Dave Winfield 'Scored' a Majestic Career-Capper
And still leads A-Rod in the clubhouse
1996 Score Dave Winfield (#83) - Card of the Day
Alex Rodriguez is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the fourth time in 2025, but he can probably go ahead and stop holding his breath waiting for a call from Cooperstown in January. After all, he’s hovered right around 35% of the vote so far, well below the 75% needed for enshrinement.
Few could have predicted that sort of chilly reception for A-Rod among voters during his peak years in the 2000s, but then, who would have thought that Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds would pass all the way through their years of eligibility with no plaque?
Of course, all three are poster boys for a generation of greats tarnished by PED use, a taint that seems especially tough to wash off (or cover up).
Rodriguez’s sheer numbers, though, put him among the greats of any generation. In fact, if you look at the list of the most comparable batters to A-Rod, by measure of Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores, you’ll find some of the most amazing players of all-time: Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, Mel Ott.
Drop all the way to number ten on the list, and you’ll still find a Hall of Famer: Dave Winfield.
Winfield couldn’t match Rodriguez when it came to peak offensive output, and he didn’t play a premium defensive position — and generally wasn’t a defensive standout (Gold Gloves notwithstanding).
But both men played in the big leagues for 22 seasons, both starred for the Yankees after staking their claim to greatness elsewhere, and both looked like Hall of Famers during the heart of their playing careers.
One of the greatest overall athletes to ever step foot on a big league diamond, Winfield’s march toward Cooperstown was a methodical one. He never finished higher than third in MVP voting, hit 30 home runs in a season just three times, hit .300 or better four times, and topped out at 118 RBI.
In contrast, A-Rod won three MVP awards, finished top-3 three other times, topped 30 homers 15 times (with three 50+ seasons and five others with 40+), collected 120+ RBI nine times, and hit .295 for his career.
Of course, A-Rod played in a much more offensive(!) era than Winfield’s. Still and all, Winfield kept plugging away — at a high level, you understand — and ended up with more games played, plate appearances, and at-bats than A-Rod. And Rodriguez barely edged Winfield in hits (3115 to 3110) and wasn’t too far ahead in OPS+ (140 to 130).
Both men had their moments of hobby glory, too.
When Winfield and Don Mattingly staged a breathtaking battle for the American League batting title in 1984, the big man’s 1974 Topps rookie card, showing him with the Padres, arced toward the top of the hobby hierarchy. And A-Rod’s 1994 SP Foil RC is a hobby icon.
Winfield spent the last several seasons of his career as something of a mercenary, playing for five different teams from 1990 through 1995. Part of that owed to the teams looking for help in winning a title, part of it to Winfield’s desire for a ring, and part of it no doubt to the career milestones in his sights.
Two of those objectives were met in 1992 when Winfield put together one last really big season and helped the Toronto Blue Jays win their first World Series.
Another fell in 1993, when Winfield collected his 3000th hit as a member of the Minnesota Twins.
That left him with 453 home runs, 47 shy of 500. Incidentally, he had hit exactly that many — 47 — in 1992 and 1993 combined. But the 1994 strike helped limit Winfield to ten long balls that summer, and the Cleveland Indians bought his contract that August.
In 1995, Winfield found the going rough in Cleveland, hitting .191 with just two long balls in 46 games. He played his last game on October 1, just two days shy of his 44th birthday.
The Indians won the American League Central and played about as deep into October as they could have, eventually losing the World Series to the Braves in six games. But by then, Winfield was at home (at least metaphorically), having been left off the playoff roster.
Collectors weren’t quite finished with big Dave, though, as several companies included him in their 1996 sets. Take your pick among them, or take all of them — for my money, it’s tough to top the Score number you see above, where we get to see that big, sweeping swing one more time.
And the card back is a career-capper, with the kind of Bible-tiny font that only a three-decade man can engender:
So, will A-Rod ever make the Hall of Fame?
Who knows? Seems unlikely at this point.
As for Dave Winfield, he sailed into Cooperstown on his first ballot in 2001.
Final (for now) HOF plaque tally: Dave Winfield, 1; A-Rod 0.
Nice piece, insights, and overview of Dave's career, although I'd also note that Winfield drove in 100+ RBI eight times and came close with 97 in another season, which, pre-analytics etc., was probably the best measure of a slugger's effectiveness and clutch ability: driving in teammates on base and generating runs. Such a tremendous, imposing athlete whom you respected and feared from both sides of the plate (a powerful throwing arm too) when he played your team. As for A-Rod, well, of course his sheer numbers are gaudy and cartoonishly great ... mostly, IMHO, because of the steroids. It will never happen, but I've thought a drastic but perhaps fair way to factor in steroid enhancements was to officially lop off one-third or so of the career numbers of Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, Manny R., etc., call it "punishment" or consequences, and see where the totals stand. They'd likely be in keeping with what they were on track to accomplish pre-steroids (although didn't A-Rod start early with the Rangers?). But I get it: it's the cheating element that all-but disqualifies them, not adjusting numbers. Unfortunately, with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, if they didn't get greedy and 'roid up (yes, there's no proof, I know), each of those guys would still be a HOFer based on their first decade pre-steroids. Anyway, thanks for another thoughtful piece and for inspiring the old synapses as I recover from a nasty flu!