The Worst Starts To Hall Of Fame Careers. Belle may have been a jerk and got caught with a corked bat, but the fact that he had just two meek representations on the Hall of Fame ballot before being dropped is a crime. He was the 1978 NL MVP, won two World Series titles and received MVP votes in nine seasons, finishing in the top five of the voting five times. One of Wood's most incredible stats is that in 1,434 career innings pitched, he allowed just 10 home runs. Bonds wouldve reached the 3,000 hit mark had a club offered him a contract for the 2008 season or if he hadnt walked a MLB-record 2,558 times. Even for people who think Smith was better than Trammell, it wasn't as much as their Hall of Fame ballot gaps suggest. a . His career spanned the dead-ball and live-ball eras, exemplified by his league-leading home run totals of 12 (1916) and 41 (1923). Cone didn't compile big career numbers since he battled injuries for many years, but he matches up with the best in some of his individual years. Colavito was a great power hitter and run producer in the 1950s who received surprisingly little support in his Hall of Fame candidacy. Evans was an outstanding all-around right fielder who possessed one of the game's greatest throwing arms. The Hall of Fame case for Keith Hernandez starts with his brilliant glove-work at first base. NL in hits in 1999 with 206. Adams won 194 games during the dead-ball era for the Pirates and was an early master of WHIP. He finished fourth in the MVP voting that year behind Hall of Famers Paul Waner, Frankie Frisch and Rogers Hornsby. Minoso also led the league in "hit by pitch" 10 times, and his 192 plunkings ranks ninth all time. Nettles was a superior defender who finished fifth and sixth in the American League MVP voting in 1977 and 1978, respectively. He topped 50 home runs four times and finished with 583 career homers. All other pitchers in that category who are eligible are in the Hall of Fame as well. Reaching 3,000 hits, in our opinion, is a benchmark of true greatness that few will ever achieve. The righty went 48-16 and struck out 417 batters in 587 innings. He finished with 254 career wins, finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times and won 20 games three times. Over his final seven seasons, he topped 130 games played just once. Cramer played a total of 20 seasons from 1929 to 1948 and had long stints with the As, Red Sox and Tigers. Reulbach led the league in winning percentage for three straight years from 1906 to 1908 when he compiled a record of 60-15 over the three-year period. Although he was never a serious threat to make the Hall of Fame, it's surprising that he lasted just one year on the ballot before being removed after getting a mere 19 votes in 1991. April 18, 2022 . He received MVP votes seven times, finishing second in 1987. Bagwell's numbers are there, and he passes the eye test as a dominant player in his era, but the cloud of steroids has kept him out so far, right or wrong. Parker is one of those players who got much less recognition on the Hall of Fame ballot than he deserved. Colavito was also an excellent outfielder, possessing one of the greatest throwing arms in the game. Don Mattingly was a New York Yankee his entire career and would definitely be in the hall of fame if not for his back problems that developed later in his career. He led the league in the category five times, including 1919 and 1920 when he registered WHIPs below 1.000. He batted over .300 seven times and was known for having fantastic range at shortstop. Johnson hit for good average on top of his power as well, batting over .290 nine times. Playing in Coors Field at the height of the steroid era, Galarraga couldn't help but put upmonstrousseasons. Palmeiro topped 30 home runs 11 times and batted over .300 six times. He still holds a number of Dodgers franchise records, and at the time of his retirement, his .532 slugging percentage was the fourth-best in NL history. In the era between 1965 and 1990, Foster was the only player to hit 50 home runs. O'Doul actually is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, just not the one in Cooperstown. McInnis was a fine defender who set numerous fielding records as a first baseman. After his playing career ended Buck became a scout for the Cubs, signing Lou Brock for the team. He won three batting titles, led the AL in hits five times and had two runner-up finishes in MVP voting. McGriff was remarkably consistent, belting 30 home runs in a season 10 times during the steroid era without a whisper of accusation about him. Like many others,. "Rowdy Richard" Bartell's career started just as Ty Cobb's was ending, but Bartell carried Cobb's legacy of playing the game with reckless abandon. From 1982 to 1985, Murphy played in every single game, was an NL All-Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award winner, and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting in each season. Arguably the best designated hitter of all time, Martinez was very similar to Baines but with a little bit more hardware. At the time of his retirement, he held the major league record for games played and was in the top 10 in RBI, doubles and extra-base hits. He played five years in the NA before the league morphed into the National League. Galarraga transformed himself from a high-average, Gold Glove first baseman to a power-hitting masher after eight seasons in the league with a move to the Colorado Rockies. Indeed, only 33 men are members of the elite 3,000-Hit Club. Buffinton authored one of the most incomprehensible statistical seasons in baseball history in 1884. Ryan racked up over 2,500 hits playing mostly for the Chicago Colts as the 19th century came to a close. Maris was considered a power show more content . A career .303 hitter, Daubert accumulated 2,326 hits in his 15-year career and is the National League's all-time leader in sacrifice hits with 392. Maris' lifetime numbers simply don't stack up, as he tailed off dramatically after the age of 29. He finished with a career record of 193-121 but had an ERA of 4.04. As Freehan's career was ending, catchers like Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter ushered in a new era of catcher. His numbers are at least equal to Hall of Fame peers Jim Rice and Andre Dawson, and his character on and off the field is exemplary. And the adage seems to hold true since every player who has 3000 hits and has been eligible for the Hall of Fame has been elected (with the exception of Rafael Palmeiro who has been . Unlike Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens, people aren't lining up to say that McGwire was a Hall of Fame player before he took steroids. Ichiro is only renting space on this list. Hes basically a forgotten star at this point. John was another compiler, but the fact that he was able to stick around long enough to compile those statistics is incredible in itself. In DiMaggio's 11 seasons, he made the All-Star game seven times and received MVP votes in six seasons. Before dying in a plane crash, Munson was the 1970 Rookie of the Year, 1976 AL MVP, a seven-time All-Star and a leader on the 1977 and 1978 Yankees' World Series championship teams. Career: 24 years (1984-2007) Teams: Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Houston Astros Hall of Fame Voting: Lou Whitaker : in his first year of eligibility in 2001 received a mind-boggling 2.9% vote, falling short of the minimum 5% vote, thus eliminating him from the ballot. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images). According to not in WC! Almost every eligible candidate who had a career .300 batting average, 2,500 hits and 300 home runs has been enshrined. Like Allen, Freehan played during baseball's second dead-ball period in the 1960s, causing his offensive statistics to be hindered. Hall of Fame Batting Register | Baseball-Reference.com Hall of Fame Batting Register Average Batting HOFer's stats include batters and player inductees only. Backup: Ken Singleton 8) Ted Simmons -- Catcher However, once Hershiser reached the age of 30, health issues set in and curtailed what could have been a Hall of Fame career. For a nine-year period in the 1980s, Murphy wasunarguablyone of the best all-around players in the National League. From 1988 to 1993, he batted .234 and averaged just 15 homers a season. The golden mark is a WAR of 100 or better, with just 25 players reaching or surpassing that figure. Garvey was even better in the postseason, holding a .338 average and 11 home runs in 55 games. Also of note here, because this is the era in which we live, the steroids issue must be addressed. However, as we'll see, he was an underrated performer as an offensive player. Here are the 25 best hitters in Major League Baseball history. Parrish was considered one of the top all-around catchers of the 1980s along with Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk and Ted Simmons. A terrific lead-off hitter and defensive center fielder, Lofton's excellence was overshadowed by the home runs and steroids which came to dominate baseball in the late 1990s. His wins total is among the highest of anybody not elected to the Hall of Fame. Teixeira was a gifted defensive first baseman and is one of the best switch-hitters of all time. As of this writing, Cabrera was also just one homer away from No. At the time of his retirement, only Harmon Killebrew and Jimmie Foxx had more home runs in the American League by a right-handed hitter. Sign up for the List Wire newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. He batted over .300 10 times and finished with a career average of .308. Derringer went on to make six All-Star games for the Reds and had two top-four finishes in NL MVP voting. Although he didn't have the quickness of Johnny Bench, Boone was incredibly durable and was the only catcher who consistently placed in the top 10 for defensive WAR for the better part of two decades. Because of this and a quick downfall to his production after age 35, Hodges amassed only 1,921 hits. That being said, here are the top 100 eligible players not in the MLB Hall of Fame. If there was a Hall of Fame for baseball names, Shocker would be an unquestioned first-ballot entry. No advertising or spamming is permitted. An excellent defender, Richardson won five straight Gold Gloves and finished second to Mantle in the 1962 AL MVP voting. Belle had three straight top-three finishes in the MVP voting, including a second-place finish in 1995 when he was far superior to that year's winner, Mo Vaughn. Travis was a popular shortstop and third baseman for the Washington Senators who missed four seasons of action when he was shipped off to fight in World War II just as he was reaching the prime of his career. Pinson's career is somewhat overshadowed by the contemporaries he played against as an outfielder in the 1960s and 1970s. Walker batted .357 between 1997 and 2001, leading the National League in batting three of the four years in which he was eligible. Staub was an excellent player early in his career, and by the age of 27, he was already a five-time All-Star. He retired following the 1993 season with eight All-Star Game selections, 773 starts (second all-time to Cy Young) and the lowest hits-per-nine-innings-pitched ratio (6.56) of any pitcher in history. He was a key pitcher on the great A's teams of the 1970s and finished his 17-year career with a record of 209-161. 20 seasons from 1929 to 1948 and had long stints with the as Red... 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