Baseball Hall-of-Famers By Team, 2020 Edition

With the announcement of the elections of Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and Ken Harrelson, it is time to update this list.

A player is counted as a Hall-of-Famer with the team if he played at least 4 seasons with them. However, there will be the occasional exception. Teams are ranked in order of most HOFers.

If there is a tie, it will be broken by which team has more players, as opposed to those who were elected in other categories. If there is still a tie, then I go to which has more non-broadcasters. If it's still a tie, which has more players whose contributions were mostly with that club. If it's still a tie, which team has played fewer seasons will be ranked ahead -- since, for example, 5 HOFers is more impressive for a team that's been around since 1977 than it would be for one that's been around since 1961.

Teams that no longer exist in that form will be listed in italics, and in the position where they would be ranked if they still did.

Players are listed in chronological order of when they arrived at the club, then managers, then broadcasters.

1. New York Yankees, 42: It works out to a little over 1 for every Pennant the team has won:

Clark Griffith (the team's first manager, elected as a pitcher and he was still a solid pitcher while he was their manager), Willie Keeler, Jack Chesbro, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Earle Combs, Bill Dickey, Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Gordon, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Johnny Mize, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Enos Slaughter, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Rich "Goose" Gossage, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Mike Mussina.

Also, managers Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel and Joe Torre; owner Jacob Ruppert; executives Ed Barrow and George Weiss; broadcasters Mel Allen, Red Barber, Joe Garagiola, Jerry Coleman (played for the Yankees but elected as a broadcaster, first for the Yankees, then for the Padres) and Tony Kubek (played for the Yankees but elected as a broadcaster).

Bucky Harris managed the Yankees to the 1947 World Championship, but was only their manager for 2 seasons (1947 & '48), so I'm not counting him with the Yankees. In this case, according to the rule I set, I have to count Rickey Henderson as a Yankee. If Lou Piniella is ever elected as a manager, I wouldn't be able to count him as a Yankee HOFer, since he wouldn't be elected as a player ,and only managed them for 3 seasons, none of them a title season.

Rizzuto was also a longtime broadcaster. Lee MacPhail was elected for what he did as American League President, not as Yankee general manager. Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill have dropped off the writers' ballot. They, like Don Mattingly, will, in a few years, become eligible once again, through the Veterans' Committee -- but in all 3 cases, let's not kid ourselves.

And then there's Roger Clemens: Even if he does get in, would you want to count him as a Yankee? George Steinbrenner, now being dead, is now eligible through the Veterans' Committee.

Tim Raines was a Yankee for only 3 years, although 2 of them were title seasons. Ivan Rodriguez was a Yankee for about 3 minutes. So neither of them can be included here.

Andy Pettitte is eligible. Alex Rodriguez becomes eligible, in 2022 -- the same year as David Ortiz, who hit a lot fewer home runs, was not the runner or fielder that A-Rod was, and, unlike A-Rod, is known to have flunked a steroid test. Bet you any money you like, Ortiz gets in in his 1st year of eligibility, and A-Rod goes through his entire 10-year BBWAA eligibility without getting in.

Andy and A-Rod have the stats to get in. They ar big question marks, but will probably, at least for a while, become victims of the Yankee Doodle Double Standard.

2. St. Louis Cardinals, 32: Charlie Comiskey (played for them before managing and owning teams elsewhere), Jake Beckley, Roger Bresnahan, Rogers Hornsby (won a World Series as their player-manager), Jesse Haines, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Jim Bottomley, Charles "Chick" Hafey, Burleigh Grimes, Frankie Frisch (elected as a player, won a World Series as their player-manager), Dizzy Dean, Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, Enos Slaughter, Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst (elected as player, also managed them to a title), Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Steve Carlton (7 seasons), Ted Simmons, Bruce Sutter, Ozzie Smith, Lee Smith (4 seasons, so he qualifies here).

Also, Miller Huggins (manager, also played several years for the Cards), Billy Southworth (manager, also played for them), Whitey Herzog (manager-executive), Tony LaRussa (manager), Branch Rickey (executive), Harry Caray (broadcaster), Jack Buck (broadcaster), Joe Garagiola (broadcaster).

Jesse Burkett won a batting title with the Cards, but only played 3 seasons with them, so he just misses qualifying. On the other hand, Cepeda didn't even play 3 full seasons with the Cards, but his tenure included the 1967 title and the 1968 Pennant, and he, as much as Gibson, was a symbol of that team, and he may be better remembered as a Cardinal than as a Giants, so I'm bending the rule for him. Leo Durocher was a good player for the Cards, but was elected as a manager and never managed them, so he doesn't qualify here.

Larry Walker was only a Cardinal for a year and a half, so, although that time did include the only Pennant he ever won (2004), he doesn't count for the Cards. Mark McGwire and Jim Edmonds did not qualify on enough ballots, and won't be eligible again until they qualify under the Veterans Committee. Surprisingly, longtime owner Gussie Busch has never been elected.

3. Chicago Cubs, 28: Adrian "Cap" Anson, Mike "King" Kelly, Clark Griffith (elected as a pitcher for them, later a manager and owner elsewhere), Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance (elected as a player but should have been elected as a manager instead), Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Hazen "Kiki" Cuyler, Lewis "Hack" Wilson, Charles "Gabby" Hartnett (also managed them to a Pennant), Rogers Hornsby, Billy Herman, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ferguson Jenkins, Bruce Sutter, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Andre Dawson, Greg Maddux (spent enough time with them).

Also, Al Spalding (elected as an executive but was also a great pitcher), Frank Selee (manager), Joe McCarthy (manager, managed them to a Pennant before going to the Yankees), Leo Durocher (manager), Jack Brickhouse (broadcaster), Harry Caray (broadcaster).

Sammy Sosa is eligible, but he's not getting in. If Lou Piniella is elected as a manager, I'll have to count him as a Cub HOFer, since he managed them for 4 seasons.

Lou Boudreau was a beloved broadcaster for the Cubs after his playing and managing career, but never played or managed for them, and so I can't count him as a Cub HOFer. Santo was also a longtime broadcaster. Surprisingly, longtime owner Phillip K. Wrigley is not in.

