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NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 02: Mark Teixeira #25 of the New York Yankees is honored during a ceremony prior to the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on October 2, 2016 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Arriving from the then-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, first baseman Mark Teixeira played seven seasons for the New York Yankees between 2009 and 2016, before retiring at the age of 36. Now, he has announced the plan for the next phase of his life.

In an announcement today on social media, Teixeira announced his intent to run for a seat in the U.S. Congress. Linking to a website for his campaign, Teixeira – a conservative – touts himself as being ready to support Donald Trump, looking to make America “exceptional”:

“As a lifelong conservative who loves this country, I’m ready to fight for the principles that make Texas strong and America exceptional. It takes teamwork to win, and I’m ready to help defend President Trump’s America First agenda, Texas families, and individual liberty.”

– Mark Teixeira

The Baseball To Politics Pipeline

Whether he is successful in his campaign or not, Teixeira will not be the first baseball player to attempt a post-playing career in politics.

Of note, Hall of Famer Jim Bunning served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, while each of Satchel Paige (who ran for a Missouri state assembly seat), Bobby Avila (elected mayor of the Mexican city of Veracruz in 1980), Walter Johnson (who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1940) and Bobby Valentine (who ran for mayor of Stamford in 2021) are among the many names to have had a go at making the leap from diamond to pulpit.

More recently, 1974 National League Most Valuable Player Steve Garvey ran as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat for California in the 2024 election. Like most of the above, Garvey was unsuccessful, narrowly losing out to Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. But the precedent exists. And Teixeira is undeterred.

Teixeira’s Fine Baseball Career

In a career that spanned 14 MLB seasons and saw him play for four big league outfits, Teixeira hit 409 home runs, win three Silver Slugger awards, and made the All-Star game three times. His was a quality career with both high points and longevity, and at the time of writing, his home run total still ranks 57th of all time.

The highlight of Teixeira’s career came with his sole World Series victory, which he won with the Yankees back in 2009, his first year with the team. Although he himself struggled in the series, hitting only .136 with one home run, Teixeira had led the league in Runs Batted In (122) during the regular season, along with hitting for a .292 batting average with 39 home runs. It was his sixth season of an eight-year stretch of hitting at least 30 home runs, along with almost never missing a game, and winning five Gold Glove awards along the way.

After retiring, Teixeira was included on the 2022 Hall of Fame ballot. However, he failed to receive enough votes (totalling a mere 1.5%) both to get elected to the Hall or return to the ballot in future years. As a baseball player, then, Teixeira’s legacy was not so much “exceptional” as it was “very good”.

With his move into politics, he is hoping to go one better.

Mark Deeks I am continuously intrigued by the esoterica and minutiae of all the aspects of building a basketball team. I want to understand how to build the best basketball teams possible. No, I don’t know why, either. More about Mark Deeks

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