Yankees snubbed by Hall of Fame voters again

The New York Yankees have not fared well in the Baseball Hall of Fame voting in recent years, but this is ridiculous.

A couple of Yankee players scored so low in the voting that they were actually kicked off the ballot. The candidacy of Bernie Williams is over after two years since he only got 3.3% of the vote after a disappointing showing in last year’s voting that barely kept him in the running. I knew Bernie didn’t have much of a chance at induction, but I thought his postseason numbers and World Series championships merited a lot more support from the baseball writers.

David “Boomer” Wells is a one-and-done guy after scoring less than 1% of the vote. I didn’t expect him to get a lot of votes, but that number is pretty low for a guy who had 239 victories and pitched a perfect game. His 4.13 lifetime ERA likely worked against him, but Boomer also probably alienated a lot of people with his antics, including his claim that he was half drunk when he pitched his perfecto. I was a big Boomer fan, but I know he wasn't a Hall of Famer.

Other former Yankees will remain on the ballot after scoring more than 5% of the vote, namely Tim Raines, who passed the 50% mark for the first time. Given that he still has many years of eligibility and some vocal supporters, I think Timmy will make it in eventually. He won a couple of titles with the Yankees, but he was more of a mentor and part-time player in the Bronx so he will likely wear a Montreal Expos cap because he achieved much of his greatest success during his years in Canada. But I still count him as a Yankee so I will be thrilled when he finally gets in.

I’m not including Roger Clemens in this discussion because his performance-enhancing drug usage puts him in an entirely different category of evaluation, but I’m glad he didn’t do well in the voting and hope he never gets in. And if he does get in, I hope he doesn’t wear a Yankees cap, as he has pledged. Let the Boston Red Sox have him.