Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2024 revision of our top 50 Houston Astros.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Please note that our algorithm has changed, which yielded minor changes throughout the baseball lists.

Last year, the Astros expectedly returned to the postseason but were dismissed in two games in the Wildcard by the Houston Astros.  There was one new entry and three significant elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes.

1. Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio

3. Jose Altuve

4. Lance Berkman

5. Cesar Cedeno 

You can find the entire list here. 

Of note, Jose Altuve remained at #3, and as good as he has been still has some work to do to surpass Hall of Fame inductee, Craig Biggio for #2.

The elevations were Alex Bregman (#11 to #8), Yordan Alvarez (#27 to #19) and Kyle Tucker (#33 to #23). 

The new entrant is Framber Valdez, who debuts at #31.

 

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Houston Astros.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in Major League Baseball.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Astros again were World Series contenders, and made the playoffs.  There were no new entrants, but four Astros climbed the list.

As always, we present our top five, which did not change.

1. Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio

3. Jose Altuve

4. Lance Berkman

5. Cesar Cedeno

You can find the entire list here.

Notably, Altuve remains at number three, and still has a way to go to overtake Biggio at #2, but he has it in him to not only do that, but snatch #1 from Bagwell.

Future first ballot Hall of Fame Pitcher, Justin Verlander, was traded back to the Astros during the season and did enough to climb from #11 to #9.

Infielder, Alex Bregman, went up three spots from #14 to #11.

Offensive stud, Yordan Alvarez shot up from #37 to #27.

The final change is Kyle Tucker, who climbed to #33 from #45.

As always, we thank you for your support, and look for more revisions in the future. 

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022 revision of our top Houston Astros.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Houston won their second World Series, and they are blessed with young talent, two of which make their first appearance on this list.

As always, we present our top five, which was not impacted by last season:

1. Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio                        

3. Jose Altuve

4. Lance Berkman

5. Cesar Cedeno

You can find the entire list here.

Despite his good year, Altuve was unable to pass Biggio for #2.

Justin Verlander, who won the Cy Young, and is now with the New York Mets, jumped from #19 to #11; an impressive feat considering the relative brevity of his Astros career.

Infielder, Alex Bregman, moved up two spots to #14.

Yuli Gurriel also moved up by two, with a new rank of #35.

Designated Hitter, Yordan Alvarez, makes his debut at #37 and Outfielder, Kyle Tucker, comes in at #45.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity. As such, we are very happy to present our pre-2021 revision of our top 50 Houston Astros of all-time.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in their League. 

3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

There are no new entries but three rank elevations, none of which were reflected on the top five, which, as always, we present in our news updates. 

They are:

1. Jeff Bagwell                                            

2. Craig Biggio

3. Lance Berkman

4. Jose Altuve

5. Cesar Cedeno

The complete list can be found here. 

Outfielder, George Springer, moved up two spots to #16.  Springer’s ascension ends here, as he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as a Free Agent.

Infielder, Alex Bregman, also advanced two spots and is now at #19.  

Fellow infielder, Carlos Correa went from #31 to #24.

We welcome your input and commentsand as always, we thank you for your support.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present the second revision of our top 50 Houston Astros of all-time.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in their respective League.

3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

This is the first time that we have revised this since 2018, and it has led to a few minor changes, one of which affecting the top five.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories, which has altered the rankings considerably.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2019 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio 

3. Lance Berkman

4. Jose Altuve

5. Cesar Cedeno

The top three remain the same with the “Killer B’s” of Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman.  Jose Altuve moved up one spot from #5 to 4, switching places with Cesar Cedeno.

Based on the 2019 season, we have had additional rank improvements.

George Springer moved from #27 to #19.  Alex Bregman rockets from #48 to #21.

Gerrit Cole, who won the Cy Young last year debuts at #27, but since he signed with the New York Yankees, he won’t climb any higher.

We welcome your input and commentsand as always, we thank you for your support.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such it is huge news that Houston Astros have announced their second franchise Hall of Fame Class.

