Andy Pettitte by no means checked out himself as a Corridor of Famer.
Regardless of retiring as one among MLB’s best winners, the previous Yankees starter didn’t imagine his stats measured as much as those that made the Corridor.
However the chance is a little more on his radar after The Athletic’s Jayson Stark revealed a January article exploring how Pettitte’s consistency, longevity and postseason excellence put him in elite — and in some circumstances, unparalleled — firm.
“I had a whole bunch of people send me that article,” Pettitte mentioned Saturday at Previous-Timers’ Day within the Bronx, including with amusing, “I actually wish they would have never sent me that article, and he would have never wrote that article, because for the first time I started thinking about it, and people started asking me and said that I had a little momentum.”
The left-handed Pettitte gained 5 World Collection with the Yankees and completed his 18-year profession with a 256-153 report, a 3.85 ERA and a couple of,448 strikeouts in 3,316 innings. His 19 postseason wins are essentially the most in MLB historical past.
Pettitte acquired 27.9% of the vote this 12 months, his seventh on the poll, leaving him shy of the 75% required for election. However Pettitte’s vote complete was up by 14.4% from 2024, marking the biggest leap of any candidate.
His case has acquired renewed consideration following the first-ballot induction of former teammate and fellow left-hander CC Sabathia, whose 251-161 report and three.74 ERA had been fairly related.
In his article, Stark explains why he voted for Pettitte for the primary time this 12 months. He notes Pettitte gained an MLB-record six playoff clinchers; had a superior win proportion (.626) than his groups’ when anybody else began (.577); and is one among two pitchers to begin at the least 10 video games in 18 seasons and by no means undergo a shedding report.
The opposite, Grover Cleveland Alexander, is a Corridor of Famer.
“[Being inducted] would be a wonderful blessing and honor,” Pettitte, 53, mentioned earlier than tossing a scoreless inning within the first Previous-Timers’ recreation since 2019.
“I mean, really, what can you say? What an unbelievable honor. I really don’t know what else to say about it. It would be amazing, and I would feel very blessed and fortunate. Would never, ever dream [of it].”
Amongst pitchers with 250-plus wins and a profitable proportion higher than .600, solely Pettitte, Roger Clemens and the energetic Justin Verlander should not within the Corridor.
When adjusting for the eras and stadiums they pitched in, Pettitte’s ERA+ of 117 edges Sabathia’s 116.
“Getting a chance to pitch alongside him, getting a chance to still talk to him pretty much all the time, I believe he’s a Hall of Famer,” Sabathia mentioned in January.
“Hopefully [with] my getting in, people reconsider his candidacy and put him in. Anybody that wins 19 games in the playoffs, I think, deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
Pettitte admitted to utilizing human progress hormone (HGH) in 2002 and 2004 in makes an attempt to get well from accidents. However the substance was not banned by MLB on the time, nor was it examined for.
He has three years of eligibility on the Baseball Writers’ Affiliation of America poll.
Ought to he achieve sufficient floor between from time to time, Pettitte would be part of Sabathia and former teammates Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter as current inductees.
“Those are what Hall of Famers look like,” Pettitte mentioned, naming Jeter particularly. “I struggled. I felt like every time I stepped out on the mound, it was just an absolute battle and a grind for me, where they made the game look easy, but it’s cool to see.”
Initially Revealed: August 9, 2025 at 2:13 PM EDT