New York Giants, 26: Roger Connor, Buck Ewing, Tim Keefe, Mickey Welch, John Montgomery Ward, Roger Bresnahan, Christy Mathewson, Joe McGinnity, George Davis, Richard "Rube" Marquard, Dave Bancroft, Ross Youngs, Frankie Frisch, George "Highpockets" Kelly, Fred Lindstrom, Travis Jackson, Bill Terry, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Johnny Mize, Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, Hoyt Wilhelm.

Also, John McGraw (manager, also played for them), Leo Durocher (manager), Russ Hodges (broadcaster).

Casey Stengel played for the Giants, but was elected as a manager, so I can't count him as a Giant HOFer.  

Counting all figures who played or managed at least one game for the Giants, in New York and San Francisco, they have 76, more than any other team; however, many of those were with the club only briefly. But even by my definitions, they are ahead of the arch-rival Dodgers.

4. Chicago White Sox, 25: Ed Walsh, George Davis, Eddie Collins, Ray Schalk, Red Faber, Ted Lyons, Luke Appling, Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio, Early Wynn, Hoyt Wilhelm, Goose Gossage (5 years with them), Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, Frank Thomas, Tim Raines, Jim Thome, Al Lopez (manager), Tony LaRussa (manager), Charlie Comiskey (owner), Bill Veeck (owner), Jack Brickhouse (broadcaster), Bob Elson (broadcaster), Harry Caray (broadcaster), Ken Harrelson (broadcaster).

Although Clark Griffith pitched for them in their 1st 2 seasons and won the 1st American League Pennant as their manager, those 2 seasons are not enough to qualify with the White Sox. Although Tom Seaver notched his 300th victory with the Pale Hose, he pitched for them in just 3 seasons, and can't be counted as one of their HOFers.

Thome was a White Sock for less than 4 full seasons, but did play for them in 4 seasons, so he counts with them.

5. Pittsburgh Pirates, 23: James "Pud" Galvin, Vic Willis, John "Honus" Wagner, Fred Clarke (elected as a player, also won Pennants as their manager), Jack Chesbro, Jake Beckley, Max Carey, Hazen "Kiki" Cuyler, Waite Hoyt (5 seasons with them), Harold "Pie" Traynor (also managed them), Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner ("Big Poison" and "Little Poison," though Lloyd was actually taller), Joseph "Arky" Vaughan, Al Lopez (elected as a manager but was an All-Star catcher for the Pirates), Ralph Kiner, Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bert Blyleven.

Also, Bill McKechnie (manager), Barney Dreyfuss (owner), Branch Rickey (executive), Bob Prince (broadcaster).

Blyleven was only a Pirate for 3 seasons, but I'm bending the rule because he was a key cog on their last World Championship team in 1979. Barry Bonds is eligible, but while the stance against steroid cheats is softening, he still, for the moment, falls under the category of, "Who's kidding who?"

6. Boston Red Sox, 23: Jimmy Collins (elected as a player but also managed them to the 1st World Series title in 1903), Cy Young, Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, Babe Ruth (6 seasons with Sox before going to Yanks), Herb Pennock (7 seasons before Yanks), Red Ruffing (also 7 seasons before Yanks), Joe Cronin (elected as a player, but also managed them to the 1946 Pennant, though unlike Collins had already retired as a player; was also longtime AL President), Rick Ferrell, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Bobby Doerr, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley, Wade Boggs, Pedro Martinez.

Also, Dick Williams (manager, no relation to Ted), Tom Yawkey (owner), Curt Gowdy (broadcaster), and Ken Harrelson (broadcaster). "Hawk" only played 2 seasons for Boston, though 1 was the 1967 "Impossible Dream" Pennant season; but he broadcast for them for 7 years, so he counts here.

I am bending the rule slightly for Dick Williams, who only managed 3 seasons for the Red Sox, but 1 of them, 1967, was the most important season in the club's modern history. Luis Aparicio played 3 seasons for the Red Sox, so by my rule he is not eligible to be counted with them. Eckersley, however, played 7 seasons with them, so I have to count him with them, and with their living HOFers for as long as he lives.

It was long suspected that owner Jean Yawkey would become the 1st woman elected to the Hall of Fame, but Effa Manley, who owned the Negro Leagues' Newark Eagles, is in, while Mrs. Yawkey is still out.

David Ortiz (500 Home Run Club but known steroid cheat) becomes eligible in 2022. Manny Ramirez (500 Home Run Club but known steroid cheat), Roger Clemens (300 Win and 3,000 Strikeout Clubs but suspected steroid cheat) and Curt Schilling (3,000 Strikeout Club but possible steroid cheat) are eligible, but not yet in.

Boston Braves, 22: Harry Wright (player and manager), George Wright, Al Spalding, Jim "Orator" O'Rourke, James "Deacon" White, Charlie "Old Hoss" Radbourne, Mike "King" Kelly, John Clarkson, Charles "Kid" Nichols, Cy Young, Hugh Duffy, Tommy McCarthy (he and Duffy were known as "the Heavenly Twins"), Billy Hamilton, Vic Willis, Jimmy Collins, Johnny Evers, Walter "Rabbit" Maranville, Dave Bancroft.

Also, Frank Selee (manager), Bill McKechnie (manager, though with no success with the Braves), Casey Stengel (ditto, also played for Braves), Billy Southworth (manager).

Brooklyn Dodgers, 21: Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley, Richard "Rube" Marquard, Zack Wheat, Burleigh Grimes, Charles "Dazzy" Vance, Joseph "Arky" Vaughan, Billy Herman, Joe "Ducky" Medwick, Harold "Pee Wee" Reese, Jackie Robinson, Edwin "Duke" Snider, Roy Campanella, Ned Hanlon (manager), Wilbert Robinson (manager), Leo Durocher (elected as a manager but was also a good player), Walter Alston (manager), Branch Rickey (owner), Walter O'Malley (owner), Red Barber (broadcaster), Vin Scully (broadcaster).

Casey Stengel played 6 seasons for the Dodgers, and was good, but not Hall of Fame good.  He managed 3 seasons for them; in spite of their poor performance under him, had he managed them for 1 more season, he would still qualify as one of theirs under my rule.  Dick Williams played 5 seasons for them, but was elected as a manager, and never managed the Dodgers. Owner Charles Ebbets is not in.

