Earlier I listed the 181 players that have over 750 points and added 19 more to get 200 total players. Since then I did more research because someone wrote about Kevin Brown using steroids. I did some research and decided he deserved a 10 percent penalty. He went from the 36th greatest pitching career to the 52nd greatest pitching career. Still darn good, but he isn’t in that 750 area any more. Now I have 199 players in my hall of fame. Since I haven’t built it, finalized it or wrote all the player profiles I can do stuff like this.
Basically, since this is my hall of fame, I making up the rules as I go along and I just came up with a new one. Bill James talked about having layers in the hall of fame voting so players on the border don’t get eliminate from the consideration of being elected so soon. Now there is a rule that players who don’t get 5 percent of the votes are taken off the ballot the next year. Seemed sensible at the time, but now there are a lot of darn good players being eliminated after being on the ballot one year.
Since I let in 199 players at once I didn’t feel I should worry about that. However, I looked at my list of 1,000 players and noticed something. There were close to 400 players who had 600 points or more. That is about 2 percent of all the players who have played MLB. I thought those should be the players who are eligible to be put into my hall of fame. It turns out there are 406 players with 600 more points. Some I give them a couple of bonus points to put them over the limit. That means 2.04 percent of the players in MLB history are eligible for my hall of fame.
Let us go by position. We can start at catcher. There are 31 catchers with 600 or more points. Some of the catchers who made the list are Ernie Lombardi who is already in the real hall of fame. If you want the slowest man in baseball history who can hit the ball hard you can campaign for him. Next is Russell Martin who is famous for framing pitches and very good overall on defense. He has a lot of supporters for the hall of fame. Then there is Sherm Lollar who just got over the line. Here is the list of the next nine catchers:
| 32 | Buck Ewing |
| 33 | Bob Boone |
| 34 | Tim McCarver |
| 35 | Tom Haller |
| 36 | Del Crandall |
| 37 | A.J. Pierzynski |
| 38 | Rick Ferrell |
| 39 | Mickey Tettleton |
| 40 | Benito Santiago |
I don’t think I will miss any of these for the hall of fame. Buck Ewing was famous in the 19th Century and he was a catcher. However, he wasn’t even a catcher for half his games. Tim McCarver is famous, but more as an announcer. I think he was an underrated player, but not a hall of famer. Rick Ferrell is in the hall of fame. I think he is in the hall of fame because he caught 4 knuckleballers one year. He was better than I thought, but I really don’t see him as a hall of famer.
First Base
There are 43 first basemen who have 600 or more points. The bottom two are Jake Beckley, who was never great but was consistently very good and Gil Hodges. I helped Gil with an extra point to get to 600. I thought players who were that close should be considered, as I know my formula certainly isn’t that accurate.
| 44 | Ed Konetchy | 597.74 |
| 45 | Paul Goldschmidt | 577.55 |
| 46 | Prince Fielder | 571.05 |
| 47 | Cecil Cooper | 568.85 |
| 48 | Jim Bottomley | 563.59 |
| 49 | Ron Fairly | 562.7 |
| 50 | Freddie Freeman | 562.45 |
| 51 | Dolph Camilli | 559.49 |
| 52 | Frank Chance | 558.93 |
I don’t know much about Ed Konetchy so I am not going to push them. Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman are still playing. These totals are thru 2019 so they actually have more points. Jim Bottomley is in the hall of fame, but I would put a lot of first basemen ahead of him, so I don’t really see him as a hall of famer. Dolph Camilli has always been a favorite of mine, but tough luck. Frank Chance had a short career which hurts him with my formula. I think he was elected more for his leadership as a player and manager, so I’m fine with him being in as a manager.
Second Base
There are 29 2nd basemen with 600 or more points. Dustin Pedroia just made it over the line. Here is the next group:
| 30 | Buddy Myer |
| 31 | Ben Zobrist |
| 32 | Jim Gilliam |
| 33 | Jose Altuve |
| 34 | Bid McPhee |
| 35 | Dick McAuliffe |
| 36 | Davy Lopes |
| 37 | Del Pratt |
| 38 | Ray Durham |
| 39 | Cupid Childs |
Ben Zobrist is just short and didn’t play last year. I don’t see him as a hall of famer now. Jose Altuve didn’t have a good season, and I don’t think he has hall of fame qualities yet. A half way decent season would get him over 600.
Third Base
Like second base 3rd base has 29 players at 600 or more points. Pie Traynor made it with a push from me. He was close and famous enough to get over the line. Here is the next group:
| 30 | Aramis Ramirez |
| 31 | Larry Gardner |
| 32 | Tim Wallach |
| 33 | Josh Donaldson |
| 34 | Bil Madlock |
| 35 | Matt Williams |
| 36 | Carney Lanford |
| 37 | Al Rosen |
| 38 | Lave Cross |
| 39 | Gary Gaetti |
| 40 | George Kell |
Ramirez was good solid player for a long time, but I don’t consider hem to be close to a hall of famer. Al Rosen started later. He was 26 when he became a starter. He had a super season and was an all-star type player a few other years, but retired at 32. It just wasn’t enough. George Kell is in the Hall of Fame and I never figured out why.
