Former Yankees Slugger Not Elected To Baseball Hall of Fame

A former New York Yankees slugger found out whether he's heading to Cooperstown in his final year of eligibility.

Former New York Yankees slugger Gary Sheffield fell short of election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his final year of eligibility on the ballot.

According to results released by the Baseball Hall of Fame based on voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America, Sheffield fell short the 75% of votes needed for election and will now have to wait for consideration by one of the Eras Committees.

The Class of 2024 will include Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton. Former manager Jim Leyland is already set for induction after he was elected by the Eras Committee in December.

Sheffield received just 55 percent of the vote last year, his ninth year on the ballot. That was in spite of a 22-years career in which he finished with a .292 batting average. He’s one of a small percentage of players with at least 500 career home runs (509), which puts him 27th in the category.

With the Yankees in 2005 and 2006, he put together his final All-Star campaign in his first season in the Bronx, eventually batting .294 with 34 home runs and 123 RBI. He also won a Silver Slugger award that season.

He was never an MVP but finished in the Top 10 of balloting six times. He was a nine-time All-Star, a five-time Silver Slugger and remains among the top-ranked players in walks (1,475), RBI (1,676) and total bases (4,737).

He won his only World Series ring with the Marlins in 1997. He broke in with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1988 and also played for the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves, the Detroit Tigers and the New York Mets.