7. Detroit Tigers, 18: Sam Crawford, Ty Cobb, Harry Heilmann, Henry "Heinie" Manush, Charlie Gehringer, Goose Goslin, Hank Greenberg (the last 3 nicknamed the "G-Men" in those early days of the FBI), Mickey Cochrane (elected as a player, also managed them to 2 Pennants), Hal Newhouser, George Kell, Al Kaline, Jim Bunning, Jack Morris, Alan Trammell, Ivan Rodriguez, Hughie Jennings (manager, also played for the team), Sparky Anderson (manager), Ernie Harwell (broadcaster).

With Trammell getting in through the Veterans Committee, Lou Whitaker's chances of also doing so increase. Kaline and Kell were also longtime broadcasters. Longtime owners Frank Navin, Walter Briggs and John Fetzer are not yet in. Former executive Will Harridge is in, but for what he did as President of the AL, so I can't count him as a Tiger HOFer.

8. Philadelphia Phillies, 18: Billy Hamilton, Ed Delahanty, Sam Thompson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Eppa Rixey, Dave Bancroft, Chuck Klein, Richie Ashburn, Robin Roberts, Jim Bunning, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Jim Thome, Roy Halladay, Harry Wright (manager), Pat Gillick (executive), By Saam (broadcaster), Harry Kalas (broadcaster).

Thome spent 3 seasons with them, then left, then returned for a 4th, so he counts here. Ashburn was also a longtime broadcaster for the Phils. If Curt Schilling gets in, he can be counted with the Phillies. Pete Rose, of course, is ineligible.

9. Cincinnati Reds, 18: Bid McPhee, Jake Beckley, Joe Kelley, Sam Crawford, Edd Roush, Eppa Rixey, Ernie Lombardi, Frank Robinson, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Tom Seaver (6 seasons with Reds), Barry Larkin, Ken Griffey Jr., Bill McKechnie (manager), Sparky Anderson (manager), Red Barber (broadcaster), Marty Brennaman (broadcaster).

Pete Rose, of course, is ineligible. John Franco is not yet in, but if he gets in, he pitched enough seasons with the Reds to qualify for this list. If Lou Piniella is elected as a manager, I'll count him as a Reds HOFer: He only managed them for 3 seasons, but 1 was a World Championship season. Miller Huggins played several years for the Reds, but was elected as a Yankee manager.

Longtime owner Powel Crosley and GM Bob Howsam should be in, but they're not. Waite Hoyt broadcast for the Reds, and was beloved in that role, but has not been given the Ford Frick Award, so I can't count him with the Reds.

And while 2 members of the 1st openly professional baseball team, the 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings, are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Harry and George Wright -- the other Wright Brothers who "invented" something important in American life -- that team was not the same team as the current Reds franchise, which began in the old American Association of 1882 and joined the NL in 1892.

10. Cleveland Indians, 17: Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, Elmer Flick, Addie Joss, Tris Speaker (elected as player but also managed them to a title), Stan Coveleski, Joe Sewell, Earl Averill, Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, Bob Lemon, Larry Doby, Early Wynn, Gaylord Perry, Jim Thome, Al Lopez (manager), Bill Veeck (owner), Jimmy Dudley (broadcaster).

Barring a major shift in voters' attitudes, Manny Ramirez is probably out of luck. Satchel Paige reached the majors with the Indians, but only pitched 2 seasons for them. So, although I can count him with 3 different Negro League teams on this list, I can't count him with any major league team. Indeed, that fact is the reason I've included the Negro League teams on this list, along with moved and defunct major league teams.

11. Baltimore Orioles, 14: Brooks Robinson, Hoyt Wilhelm, Robin Roberts (4 seasons with O's), Luis Aparicio, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken, Roberto Alomar, Harold Baines, Mike Mussina, Earl Weaver (manager), Chuck Thompson (broadcaster), Jon Miller (broadcaster).

Although he won his only World Series with the Orioles, we don't usually associate Aparicio with them, but he did play 5 seasons with them, so, by my own rule, I've got to count him here. Same with Robin Roberts, who played 4 seasons in Baltimore. Rafael Palmeiro is eligible, but he's not getting in.

Mike Mussina should be in. Frank Cashen should be in as an executive. Dick Williams played enough seasons with the O's to qualify, but was elected as a manager and never managed them, so he doesn't qualify as an O's HOFer.

Philadelphia Athletics, 13: Eddie Plank, Rube Waddell, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Chief Bender, Eddie Collins, Herb Pennock, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, George Kell, Connie Mack (owner-manager), By Saam (broadcaster).

Washington Senators, 11: Walter Johnson, Bucky Harris (elected as a manager but was also a great player), Sam Rice, Henry "Heinie" Manush, Goose Goslin, Joe Cronin (elected as a player but also managed them to a Pennant), Rick Ferrell, Early Wynn, Clark Griffith (owner), Arch McDonald (broadcaster), Bob Wolff (broadcaster). 

No, you can't count Ted Williams as a manager.

12. New York Mets, 11: Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine (5 seasons), Pedro Martinez (4 seasons), Casey Stengel (manager, 4 seasons), Joe Torre (manager), Lindsey Nelson (broadcaster), Bob Murphy (broadcaster), Tim McCarver (broadcaster). So that's 3 broadcasters, 2 managers, and 6 players.

Still, you didn't realize the Mets had so many, did you? And that's without counting Ralph Kiner, who was elected as a Pirates' player, not as a Mets' broadcaster. Nor can you count Richie Ashburn, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn or Willie Mays -- and why would you want to count Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson or Roberto Alomar as Mets?

I had not previously counted Ryan. However, he did appear in at least 1 game for 5 different seasons, including the 1969 World Championship season. So I have to count him here.

I had previously counted Yogi Berra, but while he managed them for 4 seasons, including winning a Pennant, he was elected to the Hall as a player, not as a manager, and so I can't count him as a Met HOFer.

As for Torre: Yes, he managed in 4 seasons for them. They were awful then, and there wasn't much he could do about it, but he counts as a Met Hall-of-Famer. Although I notice that, unlike Yogi and Willie, he wasn't invited to the farewell ceremony at Shea Stadium in 2008.

