Jimmy Sez

I recently attended the Pinstripe Pride autograph show in north Jersey, making it four straight years of meeting guys that I wrote about in The New York Yankees All-Time All-Stars . This year I secured the signatures of two more All-Time All-Stars, one a Hall of Famer, and one a favorite of my youth that had me a little star struck. Of the 17 living All-Time All-Stars in the book, those two bring me to ten signatures and over the halfway mark on this journey I started in 2023. It'll be tough sledding from here to get the remaining seven. In addition to those two I also snagged the signature of one more Honorable Mention that was in attendance this year and had the honor of meeting a fan favorite and playoff hero of the 90's. It was a great experience, as usual, and I just hope that more guys in the book continue to show up at this event. Without further ado, here's the rundown. Goose Gossage I fully expected Goose to be a bit of a curmudgeon given his public persona about...

In our first look at former Yankees on the 2026 BBWAA ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame, we focused on players who spent only a brief portion of their career with the Yankees. This time around, we'll dig into two players who are primarily known as Yankees and would likely be in the Hall of Fame already had steroids not been an issue during their careers. Before we get to those juicy stories, there's one more former Yankee on the ballot who has the best shot at election this year. Albeit with his own bit controversy that likely held him back from enshrinement in Cooperstown last year. Get your popcorn ready, it's high drama Hall of Fame time here at Jimmy Sez! 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 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 t...

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 Sunda...

Last year I embarked on a journey to definitively rank the plaques that adorn the walls of Monument Park, lurking behind centerfield in Yankee Stadium. After a long pause, we're ready to bring you the thrilling conclusion and reveal the top eight pieces of bronze that thousands of Yankee fans flock to go see each year. I know the suspense has been killing you... One thing I learned in doing this project is that there is no perfect plaque in Monument Park. Much like the plaques in the Baseball Hall of Fame, even the best ones have their flaws. Regardless, if you have the time to stroll through them during your next trip to Yankee Stadium, these are the can't-miss plaques you should tell your friends about. A view inside Monument Park in New Yankee Stadium. Most of the plaques covered in this series sit behind the wall of retired numbers in the foreground. PVSBond/Wikimedia Commons As was the case previously, I won't share a picture of every plaque because they tend to run...

Over the past couple of years I've had the privilege of meeting some of the former Yankee players that I included in The New Yor Yankees All-Time All-Stars  and secured their signature in a copy of it. Earlier this month I was able to keep that going at the latest Pinstripe Pride show near Giants Stadium. This time around I went squad deep with my son Seamus, my brother Sean, and my nephew Tommy. Not only was it nice to have non-strangers to talk to while waiting on the lines, but they seemed to enjoy themselves as well. There was only one All-Time All-Star signing during the day we attended, but the lineup included three players that are in the book as Honorable Mentions, so we met them as well. As in the past, I gave each player we met a personalized, signed copy of the book before they signed what I'll now call the Master copy. In that book I now have autographs from eight of the 17 living All-Time All-Stars and three of the nine living Honorable Mentions. Sadly, I won...

In the first two installments of this series we focused on players who had only brief stints with the Yankees and were mostly remembered for playing with other teams. Now we're ready to take a deep dive into some players who are known primarily as Yankees, mainly because they won the only World Series championships of their careers in pinstripes. Each of these guys has a viable case for the Hall of Fame, but for various reasons only one is likely to be elected this year. 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 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 . CC Sabathia - Starting Pitcher - JAWS: 50.8, HoF JAWS: 61.5 In December 2008 George Steinbrenner responded to the first playoff-less season the Yankees had since 1994 with the fire of...