Joe Posnanski just published a LIST ... the 25 greatest baseball players who aren’t in the Hall of Fame: “No caveats. No character clauses. No bonus points for being a pioneer. This list includes current players and players who are ineligible for the Hall for various reasons.”
There are two ways to process this information. The first and probably best way is going over (if you haven’t already) and reading Joe’s piece. It’s a great deal of fun, as always. This will also give you the chance to enjoy the list as Joe intends, working backwards. You want the building suspense as you read your way down to the greatest player of all time who’s not in the Hall of Fame? Again, stop reading this right now and go over there, because I’m about to show you the whole list, beginning with No. 1. All you gotta do is scroll ...
1. Barry Bonds
2. Roger Clemens
3. Randy Johnson
4. Alex Rodriguez
5. Albert Pujols
6. Pedro Martinez
7. Ken Griffey Jr.
8. Pete Rose
9. Chipper Jones
10. Derek Jeter
11. Jeff Bagwell
12. Miguel Cabrera
13. Tim Raines
14. Mariano Rivera
15. Curt Schilling
16. Mark McGwire
17. Ichiro Suzuki
18. Mike Mussina
19. Adrian Beltre
20. Craig Biggio
21. Ivan Rodriguez
22. Jim Thome
23. Mike Piazza
24. John Smoltz
25. Shoeless Joe Jackson
Joe: “The list proved one thing to me: There are a LOT of great players not yet in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
As Joe points out, not a single player on this list even appeared on the Hall of Fame’s Golden Era ballot. Which does, yes, prove there are a lot of great players not yet in the Hall of Fame. It also proves, I think, that not electing anyone from the (so-called!) Golden Era ballot was hardly a tragedy (the press conference is another story).
My only real quibble with Joe’s list? Too many modern sluggers who obviously benefitted a great deal from the various environmental factors that enhanced the statistics of modern sluggers. Jim Thome and Mark McGwire make the list, but Bobby Grich and Lou Whitaker don’t? Otherwise, though, this is solid. As always.
