Andrew Eugene Pettitte – To be or not to be HOF?

Andy Pettitte, a Yankees legend, but is he a hall of famer? I tip my cap to Andy, I grew up following this guy from his rookie year, until his retirement which happened to be today. I also tip my cap because he did what most players don’t and it was a very smart decision. He left while he was on the top of his career. He was an All-Star last year until he got a painful groin injury which forced him to miss almost half the season. Most players bury themselves into the ground until they are a tattered form of their old self (a la Brett Favre). He took the admirable path and quit because his heart wasn’t in it, and I respect that, and I respect that he actually manned up and admitted that.

“I just felt like I should maybe just make sure that I’m done, and try to get ready,” he said. “I’m ready to go pitch in Spring Training right now if I had to. My arm feels great, my body feels great, I’ve been working out extremely hard for the last 3 1/2 weeks, and I know that my body would get where it needs to be. But my heart’s not where it needs to be. I just feel like I [can’t] have any hesitation on doing this — and this isn’t a one-day thing where I don’t feel I want to do this; I would never make this kind of decision [like] that. I just feel like my heart isn’t fully, completely sold out to go out and do this again, and to do what I feel like I need to do as a player on the New York Yankees, and that’s not just pitch every fifth day. There’s a lot more that I need to do to be effective.” (Full press conference here)

The argument here is should Pettitte be considered for Cooperstown? Let me start this off by saying, if inducted, he would have the highest ERA in the HOF. Andy’s career ERA is 3.88, and the highest ever inducted was Red Ruffing with a 3.80 ERA. Ruffing had 33 more wins, but his winning percentage was drastically lower than Andy’s. That brings me to my next point of Andy’s phenomenal winning percentage – which will stand at .635 (240W-138L). 100 games over .500 is incredible, and granted he did play for a winning team pretty much all of his career. Some people say that because he was on a winning team that he should be given less consideration because the team inflated his stats. I would have to disagree and say Andy is a competitor and was a force to be reckoned with when he took the mound every fifth day. My next point is that he is the winning-est pitcher in postseason history. He has 19 wins total with a 3.83 ERA. Andy has also clinched two of the five World Series titles, spanning from 1996-2009. May I also add that Andy holds the record for career pickoffs because of his swift move to first base. I know this isn’t a hall of famer type of stat, but it definitely is something to acknowledge because this type of stuff can win those close, and competitive games.

Now, onto the next page of his career. Andy admitted to H.G.H. use in 2002 without being poked and prodded like Bonds, A-Rod, and The Rocket have been. He was respectable in the fact that he fessed up, but also technically cheated. This is a rough argument, because I really feel Pettitte is a great guy (real family man), but who knows, because I never actually met him. He admitted using it to help repair his wearing tendons and ligaments, but who is to say that he only used it in 2002? That’s the hard part when it comes to P.E.D’s because you never know who is right and who is wrong because that someone can always just deny it… Ahem, Clemens, Bonds, etc.

In any case, the prior paragraph will be the biggest factor in determining his Hall of Fame status, which is sad. Forget his postseason wins, his championship rings, and his sterling demeanor; the biggest ‘talk’ about his possible entry into Cooperstown will be based on his use of a PED. In no way do I condone cheating by using these performance enhancing drugs, but the fact that he admitted to his mistake has to count for something. Is Andy Pettitte a hall of famer? As a Yankees fan I would have to say absolutely YES he has five rings and was part of the ‘core four’, but as a sports fan I would ultimately have to just give him a ‘weak’ YES. I know you all may think this is a cop-out, but Pettitte really does have great numbers, and the championships to boot, but his ERA was average and he did dabble with a P.E.D. so it’s definitely a tough call for me.

If I HAD to guess what will happen when the time comes, whether it’s Yay or Nay, I’d have to say Nay only because the general population (especially most sports writers) are not ready to accept a hall of fame caliber player into Cooperstown who’ve admitted to use of one or multiple P.E.D’s. What do you think?