The timing is not getting a lot of exposure, as the Astros are embroiled with stealing signs scandal that has transfixed the game.  Nevertheless, this organization ushered in something special last year with their franchise Hall of Fame, and it is time for us to celebrate that.

These six individuals will be honored in a pre-game ceremony at the Astros home game against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 8.

Those six are:

Lance Berkman:  The third member of the “Killer B’s”, Berkman played for Houston from 1999 to 2010, where he was a five-time All-Star, and in all of those seasons, he finished in the top seven in MVP voting.  Berkman showed power with a pair of 40 Home Run Seasons, and would smack 326 taters with 1,090 RBIs for the Astros.  Berkman was traded to the New York Yankees in 2010, and he left there with a Slash Line of .296/.410/.549.

Cesar Cedeno:  From the Dominican Republic, Cedeno was with Houston from 1970 to 1981 where he was a four-time All-Star.  Cedeno had three seasons where he batted over .300, and he would lead the NL in Doubles twice.  From 1972 to 1976, he won a Gold Glove and he would also have six straight 50 Stolen Base seasons, totaling 487 for the team.  Cedeno also could go deep, as shown by his 163 Home Runs with Houston.  He would have 1,658 Hits, with a .289 Batting Average for the Astros.

Roy Hofheinz:  Hofheinz was the former Mayor of Houston, and part of the group that the Majors to Houston.

Roy Oswalt:  Debuting for the Astros in 2001, Roy Oswalt would finish in the top five in Cy Young voting in five of his six first seasons.  The three-time All-Star would have two 20 Win campaigns, won the ERA Title in 2006 and would have a 143-82 record for Houston.  He also would strike out 1,593 batters.

Billy Wagner:  One of the more dominating relief pitchers of his day, Wagner went to three All-Star Games with Houston, and would win the National League Rolaids Relief Award in 1999.  He would record 225 Saves and 379 Games Finished.

Bob Watson:  Watson was with Houston from 1966 to 1979, and he was a two-time All-Star.  He would accumulate 1,448 Hits with 139 Home Runs for the team while batting .297.

This is the first class that was voted on by the 11-member Astros Hall of Fame committee.

They will join Bob Aspromonte, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Jose Cruz, Larry Dierker, Gene Elston, Milo Hamilton, Joe Morgan, Joe Niekro, Shane Reynolds, J.R. Richard, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Jim Umbricht, Don Wilson and Jimmy Wynn, who were all inducted last year.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Larry Walker for earning this prestigious honor.

Baseball Hall of Fame season is in full gear as following the announcements of the Today’s Era Finalists last week, Cooperstown has now unveiled the official Hall of Fame ballot.

Let’s take a look at the 35 former players who the Baseball Writers can vote on:

In alphabetical order:

Rick Ankiel: Ankiel is debuting on the ballot and he was the runner-up for the National League Rookie of the Year in 2000 as a Pitcher. Injuries to his pitching arm forced him to abandon that aspect of the game and he would come back as an Outfielder and collect over 400 Hits. This is a great story but just getting on this ballot is a win.

Jason Bay: Bay was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2004 while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates and he would be selected for three All Star Games. The Canadian would have 1,200 Hits with 222 Home Runs but he is unlikely to get any votes.

Lance Berkman: Berkman was the third “Killer B” for the Houston Astros and he would later win a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals. This is his first time on the ballot and he is a six time All Star with 366 career Home Runs with an OPS at .943. He will struggle to get past the first ballot. Berkman is ranked #89 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Barry Bonds: Bonds returns to the ballot for the seventh time and he had a high vote of 56.4% last year. The All-Time Home Run Leader and 7 time MVP has seen a 20.2% since he debuted and the “PED” guys have gone from “no chance” to “50/50”. Expect another bump this year. Bonds is ranked #2 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Roger Clemens: How fitting that Clemens alphabetically comes after Bonds! Clemens was to pitching what Bonds was hitting and he was a 7 time Cy Young Award winner with 354 career Wins. Like Bonds, he has on his seventh year on the ballot and he had 57.3% of the ballot last year, well up from the 37.6% from his first year. Clemens is ranked #1C on Notinhalloffame.com.

