Yankees Legend Makes Hall of Fame Ballot, Again

The other seven players on the ballot will be Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela. In their 10 years on the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) ballot, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were not voted in, presumably due to their association with the league's steroid use scandal at the time.

Mattingly Keeps Missing the Hall of Fame

Mattingly did not meet the required 75% of the vote by the BBWAA in his 15 years on their ballot, never exceeding 28.2% (his first year of consideration, in 2001).

Mattingly, whose long history with the Yankees left him conspicuously without a World Series, just went to his first championship with the Toronto Blue Jays, as their bench coach. The Blue Jays were defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7, leaving Mattingly, once again, without a win. When asked whether he was thinking about retiring after the game, Mattingly gave an (understandably) vague response.

“Tough time to talk about that,” Mattingly said, per the New York Post.

After the loss, he shared a moment with Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette, who gave him a hug in the dugout to comfort him.

Mattingly just missed the Yankees' late-20th century dynasty, beginning his career in 1982 (the Yankees won the World Series in 1978), and retiring from his playing career in 1995 due to a back injury just before the Yankees went on to win the World Series in 1996. They won it again and again from 1998-2000, becoming the most recent team to accomplish a back-to-back World Series win, and then a three-peat. They would not win another championship until after Mattingly left them as a coach, winning their last World Series in 2009.

Mattingly was a nine-time All Star during his playing career, and missed just one Gold Glove Award between 1985-1994 (in 1990). He logged a .307 career batting average with 2,153 total hits, 222 home runs and 1,099 RBIs. Fans believe he is long overdue for a Hall of Fame induction, given his contributions to the Yankees and to baseball, but it will fall to the Committee once again.

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