Before James Harden of the Houston Rockets made beards cool again, there was Johnny Damon. He and his scruffy-looking teammates in Bean Town broke the ‘Curse of the Bambino’ by winning the World Series Championship in 2004 before Damon took his talents to the Bronx, where his brilliant base running was a catalyst for the last great Yankees team of 2009.
But 2018 presents a whole new opportunity for the Orlando, Florida native. For the first time, Damon is eligible to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. As we know, a player must wait five full years after retiring before becoming eligible for enshrinement into Cooperstown.