Hall of Fame’s Best Outsiders
August 18, 2010 by Bobby Aguilera · 11 Comments
Below is our image of the best team composed of non-Hall of Fame players who have been eligible for at least one HOF vote. In other words, guys who retired after 2005, like Kevin Brown and Rafael Palmeiro, are not yet eligible for this team.
We’ll most likely elaborate on the construction of this pseudo roster one day. In the meantime, here are the bare bones to hopefully spark some thought and keep our minds limber.
1st occasional non-Hall of Famers
C: Joe Torre
1b: Dick Allen
2b: Bobby Grich
SS: Bill Dahlen
3b: Ron Santo
LF: Tim Raines
CF: Reggie Smith
RF: Dwight Evans
SP: Bert Blyleven
SP: Tony Mullane
SP: Jim McCormick
SP: Bob Caruthers
SP: Luis Tiant
RP: David Cone
RP: Tommy Bond
RP: Dwight Gooden
RP: Brett Saberhagen
RP: Dan Quisenberry
R-PH: Edgar Martinez
L-PH: Will Clark
Bench: Roberto Alomar
Bench: Lou Whitaker
Bench: Barry Larkin
Bench: Keith Hernandez
Bench: Fleet Walker
Manager: Buck O’Neil
*We call it the ‘first occasional…’ because it should change occasionally and slightly. There are very few first-ballot entries, so we expect better players in the future to become eligible and get slighted by the voters. Also, some of these guys like Alomar, Larkin, and (hopefully) Blyleven and Raines should get in.
Please keep in mind that Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox are not eligible. Also, Mark McGwire is not welcome in our clubhouse because we don’t like him, and we actually enjoy talking about the past.
I think you missed Minnie Minoso. Don’t feel bad though. The real HOF has missed him, too.
It still baffles me why Bob Caruthers is not on the Hall of Fame. A 216-99 won-lost record. Caruthers won 20 games 6 times, including 30 games once and 40 games twice. Edgar Martinez would never have the stats he had if he had to play in the National League and could not be a designated hitter. . Ron Santo and Roberto Alomar are deserving. They were all stars many times during their careers. The spiting incident kept Alomar out this year while Andre Dawson was able to sneak in. Bert Blyleven will get in next year because it will be his last year of eligibility(see Andre Dawson).
Tom Zocco
Interesting list. It would be fun to put together a team of the worst Hall of Favers and then have these guys play them for a season.
For instance: C Joe Torre > Rick Farrell
OF Tim Raines, Dwight Evans, Reggie Smith > Andre Dawson, Chick Hafey, Lloyd Waner (Paul was legit).
1B Dick Allen >>>> George kelly.
How about a list of the top 10 HOF exclusions (regardless of position).
I’d start:
1. Bert Blyleven
2. Tim Raines
3. Bill Dahlen
4. Dick Allen
Top 10 omissions
1. Burt Blyleven
2. Ron Santo
3. Barry Larkin
4. Tim Raines
5. Harold Baines
6. Troy Mullane
7. Bill Dahlen
8. Alan Trammell
9. Al Oliver
10. Vada Pinson
10.
Hi Bobby,
Great post and interesting concept.
I have a post up today at my blog on whether Pete Browning, a great 19th century hitter, belongs in the Hall of Fame. One of my readers responded about Browning’s absence from Cooperstown: “Maybe one of the reasons was that he was such a poor fielder that it inspired the writer of the book “Mittsâ€, to say, and I’m paraphrasing,..It would have been better to have had a cigar store indian in center field. At least there was the chance that the ball might have hit it. Ouch!”
So my thought is, how about Browning as designated hitter for your team?
My squad officially challenges yours!
http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2010/09/03/a-starting-lineup-of-baseball-players-not-in-the-hall-of-fame/
Ted Simmons over Joe Torre or for sure, Thurman Munson
dwight evans a hall of famer?? really?? what did this corner outfielder do to be considered a hof player? .270 career hitter, and absolutely nothing stands out. some will say yeah but those 8 gold gloves. of which 3 to 4 were won on reputation, (see t.hunter). never won any awards or top of leaderboard in offensive significance. The hof has become watered down enough. sorry rsn, the voters got this one correct.
Volkoff: Dwight Evans “only” had a career 127 OPS+, 385 HR, 8 Gold Gloves, and a very long career… Jim Rice had 3 fewer HR, a one point edge in OPS+, eight fewer gold gloves and a shorter career and got in, yet Dewey got no support? Here are my outfielders with better cases than Jim Rice not already enshrined:Tim Raines, Sherry Magee, Fred Lynn, Bernie Williams, Jim Edmonds, Ken Griffey Jr, Kenny Lofton, Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltran, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Vlad Guerrero, Gary Sheffield, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Reggie Smith, Dwight Evans, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Bobby Abreu, Brian Giles, Ichiro Suzuki, Barry Bonds, Juan Gonzalez, Ken Singleton, Roy White