Frank Cashen should be in as an executive. If John Franco is ever elected, you can count him.

13. Atlanta Braves, 10: Hank Aaron, Phil Niekro, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, Bobby Cox (manager), Joe Torre (managed them in between Cox's 2 tenures there, also a player), John Schuerholz (general manager), Milo Hamilton (broadcaster).

Fred McGriff and Andruw Jones will be listed with them if they are elected. Don Sutton broadcasts for the Braves, but can't be counted among their HOFers. Former owners Bill Bartholomay and Ted Turner are not in, nor do I ever expect them to be elected, but maybe they should be.

14. Los Angeles Dodgers, 10: Duke Snider (played 5 seasons for them in L.A.), Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Don Sutton, Mike Piazza, Walter Alston (manager), Tommy Lasorda (manager), Walter O'Malley (owner), Vin Scully (broadcaster), Jamie Jarrin (broadcaster).

Steve Garvey is not getting in. Pedro Martinez started out with the Dodgers, but only played 2 seasons for them.

15. San Diego Padres, 9: Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman, Dick Williams (manager), Jerry Coleman (broadcaster), Dick Enberg (broadcaster).

Yes, the Wizard and the Goose each played 4 seasons in Mission Valley. Considering how many they have in a comparatively short history, you shouldn't also count Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry or Roberto Alomar. Longtime owner Ray Kroc, who saved the team from being moved to Washington in 1974, is not in. Steve Garvey, who is not my Padre, is not getting in.

16. Oakland Athletics, 9: Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, Dick Williams (manager), Tony LaRussa (manager), Lon Simmons (broadcaster), Bill King (broadcaster).

Mark McGwire is eligible, but he's not getting in. Owner Charlie Finley is eligible, but I don't think he'll ever get in, either. I am bending the rule slightly for Williams, who only managed 3 seasons for the A's, but got them into the postseason in all 3, including 2 World Championships.

Montreal Expos, 8: Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero, Dick Williams (manager), Dave Van Horne (broadcaster). Duke Snider cannot be counted for the Expos, although he broadcast for them. He also played in Montreal for the Dodgers' farm team, the Montreal Royals, as did Tommy Lasorda.

Chicago American Giants (Negro Leagues), 8: Andrew "Rube" Foster (also manager and owner), Bill Foster (a.k.a. Willie Foster, Rube's brother), Cristobal Torriente, Pete Hill, George "Mule" Suttles, John Henry "Pop" Lloyd, Norman "Turkey" Stearnes, Willie Wells.

Kansas City Monarchs (Negro Leagues), 8: Jose Mendez, Leroy "Satchel" Paige, James "Cool Papa" Bell, Wilber "Bullet" Rogan, Norman "Turkey" Stearnes, Andy Cooper (also manager), Hilton Smith, J.L. Wilkinson (owner).

Bell played 3 seasons for them, but because Negro League players bounced around as much as international soccer players do, and also like club soccer there were often loan deals involved, I'll bend my 4-season rule. John "Buck" O'Neil, 1st baseman and manager, is not in the Hall of Fame, a terrible oversight, especially given that his contributions to the game include what he did in the last 15 or so years of a very long life.

Jackie Robinson played his first season in professional baseball, 1945, with the Monarchs. They were also the first pro team of Ernie Banks. But neither was elected on the basis of anything he did in Kansas City.

Homestead Grays (Negro Leagues), 7: Cumberland "Cum" Posey (pitcher, then manager, then owner), Smokey Joe Williams, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, James "Cool Papa" Bell, Jud Wilson, Ray Brown.

Oscar Charleston and Judy Johnson each played 2 seasons for them, but I'm not willing to bend the rules THAT much. Gibson was known as the Black Babe Ruth, Leonard as the Black Lou Gehrig, and together they were known as the Thunder Twins or the Dynamite Twins. Williams was sometimes known as Cyclone Joe, sometimes as Smokey Joe (but never as Smokin' Joe, like boxer Frazier).

As for Posey, "Cum" was short for "Cumberland," and it is possible that, like James "Pud" Galvin, his nickname was not considered sexually explicit in his time. As an athlete, he was probably better in football, and Wendell Smith, the leading black sportswriter of the between-the-wars years and a winner of the Hall's Taylor Spink Award for media work, called him "the smartest man in Negro baseball and certainly the most successful."

Newark Eagles (Negro Leagues), 7: George "Mule" Suttles, Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, James "Biz" Mackey (also manager), Monte Irvin, Larry Doby, Effa Manley (owner, the only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame). Don Newcombe also played for the Eagles, and if his service there is counted, I believe that it makes him worthy of election to the Hall, but he hasn't been elected.

17. San Francisco Giants, 7: Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Lon Simmons (broadcaster), Jon Miller (broadcaster).

Barry Bonds is eligible, and his rising percentages suggest that he might get in despite his known cheating. And I'm surprised that longtime owner Horace Stoneham isn't in, and that neither is his son-in-law, Charles "Chub" Feeney, a Giant executive who became President of the NL.

18. Houston Astros, 7: Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Gene Elston (broadcaster), Milo Hamilton (broadcaster), Harry Kalas (broadcast 6 seasons for them before joining the Phillies' broadcast team).

Roger Clemens is eligible, but only played 3 seasons with the Astros, and, even with his legal exoneration, it's not clear that he will ever get in.

19. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 6: Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Bert Blyleven, Vladimir Guerrero. Dick Enberg (broadcaster). Jim Edmonds will have to wait for the Veterans Committee. Founder-owner Gene Autry is not in, but should be. All but Guerrero played for them under the "California Angels" name.

20. Milwaukee Brewers, 6: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons, Bud Selig (owner), Bob Uecker (broadcaster). No, you can't count Hank Aaron, because, while he played 14 seasons in Milwaukee, only 2 of those were for the Brewers.

Baltimore Orioles, AA & NL 1882-1899, 6: John McGraw, Wilbert Robinson, Hughie Jennings, Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley, Ned Hanlon (manager).

