For Andy Pettitte, the near constant in an ever-changing Yankees starting rotation, his chances of one day making the Hall of Fame will most likely come down to how much the voters value victories, and how much they continue to punish players for connections, however limited, to performance-enhancing drugs.

On Saturday, Pettitte beat the Seattle Mariners, becoming the 47th pitcher to win 250 games. He has 49 more victories than Tim Hudson and Roy Halladay, the pitchers who follow him on the active list, and his five World Series rings certainly build an intriguing résumé for enshrinement in Cooperstown.

Many will say that victories do not matter as much anymore in assessing a pitcher’s worth, that he is better judged by statistics like earned-run average and strikeout and walk rates. While that is largely true, victories, for Hall of Fame voters, have traditionally mattered quite a bit. While 250 does not have the ring of 300, it has often been enough to earn a Hall of Fame plaque.

Of the 46 pitchers who had previously won 250 or more games, only eight have reached eligibility for induction and not been elected to the Hall. Four of those were 19th-century hurlers whom the voters rightly excluded for having artificially inflated numbers based on the era in which they played. One, Roger Clemens, failed to gain election in his first time on ballot this past year because many voters have concluded that he used performance-enhancing drugs to bolster his career. That leaves three — Tommy John, Jim Kaat and Jack Morris — who won at least 250 and did not make the Hall of Fame.