Freddy Garcia: Garcia got off to a good start where he was a two time All Star and he was in the top ten in Cy Young voting twice. The Venezuelan Pitcher won 156 Games and he is on his first ballot but he will likely struggle to get any votes at all.

Jon Garland: Garland was an All Star in 2005, which was the same season he was sixth in Cy Young voting and helped the Chicago White Sox win the World Series. He won 136 Games over his career and he is not expected to receive any votes.

Travis Hafner: Hafner spent most of his career with the Cleveland Indians where he would finish in the top ten in MVP voting twice. Over his career he had 1,039 Hits with 213 Home Runs and he would win the American League Slugging Title in 2006. He will be fortunate to get any votes.

Roy Halladay: Halladay is on his first year of eligibility and he has an excellent chance to enter Cooperstown on his first year of eligibility. Over his career, “Doc” was a two time Cy Young winner one in both leagues and he was a top five finisher five times. Halladay had a great record of 203 and 105 with 2,117 Strikeouts. Should he get in, it will be posthumous as he died when he crashed his plane a couple of years ago. Halladay is ranked #5 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Todd Helton: Helton is a five time All Star who spent his entire career with the Colorado Rockies. Helton had 369 Home Runs over 2,519 Hits I n hic career. He is entering his first year of eligibility and while we don’t think he will enter on the first ballot he should receive enough to stay on the ballot. Helton is ranked #10 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Andruw Jones: Jones is on his second year on the Hall of Fame ballot after receiving 7.3 on his debut year. He had great power with 434 Home Runs and he was a ten time Gold Glove winner. Jones had a low vote tally due to a crowded ballot but we think he will see a decent rise this year. Jones is ranked #46 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Jeff Kent: Jeff Kent is on his sixth year of eligibility where he has never escaped the teens, peaking at 16.7% in 2017. The 2000 National League MVP was a five time All Star and he smacked 2,461 Hits with 377 Home Runs. Kent will likely receive the same amount of Hall of Fame support as the previous years. Kent is ranked #52 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Ted Lilly: Lilly had a 15 year career where he was a two time All Star who would have 130 and 113 record. Lilly never received any Cy Young votes and we suspect that he will not receive any Hall of Fame votes either.

Derek Lowe: Lowe was a two time All Star and in 2002 he finished third in Cy Young voting. He would win 176 Games and he helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in 2004. Lowe might receive a couple of votes.

Edgar Martinez: The bad news is that this is the last year that former Edgar Martinez is on the ballot. The good news is that he received 70.4% last year and has very solid momentum to get in this year. Arguably the greatest Designated Hitter of all-time had 2,247 Hits with 309 Home Runs and a career Slash Line of .312/.418/.515. He is ranked #14 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Fred McGriff: Like Martinez, Fred McGriff is on his last year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame, but last year he only had 23.2% of the vote so the odds of him getting another 51.8% seems very unlikely. The five time All Star had 493 Home Runs with 2,490 Hits and will likely have to look at a Veteran’s Committee Induction. He is ranked #32 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Mike Mussina: Mike Mussina is entering his sixth season on the ballot and after a 63.5% finish last year he could gain the support needed to enter this year. Splitting his career between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees, Mussina may never been a Cy Young winner but he was in the top six in voting nine times. The Pitcher would have a 270 and 153 record with 2,813 Strikeouts. He is ranked #4 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Darren Oliver: Oliver had a 118 and 98 record over 766 Games. A 20 year veteran, Oliver probably won’t earn a vote but we are glad to see that he was respected enough to earn a spot on the ballot.