While McGraw, Robinson and Jennings were all elected as managers, all could have been elected on the basis of their playing for the old Orioles. Indeed, to this day, McGraw has the highest lifetime batting average of any 3rd baseman, .334. Dan Brouthers played 2 seasons with them, the 1894 and '95 Pennant seasons, but can't be counted with them.

St. Louis Browns, 6: Bobby Wallace, George Sisler, Rogers Hornsby (also managed them), Rick Ferrell, Branch Rickey (executive), Bill Veeck (owner).

Rube Waddell, Goose Goslin, Heinie Manush and Satchel Paige just miss, each having played 3 seasons for the Browns. That was also the length of time that Veeck owned the team, but since he (and his one-at-bat midget Eddie Gaedel) are now the people most identified with this team, I'm bending the rule for him.

Pittsburgh Crawfords (Negro Leagues), 5: Oscar Charleston, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, James "Cool Papa" Bell, WIlliam "Judy" Johnson.

21. Texas Rangers, 5: Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan, Ivan Rodrgiuez. Eric Nadel (broadcaster). Bert Blyleven pitched just 2 seasons for them. Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez are eligible, but who's kidding who? No, you can't count Ted Williams as a manager. And I sure hope former owner George W. Bush is never elected; but, since the team won nothing while he was in control, that seems safe.

22. Minnesota Twins, 5: Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, Kirby Puckett, Herb Carneal (broadcaster).

Tom Kelly could be elected as a manager, but Tony Oliva seems unlikely to ever be elected as a player, having missed in a recent Vets' Committee election by a single vote.

No, you can't count Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, or, if he ever gets in, Jack Morris: Although hometown heroes, none played 4 seasons with the Twins. Jim Thome played only 2 seasons with them. Founder Calvin Griffith is not in, nor should he be.

23. Toronto Blue Jays, 5: Roberto Alomar, Roy Halladay, Pat Gillick (executive), Tom Cheek (broadcaster), Tony Kubek (broadcaster). No, you can't count Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor or Frank Thomas. Or Roger Clemens, if he ever gets in.

Milwaukee Braves, 4: Warren Spahn, Eddie Matthews, Hank Aaron, Red Schoendienst. Joe Torre began his playing career with them, but can't be counted here.

Buffalo Bisons (NL 1879-1885), 4: Dan Brouthers, Jim "Orator" O'Rourke, James "Deacon" White, James "Pud" Galvin.

24. Seattle Mariners, 4: Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., Pat Gillick (executive). If Lou Piniella is elected as a manager, I'll have to count him as a Mariner HOFer.

25. Kansas City Royals, 4: George Brett, Whitey Herzog (manager), John Schuerholz (executive), Denny Matthews (broadcaster). Founder-owner Ewing Kauffman, surprisingly, is not in.

Lincoln Giants/Brooklyn Royal Giants (Negro Leagues), 3: Louis Santop, Smokey Joe Williams, John Henry "Pop" Lloyd. Imagine that, a Brooklyn team called the Giants. What the heck, from 1944 to 1948, the NFL had a Boston Yanks (defunct); and, in the 1961-62 season, the NBA had a Chicago team called the Packers (today's Washington Wizards).

Cuban Giants (Negro Leagues, based in New York), 3: Frank Grant, Sol White, Pete Hill. Unlike the later Cuban Stars and New York Cubans, both also based in New York, this 1880s-90s team had no Cubans: They were called "Cuban" so their all-black roster would be better accepted. Grant has been called the best black player of the 19th Century.

Detroit Stars (Negro Leagues), 3: Pete Hill, Andy Cooper, Norman "Turkey" Stearnes. Stearnes now has a statue at Comerica Park, alongside several Tiger greats.

Indianapolis ABCs (Negro Leagues), 3: Oscar Charleston, Ben Taylor, James "Biz" Mackey (also managed them). A later team, the Indianapolis Clowns, was the first professional team of Hank Aaron.

Philadelphia Giants (Negro Leagues), 3: Sol White, Pete Hill, John Henry "Pop" Lloyd.

Philadelphila Hilldale (Negro Leagues), 3: Martin DiHigo, James "Biz" Mackey (also managed them), William "Judy" Johnson.

St. Louis Stars (Negro Leagues), 3: George "Mule" Suttles, James "Cool Papa" Bell, Willie Wells.

Cuban Stars (Negro Leagues, based in New York), 3: Jose Mendez, Martin Dihigo, Alex Pompez (owner).

Providence Grays (NL 1878-1885), 2: John Montgomery Ward, Charlie "Old Hoss" Radbourn. Their 1879 Pennant was managed by original 1869 Cincinnati Red Stocking George Wright, but he only played with them for 2 seasons.

Cleveland Spiders (NL, 1887-1899), 2: Cy Young and Jesse Burkett.

Detroit Wolverines (NL, 1881-1888), 2: Sam Thompson, Ned Hanlon (elected as a manager but played 8 seasons for them). Dan Brouthers and Deacon White played 3 seasons for them.

26. Miami Marlins, 2: Felo Ramirez and Dave Van Horne (both broadcasters). Ivan Rodriguez was only a Marlin for 1 season, although it was a World Championship season. If Gary Sheffield gets in, he can be counted as a Marlin, but I don't think he's getting in. No, you can't count Miami native Andre Dawson, although he did close his career with the club and is now working in their front office. So is Tony Perez, who briefly managed the team, but you can't count him, either.

Baltimore Black Sox (Negro Leagues), 2: Jud Wilson, Ben Taylor. This team is not to be confused with the Elite Giants.

Washington/Baltimore Elite Giants (Negro Leagues), 2: James "Biz" Mackey (also manager), Roy Campanella. And that's pronounced EE-light, not the usual Eh-LEET.

Birmingham Black Barons (Negro Leagues), 2: George "Mule" Suttles, Satchel Paige. Willie Mays played his first professional season, 1948, for the Black Barons, but only that 1 season, so he can't be counted here.

Kansas City Stars (Negro Leagues), 2: James "Cool Papa" Bell, Willard Brown.

