ORLANDO, Fla. — Yankees legend Don Mattingly failed to make into the baseball’s highest honor Sunday night.
He watched Jeff Kent capture election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The same Hall that rejected Mattingly for the 19th time.
Kent received 14 votes from the 16-member Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. That exceeded the 75 percent threshold needed for Cooperstown. Mattingly received six votes. He needed 12.
The connection between the two men runs through New York. On Aug. 27, 1992, the Mets sent pitcher David Cone to the Blue Jays. Toronto sent back a young infielder named Kent. The trade helped Toronto win its first World Series. It also launched a career that ended Sunday with the Hall of Fame’s call.
Kent’s journey from Mets castoff to Cooperstown
Kent spent nearly four seasons in New York. The Mets traded him to Cleveland in 1996. Few expected greatness. Then the Giants came calling.
San Francisco transformed Kent into a star. He won the 2000 NL MVP, beating out teammate Barry Bonds. He slashed .334/.424/.596 that season with 33 home runs and 125 RBIs.
“I’m stuttering here because it has not sunk in,” Kent said in a video conference Sunday night. “I didn’t think about it much. During the 10 years of opportunity to get voted in, it’d come up every year and the moments seemed to pass by.”
Kent holds the record for most home runs by a second baseman in MLB history. He hit 377 homers across 17 seasons with six teams. His 351 homers while playing second base tops all players at that position.
Mattingly falls short again despite legendary prime
Donnie Baseball was much more than a face of a disappointing Yankees era. In his prime, he was one of the best left-handed hitters in baseball. He won the 1985 AL MVP. He went to six consecutive All-Star Games. Nobody in the American League played first base better.
From 1984 to 1989, Mattingly averaged 27 homers, 43 doubles and 114 RBIs while hitting .327. Then his back betrayed him. A degenerative disc ended his power stroke while he was still in his 20s. By age 34, his career was over.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman offered support after the vote.
“One of the game’s great players of his time, on both sides of the ball,” Cashman said. “Obviously the back injury derailed him. And one of the great human beings. He obviously was a great baseball player, but he’s a great person, too.”
This marked Mattingly’s fourth veterans committee ballot. He received eight votes in 2023. That number dropped to six Sunday. The decline stings.
The numbers that keep Mattingly waiting
Mattingly finished his 14 Yankees seasons with a .307 average and .830 OPS. He hit 222 home runs and drove in 1,099 runs. He won nine Gold Glove awards. His 42.4 bWAR exceeds several players already enshrined.
But voters keep asking the same question. Was he great long enough?
Mattingly never topped 28.2 percent on BBWAA ballots during his 15 years of eligibility. He fell off after 2015. The veterans committee became his only path. That path has led nowhere.
“If it doesn’t happen, it’s not going to change who I am, what I think about things,” Mattingly said recently on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” podcast. “No bitterness is going to be in there. But you hope you get that opportunity.”
The ballot also rejected Bonds and Clemens
The Contemporary Era ballot included eight candidates. Kent was the only one elected.
Carlos Delgado finished second with nine votes. Mattingly and Dale Murphy tied for third with six votes each. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela each received fewer than five votes.
A new rule adds pain for those with fewer than five votes. Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield and Valenzuela will not appear on the Contemporary Era ballot until 2031. That could close the door on baseball’s all-time home run king and one of its greatest pitchers.
Mattingly and Murphy survived. They remain eligible when the committee votes again in 2028 for the class of 2029.
Mattingly still chasing elusive championship
The 64-year-old Mattingly broke in with the Yankees in 1982. He retired in 1995. The franchise won five championships in the 14 years after he left. Mattingly never won a ring as a player.
He came close this fall. As bench coach for the Blue Jays, Mattingly helped Toronto reach the World Series. The Dodgers, his former team, beat them in the Fall Classic.
Mattingly and the Blue Jays have since parted ways. He is expected to join the Phillies coaching staff next season. His son Preston is the Phillies general manager.
Kent will be inducted July 26 in Cooperstown. Anyone elected from the BBWAA ballot will join him. Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones are considered the leading candidates from the writers’ voting.
Mattingly will be watching from somewhere outside those hallowed halls. Still waiting. Still hoping. Still six votes short.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
Unfortunately even with men he played against he didn’t garner enough votes, and that’s disappointing. The majority of his numbers say yes, but his injuries robbed him of what could have been. As the years go on it will be harder for him to punch in the door. At least us Yankee fans got to witness what he did.