Roy Oswalt: This is Roy Oswalt’s first time on the ballot and the three time All Star would finish in the top six in Cy Young in voting six times. He was a two time 20 Game winner who totaled 163 over his career. A win for him this year would to be to make the 5% needed to stay on the ballot next year. He is ranked #104 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Andy Pettitte: In our eyes, the most interesting first ballot vote will be that of Andy Pettitte who amassed a 256 and 135 record with 2,448 Strikeouts. Five times he would finish in the top five in Cy Young voting and he is a five time World Series winner with 19 post-season Wins. He likely won’t get in on the first ballot and he could conceivably finish anywhere between 20% and 55%. Honestly, we can’t pinpoint this one at all. He is ranked #15 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Juan Pierre: Pierre was a speedster who would lead his league in Stolen Bases three times and he had 614 in total. He would have 2,217 Hits with a career Batting Average of .295. Pierre might get a couple of votes but will lucky to get even that.

Placido Polanco: Polanco had a good career with over 2,100 Hits and he was a two time All Star who also won three Gold Gloves. Polanco will be in the same boat as Pierre as they were both good players who will be worth a vote or two.

Manny Ramirez: Manny Ramirez will be on his third ballot but unlike other PED guys he went down last year in his votes. He had 22.0% last year and 23.8% the year before. It has to be remembered that unlike Bonds and Clemens, Ramirez DID test positive. Ramirez is a two time World Series Champion with the Boston Red Sox with four top four MVP votes. He also blasted 555 Home Runs with a career Slash Line of .312/.411/.585. Statistically speaking we know that he meets the criteria but the label of forgiveness hasn’t spread to him…at least not yet. He is ranked #8 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Mariano Rivera: Usually Relief Pitchers are not Hall of Fame locks but there has never been a closer like Mariano Rivera. The Panamanian is the all-time leader in Saves (652) and the career New York Yankee won five World Series titles and his post season record saw him win 8 Games, record 42 Saves and he had a 0.70 ERA and a 0.759 WHIP. It will be a shock if he does not get inducted this year and is the leading vote getter. He is ranked #3 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Scott Rolen: Rolen received 10.2% of the ballot last year and is entering his second year of eligibility. He brings a very balanced resume of eight Gold Gloves, 316 Home Runs, is a World Series Champion (with St. Louis) and in terms of bWAR he is at 70.6. He might see his number increase but not by much. He is ranked #17 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Curt Schilling: Schilling won 216 Games with 3,116 Strikeouts and three times he was the National League Cy Young runner-up but he was even more lights out in the post-season where he was a three time World Series Champion (one with Arizona and two with Boston) with an 11 and 2 record and a 2.23 ERA. Schilling is on his seventh year on the ballot with a 51.2% finish last year, but it is down from where it was two years ago (52.3%). Schilling’s past comments against the media have not helped him, which might explain partially why he is still waiting. He is ranked #7 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Gary Sheffield: Gary Sheffield is another name on the ballot with PED suspicion and has been ballot purgatory for the four years he has been on the ballot finishing anywhere from 11.1% to 13.3%. Sheffield hit 509 Home Runs over his career and perhaps with the less crowded ballot he might increase vote total but it will be difficult to see him rise above the mid-teens. He is ranked #20 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Sammy Sosa: Sammy Sosa has been on the ballot for six years and in his first year on the ballot he received 12.5%. Since that time he never got past 10% and while some PED guys are being forgiven, the former MVP does not seem to be. He had 609 Home Runs with 2,408 Hits over his career, which are incredible numbers yet he will probably struggle to get a double digit vote. He is ranked #30 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Miguel Tejada: Miguel Tejada won the American League MVP in 2002 and over his career he belted 307 Home Runs with 2,407 Hits. For Tejada, a win here would be to get the 5% needed to remain on the ballot but it will be difficult. He is ranked #95 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Omar Vizquel: Omar Vizquel is one of the greatest defensive players ever accumulating 11 Gold Gloves over a 24 year career that also saw him collect 2,877 Hits. This is the second year of eligibility for Vizquel who got 37.0% last year. While many expected Vizquel to get a higher percentage in his ballot debut this is still a good start on the Hall of Fame path. He might increase by ten percent this year. He is ranked #68 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Billy Wagner: Billy Wagner recorded 422 Saves over his career and he is entering his fourth year of eligibility. He received a high of 11.1% last year but it might be hard for him to reach the teens.

