6 Hall of Fame candidates who dominated the Blue Jays over the years 

On January 23, the National Baseball Hall of Fame election results will be officially announced for the players eligible for induction in 2024. Among the candidates found on this year’s ballot, there have been quite a few that also had the distinguished honour of dominating the Toronto Blue Jays over the course of their active years in the major leagues.

Here, we will take a look at six Hall of Fame candidates that constantly mesmerized the Jays at their will back during their prime time in the MLB. In addition, we will take a brief look at their chances of being elected into the Hall of Fame this time around.

Adrián Beltré

Beltré became a dominant force in the baseball world the moment he stepped foot into the league back in 1998 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Just looking at his resumé, he was a two-time MVP finalist, four-time All-Star and Silver Slugger, and a five-time Gold Glove winner. That in itself speaks volumes of his outstanding accomplishments during his 21 years in the big leagues.

When he signed on with the Seattle Mariners in 2005 to officially begin his tenure in the American League, which ended up lasting for the rest of his career, that was when he began pulverizing the Jays every time they met. In 108 career games against the Jays, he scored 51 runs with 28 doubles, 16 home runs and 62 RBI in his offensive outburst. But as a consolation, at least the Jays managed to get the last laugh twice when they beat Beltré and his Texas Rangers in both the 2015 and 2016 AL Divisional Series during the postseason.

Despite being in just his first year of eligibility for 2024, Beltré is expected to be an overwhelming favourite to be elected on his first try into the Hall of Fame. The most recent poll results revealed Beltré was leading the pack with an astounding 98.9% of the votes. As he awaits for the inevitable enshrinement, at least Jays’ fans can gracefully accept the fact that they were once dominated by a future first ballot Hall of Famer.

Andy Pettitte

The Jays had faced many tantalizing pitchers in the past, but when it came to pitchers that once owned them, one former standout from their arch-rival New York Yankees rises above the rest. Despite not being known as an overpowering, strikeout pitcher during his time, Andy Pettitte certainly had the Jays’ number during his 18-year career in the majors. The former Yankees’ ace was a three-time All-Star, along with finishing within the top five in Cy Young voting on four different occasions. More importantly, he was a big-time playoff performer, leading the Yankees to five World Series titles by posting 19 wins in the process.

With regards to his dominance of the Jays over the years, Pettitte is tied with Mike Mussina with the most ever wins for any one pitcher against the ballclub in their career. On top of that, Pettitte registered 229 strikeouts and 3 complete games against Toronto, which was the most he had against any one team in the league. His strikeout total also ranked him fourth overall for pitchers that have faced the Jays during their tenure in the big leagues. For the most part, let’s just say he was one player Toronto never wanted to see whenever they faced the Yankees in a series.

Pettitte will be returning for his sixth ballot in 2024 after receiving 17.0% of the votes in 2023. His career ERA of 3.85 and WHIP of 1.35, along with a low number of strikeouts stand out as the parameters that may limit his chances of reaching the Hall, but with five more cracks at it, there may still be a long shot chance for the Yankees’ icon to get his moment of fame in the end.

Alex Rodriguez

When it comes to the player that Jays’ fans loathe the most, while at the same time seemed to exert his powers at his will whenever facing the team, no one beats the one they call A-Rod or in other words, Alex Rodriguez. One of the most dominant and feared hitters in the game during his era, the 14-time All Star racked up three MVP awards along with 10 Silver Slugger and two Gold Glove awards over his 22-year stellar career.

As an apparent Jays’ killer, Rodriguez sure racked up some historical numbers against his old divisional rival. Among the history of hitters that fared against the Jays in their career, he ranked fifth in hits with 248, third in runs scored with 160, seventh in doubles with 50, and second in both home runs with 58 and RBI with 178. But more significantly, no Jays’ fan will ever forget the time Rodriguez displayed his bad sportsmanship when he uttered a “Ha” sound to signal “I got it” while rounding the bases. It was enough to distract Jays’ third baseman Howie Clark for him to drop the pop-up by Jorge Posada, leaving the Jays and their fans steaming. That memorable incident propelled Rodriguez up to public enemy number one in the minds of the Jays’ faithful from that day forward.

With Rodriguez entering his third year of eligibility, he accumulated a solid 35.7% of the votes in the 2023 ballot. For someone with such an impressive resumé, one would think he should have gotten in as a first ballot Hall of Famer without a question. However, due to his connection to potentially performance-enhancing drugs from the past, it has keep his voting percentage relatively low, so he will probably need a few more years of support before he will have a legitimate shot at the Hall. The good news for Rodriguez is that he has 8 more years (including this year) to gather the required number of votes.

Manny Ramírez

One of the most fearsome hitters in the game of yesterday, Manny Ramírez struck fear into many opposing pitchers the moment he stepped up to the plate. Leading the league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS on multiple occasions, he compiled 12 All-Star appearances along with 9 Silver Slugger awardsm including finishing as an MVP finalist twice. More importantly, he helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in over 85 years to break the hex in 2004 while capturing series MVP honours in the process. He would follow that up with another championship with the Red Sox three years later in 2007 for good measure.

But when it came to playing against the Jays, Ramírez was always ready to tee off like it was batting practice. His 54 home runs and 140 RBI in his career against the ballclub put him third all-time behind Rodriguez and David Ortiz, while his .947 OPS ranked him second behind George Brett as the highest OPS put up against the Jays by any player for their career. Despite his utter dominance over the years, love him or hate him, his “Manny being Manny” persona kept him a fan favourite whenever he came to play.

Ramírez will be entering his eighth year of eligibility this year after garnering 33.2% of the votes in 2023. Similar to Rodriguez, despite his stellar stats screaming sure-fire Hall of Famer, he has been linked to performance-enhancing drugs in the past that has kept his vote count down over the years. But unlike Rodriguez, time is not on his side as he has only three shots remaining to get into the Hall via the voting process. From the looks of it, Ramírez will have a huge mountain to climb if he wants to gain enshrinement.

James Shields

Among the greats that have made this list, former pitcher James Shields certainly stands out as one of the lesser lights entering the Hall of Fame balloting. After all, he posted solid numbers as a starting pitcher throughout his 13-year MLB career, but nothing that would jump out as elite at the same time. Nevertheless, he did have one exceptional All-Star season in 2011 when he compiled a 16-12 record with a 2.82 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, with 11 complete games including 4 shutouts, as he finished third in AL Cy Young voting that very same year.

But when it came to facing the Jays, he rose to another level that was unmatched by most others. With regards to any starting pitcher against the Jays in their career, Shields ranked seventh all-time with a .667 winning percentage against the team. In addition, his WHIP of 1.05 and BB/9 ratio of 1.78 was second all-time only to Dennis Eckersley, and his K/BB ratio of 4.25 ranked him third behind Eckersley and Masahiro Tanaka. So he may not have had such a storied career as many of the other prominent pitchers on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he sure felt like one of the best whenever the Jays had to face him.

As a first-time ballot entry in 2024, Shields will be in tough to garner enough votes to remain on the ballot in the proceeding years. That is because with a career winning percentage hovering close to .500 with only 145 wins in total, a career ERA close to 4, along with a severe lack of performance accolades, he will certainly have his work cut out for him to get the voters to consider him on the ballot.