New York Cubans (Negro Leagues), 2: Martin DiHigo, Alex Pompez. Although DiHigo and Pompez were also involved with the Cuban Stars, and that team was also based in New York, it was not the same team as the New York Cubans. Like several of the Negro League owners, Pompez got some funding from the black organized crime bosses of the era, and eventually turned state's evidence to avoid prison. He later worked as an unofficial scout for the New York/San Francisco Giants, helping to sign Hispanic stars like Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, and the Alou brothers.

Philadelphia Stars (Negro Leagues), 2: James "Biz" Mackey (also manager), Jud Wilson.

27. Arizona Diamondbacks, 1: Randy Johnson. If Curt Schilling gets in, he can be counted with them.

28. Colorado Rockies, 1: Larry Walker.

29. Washington Nationals, 1: Frank Robinson, their 1st manager, was already in the Hall long before MLB returned to D.C., but he did manage for them for 5 years, 1 more than my rules require. But you can't count the HOFers from this franchise's previous incarnation, the Montreal Expos.

Bacharach Giants (Negro Leagues), 1: John Henry "Pop" Lloyd.  This team played its home games in Atlantic City, and were named for Harry Bacharach, who was that city's Mayor on and off from 1912 to 1935. He was played by John Rue on the TV series "Boardwalk Empire." Lloyd stayed in Atlantic City after he retired, died there, and a youth baseball facility there is named for him.

Harrisburg Giants (Negro Leagues), 1: Oscar Charleston.

San Antonio Black Bronchos (Negro Leagues, pronounced like Broncos), 1: Smokey Joe Williams.

30. Tampa Bay Rays, none: With the Rockies being able to claim Larry Walker, the Rays are now the only team without a legitimate Hall-of-Famer. If Fred McGriff gets in, he can be counted with them. Wade Boggs cannot. Nor, if he is ever elected as a manager, can Lou Piniella.

Kansas City Athletics, none: No player in the Hall of Fame was with the A's in their K.C. tenure for at least 4 seasons. Ken Harrelson played 5 seasons for them, but he was elected as a broadcaster, not a player, so he doesn't count as one of their Hall-of-Famers.

Analyzing the 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame Vote

Yesterday, there were 2 new players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America:

* Derek Jeter. The Yankee shortstop of 1996 to 2014 getting in surprised no one. What did is that he got 396 of a possible 397 votes. That's 99.7 percent of the vote. Just 1 voting member of the BBWAA refused to vote for him. Last year, his longtime teammate Mariano Rivera became the 1st-ever unanimous honoree. If Jeter doesn't get in unanimously, I don't see anyone else being so honored.

I would understand it if there were 5 people who didn't vote for him, or even 2. But one? I don't yet know who he is, and I don't favor him getting harassed over this for the rest of his life. But I do think he should come to Yankee Stadium on Opening Day, and stand before a microphone, and explain his vote to the fans.

* Larry Walker. The right fielder played for the Montreal Expos from 1989 to 1994, the Colorado Rockies from 1995 to 2004, and the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 and 2005. He was a 5-time All-Star, a 7-tie Gold Glove, a 3-time National League batting champion, and in 1997 led the NL in home runs and won its Most Valuable Player award. It was his 10th and final year on the ballot. He got 76.6 percent of the vote, and is the 2nd Canadian native and/or citizen in the Hall, following Ferguson Jenkins.

These men got the necessary 75 percent of the vote. They will join the honorees by the Modern Baseball Era Committee, one of the groups that took the place of the old Veterans Committee: Ted Simmons, catcher for the 1970s St. Louis Cardinals and the 1980s Milwaukee Brewers; and Marvin Miller, Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, the players' labor union, from 1966 to 1982. He had been denied election several times, most likely due to his having exposed the team owners as greedy and swindling players, before his death in 2012.

They will also join the late Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, who was posthumously given the Hall's award for sportswriters, the J.G. Taylor Spink Award, named for the longtime publisher of The Sporting News, once known as "The Bible of Baseball"; and Ken Harrelson, a slugger for 4 teams in the 1960s, now a broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox, given the Hall's award for broadcasters, the Ford Frick Award, named for the sportswriter who served as NL President, and later as Commissioner of Baseball, and himself a Hall inductee.

*

There were 4 players who got between 40 and 75 percent of the vote, all of them with a higher percentage than they got last year, missing this time, but suggesting that they will eventually get in through the writers' ballot: Curt Schilling, 70.0 percent; Roger Clemens, 61.0 percent; Barry Bonds, 60.7 percent; and Omar Vizquel, 52.6 percent.

It should be pointed out, though, that Schilling, Clemens and Bonds were each in their 8th year on the writers' ballot. Where once a player fell off the ballot if he failed 15 times, now, that threshold is 10. In other words, if they don't get elected in 2021 or 2020, they will have to wait for the Modern Baseball Era Committee.

Schilling has over 3,000 career strikeouts and an enviable postseason pitching record, but he might not be in yet because of all the feathers he's ruffled. If character truly counts, he goes from a good choice (but not an absolute choice) to a borderline choice.

And speaking of character and for how much it counts, Clemens and Bonds are still under the steroid cloud, despite Clemens' acquittal in a court of law. And I'd still like that bloodstain on Schilling's famous sock tested.

The fact that Clemens and Bonds, both of whom have overwhelming career statistics, are getting closer (but not much closer) to the magic 75 suggests that maybe, just maybe, the writers believe they have been punished enough for whatever cheating they may have done, and are getting closer to being willing to overlook it.

Or maybe they're just warming up for the election of 2022, when both Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz will become eligible. But, based on how the baseball world reacted to each of these men, we can guess that Big Papi will be elected that year, and A-Rod will not.

This is despite the facts that, when he got caught, A-Rod came clean, and Big Papi got caught, and continues to lie about it to this day. People hate the Yankees, and, as the Yankees' biggest rivals, they love the Red Sox, and they want to believe that the Yankees' achievements are illegitimate, while their opponents' achievements are worthy of admiration, and not of suspicion. The truth is, it shouldn't work that way, given the evidence that we have.

If you are wondering about the other major known or suspected steroid cheats: Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro have failed to get 5 percent of the votes on a ballot, and thus have dropped off the ballot completely, and are waiting to become eligible through the Veterans Committee. Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield and Sammy Sosa are hanging on, and I'll get to them shortly.

