Andy Pettitte never looked at himself as a Hall of Famer.
Despite retiring as one of MLB’s greatest winners, the former Yankees starter didn’t believe his stats measured up to those who made the Hall.
But the possibility is a bit more on his radar after The Athletic’s Jayson Stark published a January article exploring how Pettitte’s consistency, longevity and postseason excellence put him in elite — and in some cases, unparalleled — company.
“I had a whole bunch of people send me that article,” Pettitte said Saturday at Old-Timers’ Day in the Bronx, adding with a laugh, “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 won five World Series with the Yankees and finished his 18-year career with a 256-153 record, a 3.85 ERA and 2,448 strikeouts in 3,316 innings. His 19 postseason wins are the most in MLB history.
Pettitte received 27.9% of the vote this year, his seventh on the ballot, leaving him shy of the 75% required for election. But Pettitte’s vote total was up by 14.4% from 2024, marking the largest leap of any candidate.
His case has received renewed consideration following the first-ballot induction of former teammate and fellow left-hander CC Sabathia, whose 251-161 record and 3.74 ERA were quite similar.
In his article, Stark explains why he voted for Pettitte for the first time this year. He notes Pettitte won an MLB-record six playoff clinchers; had a superior win percentage (.626) than his teams’ when anyone else started (.577); and is one of two pitchers to start at least 10 games in 18 seasons and never suffer a losing record.
The other, Grover Cleveland Alexander, is a Hall of Famer.
“[Being inducted] would be a wonderful blessing and honor,” Pettitte, 53, said before tossing a scoreless inning in the first Old-Timers’ game 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].”
Among pitchers with 250-plus wins and a winning percentage better than .600, only Pettitte, Roger Clemens and the active Justin Verlander are not in the Hall.
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 said 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 using human growth hormone (HGH) in 2002 and 2004 in attempts to recover from injuries. But the substance was not banned by MLB at the time, nor was it tested for.
He has three years of eligibility on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot.
Should he gain enough ground between now and then, Pettitte would join Sabathia and former teammates Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter as recent inductees.
“Those are what Hall of Famers look like,” Pettitte said, naming Jeter specifically. “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.”
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