Baseball
Established in 1936, and currently based in Cooperstown, New York, the Baseball Hall of Fame may be the most prestigious of any Sports Hall of Fame. Although Baseball may have taken a backseat to Football in recent years, there is no doubt that Baseball’s version of the Hall of Fame is by far the most relevant and the most difficult to get enshrined in. At present, a player has to receive seventy five percent of the votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America, which has proven to be no easy task. Failing that, a player could be inducted by the Veterans committee, though few have been inducted this way. Our list will focus on the players only, and although we could easily do a tally focusing on mangers, broadcasters or other vital personnel, as always it is far more enjoyable to discuss the merits of those on the field as oppose to those off of it.Until Then, Let’s get some peanuts and cracker jacks and cast some votes of our own!
Sincerely,
The Not in Hall of Committee.
You may have noticed that many sportswriters who have a Hall of Fame ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame drink a little more since the PED candidates entered the ballot. The PED question is now utterly unavoidable with the wave of eligible candidates, as the sport’s biggest stars of the last two decades are now eligible for Hall of Fame enshrinement. It is not that our baseball list has not been controversial in the past. We already made significant revisions when we initially created a “1a” and a “1b” to account for the fact that both Pete Rose and…
Couldn’t we just say, " Look at the previous Barry Bonds entry and say ‘Ditto”? Seriously, the parallels are too great to ignore. Like Bonds, Clemens may have had a Hall of Fame career before he allegedly took PEDs, and like Bonds, he dominated the steroid era as he did the decade before. He has the career statistics (353 wins and 4,672 strikeouts), the dominating seasons (seven Cy Youngs and an MVP), and two World Series Rings. “Rocket” Roger Clemens is arguably the best Pitcher in the past forty years. None of this may matter. A solid percentage of his…
Statistically, there is no argument about the Hall of Fame qualifications of Pete Rose. Even the most casual baseball fan is aware that “Charlie Hustle” is the all-time hit king with 4,256 hits, a record that may never be broken. Rose was also a 17-time All-Star and proved to be a clutch performer, as evidenced by his three World Series Rings, including a World Series MVP. Sadly, as much as casual sports fans are aware of Rose’s on-field accomplishments, many who have never turned their dial to ESPN know his off-field embarrassments. As many are aware, Pete Rose was banned…
Let's get all the derogatory stuff out of the way…and we know there is a lot. While we talked about PED use a lot with Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, et all., they were baseball superstars who took enhancements (allegedly) when the players' union and Major League Baseball had not yet agreed that they were banned substances. That is important to note, as Alex Rodriguez was caught while penalties were in place, leaving no doubt that he cheated and was suspended for the entire 2014 season. There is more, of course. The Yankees famously tried everything to get out…
Did he or didn’t he conspire to fix the 1919 World Series? Over eighty years after the fact, there is still a sizable debate as to whether “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was involved in the “Black Sox” scandal that saw the Chicago White Sox throw the World Series for financial gain against the Cincinnati Reds. Prior to his expulsion from baseball, Jackson had already proved himself Hall of Fame worthy. In ten full Major League seasons, Shoeless Joe had over 1,700 hits and had a career batting average of .356. The latter remains iconic as this puts him third all-time. Jackson…
Playing with Alan Trammell for virtually his entire career, Lou Whitaker was one half of the longest-running double play combination in Baseball history. Like Trammell, Whitaker was a great player with both bat and glove and a big part of Detroit’s World Series win in 1984. Whitaker was one of the top Second Basemen of his era, yet he did not receive the same respect or notoriety as others. He won the American League Rookie of the Year in 1978, and though he did not live up to the lofty expectations placed upon him, records show that he was a very consistent…
A dominating pitcher for a few seasons in the early 1880s, Jim McCormick was a bruising Scotsman whose underhanded prowess netted him 265 wins in what was a relatively brief career. Of course, he played in a time when teams essentially rode the same two pitchers. It wasn’t like McCormick could blame his manager in those early seasons; he was the Player/Manager. Had there been a Cy Young Award in 1880 and 1882, Jim McCormick may very well have won it. In those two campaigns, he led the National League in every major Pitching Category. The issue with McCormick is…
If you think that all of the Turn of the Century Baseball Players who should be in the Hall of Fame are already in, then we ask you to think again. We offer you the case of “Bad” Bill Dahlen, whose Hall of Fame campaign is being championed by sabremetricians and traditionalists alike. At the time of Bill Dahlen’s retirement, he was the all-time League Leader in Games Played and was in the top ten in many other key offensive categories. Granted, this was still early in the game’s history, but Dahlen remains entrenched in the top 100 in several…