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The following players got between 5 and 40 percent of the vote, making it unlikely that they will ever get in through the writers' ballot:

* Scott Rolen, 35.3 percent in his 3rd year. In 1 year, he jumped 18 percent, suggesting he could make it. The Hall doesn't have many 3rd basemen, and this may work to Rolen's advantage. After all, for most of his career, the only 3rd baseman with notably better stats and a comparable fielding acumen was A-Rod.

* Billy Wagner, 31.7 percent in his 5th year. Among left-handed pitchers, only John Franco has more career saves (barely, 424 to 422). What hurts Wagner is the statistics that make him, arguably, the worst relief pitcher in postseason history, even worse than Armando Benitez.

* Gary Sheffield, 30.5 percent in his 6th year. Over 500 home runs, but that asterisk likely means it's the Veterans Committee or bust.

* Todd Helton, 29.2 percent in his 2nd year. This nearly doubles his percentage from last year. Being a hitter for the Colorado Rockies, in the high elevation of Denver, hurts him, as it had hurt Walker. But Walker now getting in may have, as was said yesterday, "taken the curse off of Coors Field." And being a contact hitter, a hitter for average, first and a power hitter second may actually help him.

* Manny Ramirez, 28.2 percent in his 4th year. He 5.4 percent over last year. Here's a guy who, like Clemens and Bonds, was good enough that he didn't have to cheat, but he did anyway. And he proved himself to be someone of a very low character. In spite of over 500 home runs, I don't think he'll ever get in.

* Jeff Kent, 27.5 percent in his 7th year. Being the all-time home run leader at the position of 2nd base has helped his Hall of Fame chances about as much as a degree in ancient astrology has helped someone go from barista to manager at Starbucks.

* Andruw Jones, 19.4 percent in his 3rd year. Here's a guy who played 17 major league seasons, reached the postseason in 13 of them, hit 434 home runs and won 10 Gold Gloves. How could he not even get 20 percent of the Hall of Fame vote?

* Sammy Sosa, 13.9 percent in his 8th year. With steroids, he hit 609 career home runs. Without them, he might have had half as many. He's not getting in unless the Veterans Committee is really lenient about performance-enhancing drugs.

* Andy Pettitte, 11.3 percent in his 2nd year. He was far more honest about what he did (very briefly) than some others we've mentioned. He won 256 games in the 5-man rotation era, and a record 19 more in postseason play. But he didn't gain much over last year, and the writers may be holding his Yankeeness against him.

* Bobby Abreu, 5.5 percent in his 1st year. Very good player, and clean as far as we know, but he'll never get in.

These players, all in their 1st year of eligibility, got very few votes, and thus fell off the ballot completely: Paul Konerko, 10 votes for 2.5 percent; Jason Giambi and Alfonso Soriano, 6 votes for 1.5 percent; Eric Chavez and Cliff Lee, 2 votes for 0.5 percent; and Adam Dunn, Raul Ibanez, Brad Penny and J.J. Putz, 1 vote for 0.3 percent.

Remember when Lee was supposed to be the best pitcher in baseball? He, Konerko and Soriano may have better luck when they become eligible through the Modern Baseball Era Committee.

These players, all in their 1st year of eligibility, got no votes at all, and thus fell off the ballot completely: Josh Beckett, Heath Bell, Chone Figgins, Rafael Furcal, Carlos Pena, Brian Roberts and Jose Valverde.

*

Based on the preceding, who is likely to be elected next year? Among the first-time hitters are Torii Hunter, Shane Victorino, Grady Sizemore and Nick Swisher. Unless the voters consider Hunter's 9 Gold Gloves along with his 2,452 hits, 353 of which were home runs, neither of which is a HOF stat by itself, I don't think any of them gets in.

Among the first-time pitchers are Tim Hudson, Mark Buehrle, Dan Haren, Barry Zito and A.J. Burnett. Hudson and Buehrle are borderline cases at best, and the others aren't even that.

It's possible that no first-timers will get in next year -- as opposed to 2022, when the first-timers will include the aforementioned A-Rod and Big Papi, and also Mark Teixeira and Jimmy Rollins, who are less likely, although not because of steroid use, because they've never been seriously suspected of it.

Therefore, with 2022 probably being Ortiz' year, and maybe also A-Rod's, 2021 could be it for Schilling, Clemens and Bonds. If they don't get elected in 2021, then it's the Modern Baseball Era Committee for them -- which, unlike the BBWAA vote, will include former players, and maybe the respect they've generated from their peers will help.

If they don't get in in '21, then, in '22, the steroid question will be forced with the eligibility of A-Rod and Papi.

Two years from now, give or take a few days, we will know whether the writers are willing to overlook PED use for all, some, or none. Given what we have seen, about their feelings for the Yankees and the Red Sox, I'm still thinking it will be Clemens and Ortiz in, and Rodriguez and Pettitte out, with Bonds a toss-up. After all, it is widely presumed that Clemens wasn't cheating while with the Red Sox.

Colorado's 10 Greatest Athletes

This weekend, the Mets are playing the Colorado Rockies.

Colorado's 10 Greatest Athletes

Honorable Mention to Denver Broncos in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who did not otherwise make the Top 10: Willie Brown, Floyd Little and Gary Zimmerman.

Honorable Mention to Denver Nuggets in the Basketball Hall of Fame, who did not otherwise make the Top 10: Dan Issel, Alex English and Dikembe Mutombo.

Honorable Mention to Colorado Avalanche players in the Hockey Hall of Fame, who did not otherwise make the Top 10: Ray Bourque (no matter what he achieved, a year and a half is not enough to qualify) and Rob Blake.

Honorable Mention to the members of the Colorado Rapids Gallery of Honor: Marcelo Balboa, Paul Bravo, Chris Henderson, John Spencer, Pablo Mastroeni and Conor Casey.

10. David Thompson, forward, Denver Nuggets, 1975-82. Before there was Luke of Star Wars, Thompson was such an aerial basketball artist that he was called the Skywalker. He led the North Carolina State team that won the 1974 National Championship, and was National Player of the Year in 1975.

