PALM CITY, Fla. — Gary Sheffield does not sit around every January waiting for the phone to ring.
The nine-tine All-Star isn’t checking Ryan Thibodeaux’s Hall of Fame tracker on Twitter to see how votes are trending.
But the man who has been denied a Hall call for nine years knows he deserves a spot Cooperstown.
“It’s disappointing because you see guys get in … ” Sheffield told the Palm Beach Post Monday.
He could have completed that sentence by saying, “who don’t deserve to be in ahead of you.”
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Sheffield was at the Floridian for Reggie Jackson’s Mr. October Foundation golf tournament. He was willing to talk about the snub. But he was not the only player there on this year’s ballot who would be a shoe-in if not for being linked to PEDs.
Alex Rodriguez also teed it up. Rodriguez, though, declined to talk.
Sheffield and A-Rod are among those recent candidates unable to overcome their connection to PEDs when it comes to Hall of Fame voters. They join Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez.
All had Hall of Fame worthy careers. Bonds, Clemens, Manny, A-Rod first-ballot worthy careers. None have come close to reaching the 75 percent threshold to be inducted by the voters, who are members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
I am one of those and I voted for all of the above.
“You have to protect against assuming and making insinuations,” Derek Jeter said Monday about those players being shunned. “People say they think this, they think that but no one actually knows. Who knows what’s going to happen.”
Jeter was one vote shy in 2020 of being the second unanimous selection in Hall of Fame history.
This year Sheffield along with A-Rod and Ramirez watched Scott Rolen get elected. Rolen’s offensive numbers are not close to Sheffield’s.
And Sheffield’s are not as good at A-Rod’s or Manny’s.
Rolen, a seven-time All-Star, outshines them all on defense with eight Gold Gloves.
“I grew up in an era where they say these are the benchmarks, once you hit the benchmarks that’s what is it,” said…