Yankees on the 2026 Contemporary Baseball Era Hof Ballot
In Cooperstown, there was a recent announcement of the eight former players on the 2026 ballot for the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee to vote on. The ballot is comprised of eight former players who primarily played in the 1980's or later. Of the eight candidates, three of them spent at least a portion of their career with the Yankees.
The committee determining the fate of these former stars is made up of 16 prominent baseball figures ranging from current Hall of Famers to major league executives and even a few media members. In order to earn baseball's highest honor, the candidates must get votes from 75% of the committee. Since all former Yankees being voted on spent the maximum allowed time on the standard BBWAA ballot for the Hall of Fame and failed to earn 75% that way, this will be harder than it seems. Still, most of these recent veterans committee elections have resulted in at least one new plaque in Cooperstown.
The results of the vote will be announced this Sunday, so it won't be long before we know who that might be. Let's take a close look at how each of the former Yankees stack up. You can probably guess who I'm pulling for the most.
Gary Sheffield
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.
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 28th 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 that year and jumped to over 40% of the vote in 2021. He remained around 40% in 2022, but made a quantum leap to 55% of the vote in 2023. In his last year of eligibility in 2024 he climbed up to 63.9%, a figure that usually indicates future election by a Veterans Committee. He gets his first crack at such a chance now, but unfortunately is on the ballot with his old buddy Barry Bonds. Voters will surely steer clear of any name tied to steroid use especially when Bonds (and Clemens) are being considered at the same time. Alas, there will be other chances for Sheffield in the future, hopefully on a less controversial ballot.
Roger Clemens
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 both 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.
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.
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. 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's 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.
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 gradually warmed up to but never fully embraced. Clemens' share of the vote topped out at 65.2% in 2022, his tenth and final year on the BBWAA ballot.
In a surprise move, Clemens was included on the Contemporary Era ballot in 2023, just one year after he fell off the BBWAA ballot. In an unsurprising result, he earned less than 25% of the vote that year. The members of these Veterans Committees tend to judge candidates accused of steroid use far more harshly than the BBWAA electorate historically has. We can look for more of the same this year. Something drastic will have to change with the Baseball Hall of Fame voting process in order for Clemens to be elected.
Don Mattingly
As my reserve first baseman in The New York Yankees All-Time All-Stars, a full profile on the career of Donnie Baseball can be found there. Here, we'll focus solely on his Hall of Fame case and where it stands heading into this weekend's election.
From about mid-way through the 1984 season until right around 1989, Don Mattingly was widely considered to be on the short list of players who could stake a claim as the best in baseball. There are plenty of players currently in the Hall of Fame who were never a part of that conversation even for a single season, let alone six in a row. As such, Mattingly's case for Cooperstown begins, but also sadly ends, with this fact.
During that six-year sprint, Mattingly made six All-Star Game appearances, took home an AL batting title, was named the AL MVP and finished in the top seven three other times. He also led the majors in doubles for three straight years, tied the record for consecutive games with a home run, and set the record for most grand slams in a season. His ability to control the strike zone while hitting for a high average with a significant amount of power drew comparisons to Stan Musial, a baseball god and first ballot Hall of Famer. To top it off, Mattingly was as slick as they come at first base and earned five Gold Gloves during this period. His eventual enshrinement alongside Musial seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
That all came to a screeching halt in 1990 when chronic back injuries Mattingly had developed a few years prior worsened and forced him to the disabled list for a significant portion of the season. When he did return to the lineup he could no longer hit the ball with the same authority that he did pre-injury. Unfortunately that would remain true over the final six seasons of his career. Still a serviceable hitter, the masher who feasted on major league pitching returned only in brief spurts over this time.
All was not lost for Mattingly during these lean years. He earned another four straight Gold Gloves and admirably served as Yankee captain from 1991 through 1995 while the team slowly worked its way back to respectability. In his final season he also got his first taste of playoff baseball. He played like a man determined to will his team to victory, hitting .417 with a home run and six RBI's in a thrilling series against the Mariners. Alas, the Yankees came up a bit short for their captain who would retire at just 34 years old.
Being merely an average first baseman for the final half of his relatively brief career did virtually nothing for Mattingly's case as a Hall of Famer (see table below for how steep his decline was in terms of WAR). His 42.4 career WAR falls well short of the 66.8 average WAR of enshrined first baseman.
Had Mattingly stayed at a superstar level another year or two and mixed in a couple of above average seasons before his decline, he likely would have been voted into the Hall by the BBWAA. In reality, he never garnered more than the 28.2% of the vote that he received in his first year of eligibility.
In 2020, Mattingly got his first second chance at the Hall of Fame as one of the candidates voted on by the Modern Baseball Era Committee. Unfortunately, he finished towards the bottom of the pack. The Hall of Fame reported him as receiving "3 or fewer" votes from the 16-member committee.
In 2023, Mattingly fared much better with that year's version of the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. He was named on 50% of the ballots (8 total votes) and was likely helped by voters avoiding two of the most egregious steroid users that baseball has ever known in Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. That should be the case again this year.
The fact that Mattingly's name was sprinkled throughout this year's World Series should also give him a boost during this election cycle. Serving as the bench coach of the AL champion Toronto Blue Jays, there was far more media coverage than usual about Donnie Baseball in recent months. Naturally, most of it focused on his greatness as a player in the 80's and his incredible leadership ability that has continued through his coaching career. This may be the best shot he'll ever get at gaining entrance to Cooperstown. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the Hit Man.
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