Outside of Boston, it may be forgotten how good Dwight Evans was. It could be because he played on teams with the more popular players, but Evans was a huge component in both the 1975 and 1986 World Series runs.Starting off in an outfield with Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, Evans was essentially the number three man in the outfield, but became a huge contributor with his defensive play in the field. Year by year, his offensive numbers slowly began to improve, and by the 1980s, Evans was contributing with power and a huge amount of walks, leading to very…
For the record, we love outspoken athletes. They may not always be popular with fans (and other players), but they sure make for far better sound bites than “we gotta go out there and give 100 percent” or other such statements from the “Athlete’s Guide to Dealing with the Media”. Ironically, Schilling is now part of the media, but remains as outspoken as ever. Schilling attracted attention with his arm, too. Although he has only 216 career Major League victories, he has a career WAR of 69.7, which ranks him in the top thirty all-time for Pitchers. He was a…
Kenny Lofton took the city of Cleveland by storm in the early 90’s and by doing so, got the baseball world to notice the Tribe again. By the decade’s end, though, power numbers took over the game, and many forgot how good he really was. Lofton’s emergence with Cleveland saw him cement himself as the best leadoff hitter in the American League. With five straight seasons hitting at least .300 (and with a decent OBP), he was able to set the table often with his speed. Five times, Kenny would be the Stolen Base king of the AL, and he…
We imagine that there are younger baseball fans who are oblivious that there really was a Tommy John and that it was not just the name of a surgery. This would be unfortunate, as Tommy John has to go down as one of the most durable pitchers in baseball history. Likely the most amazing statistic about Tommy John is that he lasted twenty-six seasons. Considering that he missed a season and a half due to arm trouble, it would have been expected that his career would not be a long one. Not only did he come back from revolutionary surgery…
With all due respect to Ivan Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero, statistically speaking, Manny Ramirez is the top dog of the new possibilities for the 2017 Class. We will also say that he was the most entertaining. We are all aware of the eccentric “Manny being Manny moments, but ahead of all that was a man who was an incredible hitter who had a career slash line of .312/.411/.585/.996 that included one Batting Title, three On Base Percentage Titles, three Slugging Titles, and three OPS Titles. Most importantly, Ramirez maintained his offensive production in the postseason and was the Most Valuable…
This one is a little tough. We recognize (and we are sure most people agree) that the overall career numbers of Roger Maris do not equate to a Hall of Fame Baseball player. However, many very good players have been excluded from Cooperstown because they lacked moments of greatness. Nobody could ever doubt that Roger Maris had a year that was part of baseball immortality. Roger Maris was not a one-season wonder, as it is often forgotten that he won the 1960 AL MVP before his legendary season and helped the Cardinals win the World Series in 1967. However, it…
Athletes are competitive by nature, but 99.9 percent of them paled to the competitive juices of Wes Ferrell. He was known to get violent whenever he lost and take it out on himself and inanimate objects. He may have been animated himself at times, but his teammates have always said they wanted him on their side. Wes Ferrell’s first four years as a regular in the Indians’ rotation saw him win twenty games. He would do so again on two more occasions, utilizing a brilliant fastball and an assortment of pitches. He was one of the only pitchers to retire…
It is possible that this candidate is shrouded with more controversy than our top three candidates combined?
Just what would Keith Hernandez be most famous for? Could it be for his eleven consecutive Gold Gloves? How about his 1979 MVP? The two World Series rings, perhaps? Maybe his tenacious play as a Met? It could also be for his association with cocaine. Likely, many think of Keith Hernandez and remember that Seinfeld episode instead. Just as long as it isn’t for those terrible Just for Men commercials. Although Keith Hernandez had a longer tenure with the Cardinals and won a World Series and MVP there, it can be easily argued that his best days were as a…
At the time of the infamous steroids trial, Rafael Palmeiro seemed to come off so well. Of course, when you are sitting next to a man who suddenly suffered from amnesia (Mark McGwire), a man who suddenly forgot the English language (Sammy Sosa), and the man who broke the “bro code” (Jose Canseco), a defiant and confident-sounding Rafael Palmeiro could not help but look good. A few months later, Palmeiro was suspended by Major League Baseball for testing positive for steroids. Ironically, this could hurt Palmeiro’s chances more than anyone else who testified at Congress. At that point, he had…
In the long and illustrious (often tortured) history of the Boston Red Sox, a case can be made that of all the men who graced Fenway’s mound Luis Tiant was the most popular of them all. Considering the number of great athletes who have donned the Red Sox uniform, this is an impressive accolade indeed. Tiant wasn’t just popular because of his friendly demeanor, inviting accent, and the fact that he didn’t look like an athlete; Tiant was also popular because he was damn good. In his career, the Cuban won 20 games four times with his unorthodox delivery. When…