperstown. Unsurprisingly, the BBWAA voters disagree as he barely cleared the 5% threshold to stay on the ballot in his debut last year. The early indication on voting thus far is that he'll improve on that a bit, but it's seeming likely that he'll never get serious consideration from the Baseball Hall of Fame electorate. And that's a shame.

LaTroy Hawkins - Relief Pitcher, JAWS: 17.0, HoF JAWS: 32.6

LaTroy Hawkins spent a remarkable 21 seasons in the major leagues. Remarkable because he was a right-handed pitcher that failed miserably as a starter and never really established himself as an everyday closer. Right-handed middle relievers are a dime a dozen in the big leagues, but Hawkins remained a key component to bullpens across the MLB landscape well past his 40th birthday. That doesn't make him a Hall of Famer, but it does warrant at least a cursory reflection on his career.

At 6'5" and 220 pounds, Hawkins had a body built for basketball and was even offered a full scholarship to play hoops near his hometown at Larry Bird's alma mater, Indiana State University. Instead, he chose baseball right out of high school after being drafted by the Minnesota Twins. He broke in with the Twins in 1995 and was a part of their starting rotation for the first five seasons of his career. For the duration, he was one of the worst starters in baseball. He went 26-44 with a 6.16 ERA and led the majors in earned runs surrendered in 1999.

In 2000 the Twins finally wised up and tried Hawkins in the bullpen where he was much more effective. He even served as part of a closer committee and recorded 14 saves on the year. However, when he was made the full-time closer in 2001 he posted a putrid 5.96 ERA and converted just 28 of his 37 save opportunities. Over the next two seasons, Hawkins found a niche for himself as an extremely reliable setup man for lefty closer Eddie Guardado. At 30 years old and with nine major league seasons under his belt he became a free agent in 2003 and in some ways, his career was only beginning.

Over the ensuing 12 years, Hawkins pitched for 10 different teams and was a reliable workhorse in the bullpen at just about every stop. The lone exception was a half-season he spent in The Bronx in 2008. His tenure with the Yankees was doomed from the get-go as he chose to wear number 21. No Yankee had worn that number since fan favorite Paul O'Neill retired after the 2001 season. He was booed mercilessly because of his number choice, which was unfortunate and really unfair considering that Hawkins chose it in honor of Roberto Clemente. Given the icy reception, he understandably struggled early on and never really got it together in pinstripes. He was DFA'd then traded mid-season to Houston where he was unhittable down the stretch.

LaTroy Hawkins had a very forgettable stint as a Yankee.

Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons

At 42 years old, Hawkins was part of a blockbuster deal near the 2015 deadline which sent him and Troy Tulowitzki to the Toronto Blue Jays. He was spectacular during the pennant race and made the Blue Jays playoff roster for their thrilling run to the ALCS. However, in October Hawkins was nothing short of awful, getting pounded for seven runs in a little under two innings of work. With that, he called it a career.

LaTroy Hawkins won't receive a vote in this Hall of Fame election, nor should he. But he found a way to take a career that was headed to the toilet into a long and productive one by being willing to accept his limitations. For that, we can tip our caps and say well played, Mr. Hawkins.

All data in this post was obtained from Baseball Reference.