Will Jeter, Mattingly, Munson enter HOF in '20?

Legendary Yankees' trio eligible for 2020 Hall of Fame induction

November 4th, 2019

Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly and Thurman Munson already have plaques in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium to honor their legendary careers. Now, the Yankees' trio could potentially enter Cooperstown together in 2020.

Mattingly and Munson are among the 10 finalists to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame via the Modern Baseball Era ballot. Jeter, meanwhile, will be on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot for the first time in 2020.

Jeter, known simply as "The Captain" and later "Mr. November," figures to be a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer. The Yankees' shortstop was a 14-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion during his 20-year career, spent entirely with the Yankees.

Jeter was named the 2000 World Series Most Valuable Player and also took home the 1996 American League Rookie of the Year Award, five Gold Gloves and five Silver Slugger Awards. The Yankees retired his No. 2 -- the last of the single-digit uniform numbers in circulation -- in 2017.

Mattingly racked up plenty of honors of his own during his 14-year career with the Yankees from 1982-95. A six-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove winner, "Donnie Baseball" was also named the 1985 AL MVP and finished as the runner-up in '86. New York retired Mattingly's No. 23 in 1997.

As for Munson, he was another player who spent his entire career with the Yankees. A first-round pick in the 1968 MLB Draft, Munson was later named the 1970 AL Rookie of the Year. He went on to win the '76 AL MVP Award before helping guide the Yankees to back-to-back World Series titles in '77 and '78.

A seven-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner, Munson's 11-year career was cut short when he died in a plane crash on Aug. 2, 1979. His number was officially retired the following year and his locker remained untouched until 2008, when it was moved to the new Yankee Stadium, where it remains on display in the New York Yankees Museum.

While Jeter is expected to be a first-ballot inductee when the voting results are revealed in January, Munson and Mattingly are among the 10 finalists on the Modern Baseball Era ballot, which will be reviewed and voted upon at the Baseball Winter Meetings in San Diego. The results of that vote will be announced live on MLB Network at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 8.