The Best Players NOT in the Hall of Fame

According to the NEWS HOF Gauge (based on win shares), at the end of the 2006 season, only 82 position players had established a NEWS score of 280 (clear HOF numbers).In the 2007 season, Chipper Jones and Jim Thome joined this elite group.Jones is now the #79 best position player of the 20 ^th century and the #7 best third baseman.Thome becomes the #82 best position player and #12 best first baseman.

This means that during the 2007 season, there were a total of ten active position players who had already established HOF numbers.Here are those players in order.The number before the player’s name is his rank against all position players of the century and the number following is his NEWS score.

A player has to have played at least ten full seasons to be ranked on the NEWS HOF Gauge.So, a player like Albert Pujols has not yet been ranked.

This means that if we do not count Pete Rose and Joe Jackson, there were almost as many true Hall of Fame position players active in 2007 (10) as there were retired and awaiting induction into the Hall (13).Here are the position players with true HOF numbers who are retired and awaiting induction.

What I am saying, of course, is that according to the NEWS HOF Gauge, these 25 players are the ONLY position players of the 20 ^th century who have OBVIOUS HOF numbers and are not in the Hall of Fame.

For more information on the NEWS HOF Gauge, see BASEBALL’S BEST: The TRUE Hall of Famers on this site.