"We have Hall of Fame players"

From the Associated Press game story:

"This team's good. We have great players, Hall of Fame players," said (CC) Sabathia, who has won three of the Yankees' seven playoff games. "We've got all the confidence in the world."

Every once in a while somebody who really ought to know better will write something about a World Series matchup that says something like: There are no Hall of Famers in this series. Tom Boswell, a great baseball writer, said that during the 1991 World Series. Kirby Puckett's in, and Tom Glavine and John Smoltz someday will be, but Boswell didn't have the imagination to see it.

The fact is that almost every team that wins a World Series — and, indeed, the losers — has at least one play on is roster who is Cooperstown bound. Sometimes they're just getting started, sometimes they're on their way out.

The furthest back one finds a Series winner without a Hall of Fame player is 1984, the Detroit Tigers. Their best candidates are Jack Morris and Alan Trammell. There are worse pitchers than Morris in the Hall (and better ones outside); Trammell is not only better than several enshrined shortstops, he's probably the best eligible one not in. But there seems little inclination from the writers to enshrine either.

Next up is the 1990 Reds, but I figure Barry Larkin will get in once eligible. And the champs to follow that don't have an enshrinee by now have guys who figure to get in someday — Glavine or Derek Jeter (above), Pudge Rodriguez or Randy Johnson.

So yeah, the Yankees have some players destined for the Hall of Fame — Jeter and Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez, possibly Sabathia himself. That, in itself, doesn't mean all that much. The Phillies do too.