The 25 First Basemen With the Best Careers

Here are the 25 first basemen who had the best careers during the 20th century (as measured by the NEWS HOF Gauge).

For a first baseman, a NEWS score of 280 is required to say that he has obvious HOF numbers.   There are twelve first basemen who posted these numbers.   However, as I will explain below, there are two other fist basemen who have HOF numbers by virtue of a short but great career.   This means that there are fourteen first basemen with HOF numbers according to the NEWS Gauge.   Keep in mind that a player may not have obvious HOF numbers but may still be a deserving Hall of Famer for other reasons.

All numbers include the 2007 season.  

Bold print = Hall of Famer

Italic = active player in 2007

CWS = Career Win Shares

CV   =   Core Value (sum of win shares for 10 best seasons)

NEWS = Career Value   =   CV   +   .25(CWS – CV)

Here are the 14 First Basemen with obvious Hall of Fame Numbers.

If you consider Frank Thomas to be a first baseman, then he would be on this list.   Since at the end of 2007, he had played more games as the designated hitter (1307) than at first base (971), I consider him to be a DH.   In fact, Thomas and Paul Molitor are the only two DHs who have HOF numbers.

As you can see, twelve of the fourteen first basemen with HOF numbers have a NEWS score of 280 or better while two others ( Hank Greenberg and Bill Terry) do not.

How is it that Greenberg and Terry (who did not reach the 280 benchmark) are listed as having HOF numbers?   It is because the NEWS Gauge recognizes that there are a fewposition players (very few) who had short but exceptional careers.   Consider this: there are only eleven position playersin the 20th century who achieved a NEWS score of 255 in a career of fewer than 1800 games – and every one of them is in the Hall of Fame.   The NEWS Gauge says they definitely have HOF numbers.   Greenberg and Terry are two of these players.   Here are the others: Joe DiMaggio, Emer Flick, Earl Averill, Larry Doby, Kirby Puckett, Lou Boudreau, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Cochrane and Bill Dickey.

Eight of the fourteen players on the list above are already in the Hall of Fame – with Lou Gehrigand Jimmie Foxxemerging with the best numbers.   And Frank Thomas(if considered as a first baseman) has established himself as the best first baseman of the second half of the century.   I think that Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwellwill have no great trouble being elected when eligible.    Dick Allen, of course, is a different story.   He was on the ballot of the Veteran’s Committee for 2007.   Despite having the best numbers of anyone on that list, he got only 13.4% of the vote – so it does not look like he is ever going to make it.   Allen will continue to be the position player with the best numbers who has been eligible and who is not in the Hall of Fame.

Mark McGwireand Rafael Palmeirohave both been stained by the “steroids scandal.”   Big Mac was on the BBWAA ballot for the first time in 2007 and got only 23.5% of the vote.   In 2008, he got the exact same number of votes (rather remarkable).   Will he ever make it?   Who knows.   And, in my opinion, Palmeiro has no chance unless McGwire is voted in first.   Will Clark has been terribly underrated.   He appeared on the 2006 BBWAA ballot for the first time and got less than 5% of the vote so he will not appear again.

Of these fourteen first basemen, only five played during the first half of the century while nine played after 1950.

The Other First Basemen in the Top 25

Here are the eleven other first basemen who round out the top 25 at the position.

And here are two first basemen who are in the Hall of Fame but did not make the top 25.

Note that there are a total of five first basemen who are in the Hall but do not have HOF numbers according to the NEWS Gauge: Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda, George Sisler, Bottomley and Chance.   Should any of these players really be in the Hall?   Well, of course, fans will debate questions like this forever.

Jason Giambi and Carlos Delgado were still active in 2008.   It looks as if Giambi will indeed reach the 280 NEWS benchmark before he is through.   But, of course, he is plagued by “steroid suspicions” which may (almost certainly) hurt his chances of ever being elected to the Hall.   And Delgado (despite a solid 2008 season) appears to be a long shot to reach the 280 mark. 

Besides Mark McGwire (mentioned above), there were three other first basemen on the 2007 BBWAA ballot: Steve Garvey, Don Mattingly and Wally Joyner.   Only Mattingly is among the top 25 above.   Garvey got 21% of the vote, Mattingly got 10% and Joyner got 0 votes – so none of the three appears to have a chance at election.   Here are the numbers for Garvey and Joyner.

Gil Hodges and Mickey Vernon were two first basemen who were on the 2007 Veteran’s Committee ballot for the Hall.   Neither is among our top 25 first basemen (though Vernon just missed).   Hodges got 61% of the vote and may have a chance – if the VC ever elects anyone to the Hall.   Vernon got only 17% and appears to have no chance.   Here are their numbers.

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