Shortstop
There are 37 shortstops at 600 or above. That is a lot. Nomar Garciaparra, a great hitting shortstop and Joe Tinker a great fielding shortstop made it. Here are the leader who didn’t:
| 38 | Jack Glasscock |
| 39 | Dick Groat |
| 40 | Al Dark |
| 41 | Monte (John) Ward |
| 42 | Herman Long |
| 43 | Jay Bell |
| 44 | Dick Bartell |
| 45 | Rico Petrocelli |
In a word “No”.
Left Field
There are 40 left fielders on the list, which is too many.
| 41 | Kirk Gibson |
| 42 | Jim O’ Rourke |
| 43 | Albert Belle |
| 44 | Greg Luzinski |
| 45 | Harry Stovey |
| 46 | Moises Alou |
| 47 | Gary Matthews |
| 48 | Dusty Baker |
| 49 | Del Ennis |
| 50 | Don Baylor |
| 51 | Alfonso Soriano |
It is an easy no on this group.
Center Field
There are 38 center fielders on the list. Again, a lot.
| 39 | Dom DiMaggio |
| 40 | Hugh Duffy |
| 41 | Steve Finley |
| 42 | Andy Van Syke |
| 43 | Tori Hunter |
| 44 | Roy Thomas |
| 45 | Hack Wilson |
| 46 | Mike Cameron |
| 47 | Ellis Burks |
| 48 | Willie Wilson |
| 49 | Cy Seymour |
| 50 | Clyde Milan |
| 51 | Earle Combs |
Center Field has some guys on the list who are surprising below 600. Dom DiMaggio is often discussed as a hall of famer. His career was shortened by WWII. I did give points for WWII but I was conservative with that. DiMaggio was underrated as he had a good on base percentage and hit just under .300. He did score a lot of runs but had great players coming up behind him. He was over 5 WAR only once despite being a solid, but not great fielder. I don’t see him as a hall of famer. Hugh Duffy is probably in the hall of fame as he hit .440 one year. However, there isn’t really anything that stands out in his career.
Hack Wilson is another hall of famer. He had 5 all-star seasons according to WAR ending with his best season 1930. He has the single season RBI record and that is probably why he is in the hall of fame. However, I don’t think he was good long enough for how good he was. So I have no problem that he isn’t eligible.
Earle Combs is also a hall of famer. Like DiMaggio he was smart in picking teammates hitting behind him. He was never a great player and didn’t play that long. If there arguably 50 ahead of you at your position (besides pitcher) ahead of you then you more than likely not a hall of famer.
Right Field
There are 39 right fielders with 600 or more points. Here is the next group:
| 40 | Felipe Alou |
| 41 | Jose Bautista |
| 42 | Roger Maris |
| 43 | Chuck Klein |
| 44 | Tommy Henrich |
| 45 | Johnny Callison |
A lot of people argue Roger Maris should be in the hall due to his 61 homeruns. However, I think his career as a whole doesn’t make it.
Starting Pitcher
There are 105 starting pitchers with 600 or more points. That is a good amount. Ron Guidry and Bartolo Colon didn’t make it by much. In fact, Colon I pushed over. These are the 10 who didn’t quite make it:
| 106 | Waite Hoyt |
| 107 | Mark Langston |
| 108 | Dutch Leonard II |
| 109 | George Uhle |
| 110 | Sam McDowell |
| 111 | Tony Mullane |
| 112 | Dolf Luque |
| 113 | Jimmy Key |
| 114 | Kenny Rogers |
| 115 | Babe Adams |
Waite Hoyt is in the hall of fame. Again, in part because he picked good teammates. He won 20 twice in an era when pitchers were winning a lot more. I don’t see him as a hall of famer. Also when you arguably not in the top 100 starters that hurts.
Sam McDowell was a great pitcher for a while. He was better than his win – loss record. He should have won the Cy Young Award in 1970. However, he has only 41 WAR in his career.
I always liked Babe Adams but he wasn’t a hall of famer.
Relief Pitchers
Only 15 relief pitchers over 600, which is OK as they don’t pitch a lot of innings. Here are the next 7:
| 16 | Lindy McDaniel |
| 17 | Jonathan Papelton |
| 18 | Mike Marshall |
| 19 | Doug Jones |
| 20 | Kent Tekulve |
| 21 | Tom Henke |
| 22 | Robb Nen |
All seven had great seasons, but I wouldn’t push any for the hall of fame.
