Jimmy Sez

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...

Earlier this month the Baseball Hall of Fame released the 2023 Contemporary Baseball Era ballot . This is their latest iteration of a veterans committee designed to give former players a second chance at enshrinement. The eight-man group up for election is a star-studded cast that includes some former Yankees. Don Mattingly was a Yankee lifer and spent the maximum 15 years on the conventional ballot voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America ( BBWAA ). His share of the vote steadily declined over that time, but he's a player that was, and still is, adored by his contemporaries. Soon after Mattingly's run on the BBWAA ballot, the rules were changed to a maximum of ten years of eligibility. Roger Clemens spent a full 10 years on the ballot. However, he would have been a first-ballot slam dunk had it not been for the steroid controversy that defined the end of his career. In contrast to Mattingly, he spent only a brief portion of his career with the Yankees and his ...

We closed 2021 with our first peek at some former Yankees the 2022 BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot. Now it's time to dig in to the more controversial figures as baseball continues to deal with the fallout from the "steroid" era. This year will be the final shot for Roger Clemens and it looks like it will be a photo finish for him. As he exits we also welcome newcomer Alex Rodriguez who's sure to generate just as much, if not more, controversy than Clemens has in his ten years on the ballot. 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 . Roger Clemens  - Starting Pitcher, JAWS: 102.6, HoF JAWS: 61.4 If pitchers are to be judged based solely on what they accomplished on the mound, Roger Cleme...

Since the Yankees have stumbled out of the gate here in 2021, I've decided to take a trip down memory lane. The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was hot as ever in 2003 as the titans of the American League clashed in the ALCS. The hype for Game Three was palpable. Roger Clemens faced off against Pedro Martinez on a Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park. I remember watching the game live nearly 18 years ago and thinking in the moment that it was one of the greatest games I had ever seen. Through the power of YouTube, I re-watched it for the first time since then to see if that remains true and documented my thoughts along the way. Without further ado, here's a "live-blog" of a game from 2003, because that's what make sense in 2021. Intro It's a beautiful day for baseball in Boston and we've got Joe Buck and Tim McCarver in the booth for the game. I'm not alone is disliking broadcasts that involve these guys, but they were pretty much the voice of the Yankees on T...