Larry Walker: Larry Walker is a former National League MVP who has a career bWAR over 70, a .313 career Batting Average and 383 Home Runs, which overall seems like a Hall of Fame resume on the surface but the former Colorado Rockies star appears to be the victim of what was then the “Coors Field effect” where he had really good home stats. He only has two more chances and he is coming off a high of 34.1%. He will likely see a vote increase but not much. He is ranked #13 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Kevin Youkilis: Youkilis would win two World Series Rings with the Boston Red Sox and was a three time All Star who finished third in MVP voting in 2008. He might get a vote or two but he probably shouldn’t.

Michael Young: Young had a pretty good career where he accumulated 2,375 Hits with an even .300 Batting Average. Young was a seven time All Star and should receive a few votes but it is also possible that we won’t have any.

Jose Contreras, Ryan Dempster, Octavio Dotel, Ramon Hernandez, Brad Penny, Yorvit Torrealba and Jake Westbrook played the minimum amount of seasons (10) to qualify for the ballot but they were not included.

The election results will be announced on January 22.

We can guarantee that between now and that time we will have a lot more to write about when it comes to this vote!

Recently we uploaded our updated Notinhalloffame.com Rock List. We have another major update as our Baseball list has now been altered following the selection of six new members entering the elite halls of Cooperstown.

Six former players left our list, four via the vote (Chipper Jones #3, Jim Thome #6, Vladimir Guerrero #9 and Trevor Hoffman #20) and two from the Veteran’s Committee (Jack Morris #11 and Alan Trammell #12). This clears up both the top portion of our list but the Hall of Fame voter’s ballot, which should allow for others who have been waiting to enter the Hall.

While four major names left the Hall of Fame ballot the voters have some new names to consider, three of which are in our new top ten with another making our top twenty.

Our new top ten is as follows:

The #1 position is actually split in three, which is how we have done this since the inception of our Baseball list. As Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson are not eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, we have deemed them both “1A” and 1B”.

This means that Roger Clemens who is ranked “1C” is the highest eligible player. This is where he was ranked last year.

Barry Bonds remains at #2. Two years ago, Bonds held Clemens’ spot but your votes brought the switch. Regardless, we feel that both Clemens and Bonds are Hall of Famers.

The highest debut this year is Mariano Rivera, the greatest (no, we will not say arguably) reliever of all-time. The career New York Yankee enters our list at #3, but we suspect that he will enter the Hall on his first ballot.

Mike Mussina remains at #4. While he continues to gain support his name is a low-key in comparison to other candidates.

Another Pitcher debuts in the top five in the late Roy Halladay. The former two time Cy Young winner won 203 Games to only 105 Losses and he led his league in bWAR for Pitchers four times.

Bill Dahlen dropped from #5 to #6 while Curt Schilling moved up one spot from #8 to #7. Schilling traded spots with Manny Ramirez, who was #7 last year.

The top ten is rounded out by Lou Whitaker who moved from #10 to #9 and new entry Todd Helton is #10.

Another significant new entry is Andy Pettitte. The five time World Series winner debuts in #15.

There are three more entries with Lance Berkman #89, Miguel Tejada #95 and Roy Oswalt #104.

With these changes we now have 106 ranked former baseball players with our eventual intention to swell the number to 150.

You know what we want you to do!

Take a look at these new entries cast your votes and gives us your opinions as this does affect our future rankings.

Baseball immortality: Precious few attain it, most do not even come close—and some perch on the cusp of that immortality as signified by the Baseball Hall of Fame. Theirs are the test cases, players whose careers, accomplishments, and legacies form the threshold of what separates a Hall of Famer from the rest.

Baseball Hall of Fame voting in the last few years has been fascinating for a number of reasons, particularly the logjam of qualified candidates, which promises to remain an issue for the next few years. That logjam puts additional pressure on the borderline candidates—will they be overlooked, perhaps unfairly, because there are too many candidates from which to choose?

We here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly getting there in our pursuit of naming the Top 50 players from every major sports franchise in North America.

We return to the world of Baseball with the Houston Astros and that we believe are Top 50 players ever from that organization.

