No former New York Yankees were selected in this year’s Hall of Fame class. Only David Ortiz, a former Boston Red Sox’s star, was voted in, while Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Andruw Jones, Bobby Abreu, Mark Teixeira, and Andy Pettitte, among others, were left out.
In the specific case of Clemens and Teixeira, two successful member of the Yankees organization back in the day, they won’t be on next year’s ballot: the former already ran up his 10-year period and couldn’t get in via the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), and the latter failed to clear the 5% threshold to remain eligible.
Speaking of next year’s ballot, here are some of the names that will appear: Carlos Beltran, John Lackey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jered Weaver, Matt Cain, Francisco Rodriguez, Jayson Werth, RA Dickey, Mike Napoli, and Jhonny Peralta.
Beltran and Ellsbury played for the Yankees at some point in their careers. Fans don’t have too many good memories about the latter, but the former had a two-year stint in the Bronx, in 2014 and 2015. He was at his best with the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets, and won his only World Series title with the Houston Astros in 2017.
The former Yankees star will have to deal with something different than steroids
If players like Barry Bonds, Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, and Alex Rodriguez had to deal with links to steroids use, Beltran will have to cope with whatever voters throw at him because of his involvement in the 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
The former Yankees outfielder was, together with current Red Sox manager Alex Cora, one of the masterminds behind the scheme that resulted in the suspension of skipper AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Lunhow a couple of years ago.
Beltran himself lost the chance to manage the Mets because of his involvement in the scheme. How will voters treat his particular case? As a player, he has a good chance, with a .279 average, 2,725 hits, 435 home runs, 312 stolen bases, and 1,587 RBI, with excellent postseason performance.
He was also a nine-time All-Star (2004–2007, 2009, 2011–2013, 2016), a World Series champion (2017), the AL Rookie of the Year (1999), and won three Gold Glove Awards (2006–2008) and two Silver Slugger Awards (2006, 2007).
How will voters treat the former Yankees’ slugger?