We encourage you to see the complete list here, but for those who can’t wait, here are the top five Houston Astros of all-time:



1.Jeff Bagwell

2. Craig Biggio

3. Lance Berkman

4. Cesar Cedeno

5. Jose Cruz



This won’t be the last of this, as we have the Detroit Lions up next. 

As always, we thank you for your support and look for your input!

The third member of the famed Houston Astros “Killer B’s”, Lance Berkman had a decade of success in the state of Texas where he would finish five times in the Top Ten in National League Most Valuable Player voting. 

Berkman debuted in 1999, and he went to his first All-Star Game in 2001, where he was entrenched as Houston’s third star behind Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.  He had five 30 plus Home Run Seasons, and another five where he had over 100 RBIs as an Astro.  He hit for average, with four years going over .300, and had a Slash Line of .296/.410/.549 with the team.

His time with Houston ended when the fading Astros dealt him to the New Year Yankees, and he signed that off-season with the St. Louis Cardinals, and would win the World Series there in 2011.

Berkman would sign a one-day contract in 2013, so that he could retire as an Astro.  With Houston, he collected 1,648 Hits, with 326 Home Runs, and 1,090 RBIs.  The team inducted Berkman into their Hall of Fame in 2020.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com have continued our expansion of our Baseball section with a look at those who will be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. 

The following players will be the eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2019:

Andy Pettitte

Barry Zito

Brad Penny

Darren Oliver

Derek Lowe

Freddy Garcia

Jake Westbrook

Jason Bay

Jon Garland

Jose Contreras

Juan Pierre

Kevin Youkilis

Lance Berkman

Mariano Rivera

Michael Young

Miguel Tejada

Octavio Dotel

Placido Polanco

Rafael Furcal

Ramon Hernandez

Roy Halladay

Roy Oswalt

Ryan Dempster

Ted Lilly

Todd Helton

Travis Hafner

Vernon Wells

Yorvit Torrealba

A few things certainly stand out from this group.

Mariano Rivera, who without question is the greatest relief pitcher of all time is expected to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot. 

Roy Halladay, a two time Cy Young Award winner is also a huge name on the ballot, and conceivable the eight time All Star could also join Rivera on the first ballot. 

For our money, the most interesting name on the ballot is Todd Helton, who for a five year period was one of the top offensive players in the National League and has accumulatively put together a Hall of Fame resume.  Will the Coors Field bias affect him as it did Larry Walker?

Andy Pettitte is another intriguing candidate as his stats put him on the fence, but his admitted (though contrite) PED use could place him on the wrong side of the vote.

The third “Killer B”, Lance Berkman should also get a decent percentage of the vote.

Beyond those five, it is difficult to imagine anyone else making the second year of eligibility, though didn’t many peg Miguel Tejada as a strong contender once upon a time?

For what it is worth, there is also a healthy contingent of former World Series Champions from the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Gang, you know what we want you to do!

Take a look at the new entries and cast your vote and offer us your opinion.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your support and we will continue to provide updates as often as possible.

Lance Berkman was the third “Killer B” of the Houston Astros, though it was his Comeback Player of the Year season with St. Louis (that also netted him his only World Series Ring) that he might hold most dear.

You know how hard it is to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame? In 2013, with a ballot brimming with qualified candidates, not one player received the 75 percent of the votes needed for admission. (I identified 14 likely Hall of Famers on the 2013 ballot.)

Granted, 2013 was the first year of eligibility for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both poster boys for performance-enhancing drugs (PED), bringing to a head the contentious debate about "cheaters" and their admission into the Hall. But there were certainly several "clean" players on that ballot, and a few of those, such as 3000-hit-club member Craig Biggio, would have been uncontroversial picks in any previous year.

And although 2014 saw the election of three players—Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Frank Thomas—it was merely the tip of a talent-heavy iceberg (I identified 18 likely Hall of Famers for that ballot), while providing a burn to Biggio yet again as not only did he miss election by one vote (he garnered 74.8 percent of the vote), but three first-time candidates leapfrogged him into Cooperstown.