He then went to the Nuggets, leading them to the Finals in the ABA's last season, enough to get him named the league's last Rookie of the Year and to the ABA All-Time Team. They went into the NBA, where he was named a 4-time All-Star. On the last day of the 1978 regular season, he scored 73 points, at the time a record for any player other than Chamberlain.

Injuries and drugs would cut his career short. After getting clean, he got involved in youth programs. He became such a role model that no less than Michael Jordan asked him to give his induction speech at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Thompson was inducted himself in 1996. His Number 44 is the only one retired by N.C. State. Dan Issel was already wearing 44 on the Nuggets, so Thompson wore 33, and the Nuggets retired that number for him.

9. Larry Walker, right field, Colorado Rockies, 1995-2004. He also played for the Montreal Expos and the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite a .313 lifetime batting average, a 140 OPS+, 383 home runs (a lot hit in the thin air of Denver, though), 5 All-Star Games (4 with the Rockies), 7 Gold Gloves (5 with the Rockies), 3 batting titles (all with the Rockies), and the 1997 National League home run crown and Most Valuable Player award, he is not yet in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and he might never make it, except maybe through the Veterans Committee.

8. Peter Forsberg, center, Colorado Avalanche, 1995-2004, with returns in 2008 and 2011. In spite of injuries, including one that forced him to miss the 2001 Stanley Cup run, he made 3 All-Star Teams, won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year in 1995 (while the Avs were still the Quebec Nordiques), the Hart Memorial Trophy as Most Valuable Player and the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer in 2003, and helped the Avs win the 1996 Stanley Cup.

The Avs retired his Number 21, and he was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. He also led Sweden to Olympic Gold Medals in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway; and in 2006 in Turin, Italy.

7. Todd Helton, 1st base, Colorado Rockies, 1997-2013. The 1st player to have his number retired by the Rockies (17), he had a .316 lifetime batting average and a 133 OPS+, and collected 2,519 hits, including 369 home runs. He made 5 All-Star Games, won 3 Gold Gloves, and led the NL in batting average and RBIs in 2000. He led the Rockies to their only Pennant so far, in 2007. He becomes eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame next year.

6. Shannon Sharpe, tight end, Denver Broncos, 1990-99, with a return in 2002-03. Anyone who saw him on CBS' The NFL Today or with Skip Bayless on Fox Sports 1's Skip and Shannon: Undisputed won't be surprised to know that, even as a player, he was renowned for having a big mouth, trash-talking his way through a 14-season career that also included a Super Bowl win with the Baltimore Ravens. (Broncos and Ravens? Apparently, purple is Shannon's favorite color.)

He caught 815 passes for 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns. He made 8 Pro Bowl teams, 7 with the Broncos. He hauled in enough passes from John Elway to help the Broncos win Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII -- and, with the Ravens having won Super Bowl XXXV, he's the only man not either a Dallas Cowboy or a New England Patriot to win 3 Super Bowls in 4 seasons.

He was named to the NFL's 1990s All-Decade Team, the Broncos' Ring of Fame, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His brother Sterling Sharpe, despite playing only 7 seasons, all with the Green Bay Packers right before they won another Super Bowl, made 5 Pro Bowls, and caught 595 passes for 8,134 yards and 65 touchdowns.

5. Terrell Davis, running back, Denver Broncos, 1995-2001. Injuries limited him to just 7 seasons in the NFL, all with the Broncos. But he rushed for 7,607 yards, including 60 touchdowns. He made 3 Pro Bowls, and was named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXXII and the NFL's regular season, both in calendar year 1998. He was the difference between John Elway being a Super Bowl winner and not; the difference between the Broncos having won a Super Bowl prior to February 2016, and not.

In spite of the relative brevity of his career, he was named to the NFL's 1990s All-Decade Team, the Broncos' Ring of Fame, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

4. Peyton Manning, quarterback, Denver Broncos, 2012-15. He was only a Bronco for 4 seasons, and we'll remember him more as an Indianapolis Colt. But he made 3 Pro Bowls as Bronco signal-caller, and in 2013 was named NFL MVP and the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.

No quarterback has won more games, or thrown for more yards in a season or in a career, or has thrown more touchdown passes in a season or in a career. (Those records can be broken, but, for the moment, he holds them.) He went to 4 Super Bowls, and is 1 of only 2 quarterbacks to lead 2 different teams to an NFL Championship: The 2006 Indianapolis Colts (and he was named the Super Bowl XLI MVP) and the 2015 Denver Broncos. (The other is Norm Van Brocklin of the 1951 Los Angeles Rams and the 1960 Philadelphia Eagles.)

He was only in his 2nd season when The Sporting News named their 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, but was named to the NFL's 2000s All-Decade Team. Barring an epic calamity, he will be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. He was ranked 8th on the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010.

3. Patrick Roy, goaltender, Colorado Avalanche, 1995-2003. His career is draped in irony. A native of Quebec City, he grew up rooting for the Quebec Nordiques, yet starred for their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. Controversy cast him out of Montreal, leading to his being traded to the team the Nordiques had just become, the Avalanche, where he kept going for 8 seasons. Had he spent his entire career in Denver, he might be Number 1 on this list.

Any list of the greatest goalies in hockey history has got to include Roy near, and maybe at, the top. He broke Terry Sawhcuk's record of 447 career wins, before being surpassed himself by Martin Brodeur. He was the 1st NHL goalie to play in 1,000 regular season games, and has since been surpassed only by Brodeur. No goalie has more Playoff appearances, and none has more Playoff wins.

He won 4 Stanley Cups, 2 with Montreal (1986 and 1993) and 2 with Colorado (1996 and 2001), and is the only man with 3 Conn Smythe Trophies as Playoff MVP (including 2001 with the Avs, outplaying Brodeur and beating the Devils).

He made 11 All-Star Games (5 with the Avs), and won 3 Vezina Trophies as the NHL's top goalie (all with the Habs). In 1998, while still playing, The Hockey News ranked him 22nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. Naturally, he was included in the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players in 2017. That same year, THN ranked him 5th among all players in the post-1967 Expansion Era, ahead of all goalies. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and both the Canadiens and the Avalanche have retired Number 33 for him.

2. Joe Sakic, center, Colorado Avalanche, 1995-2009, plus 1988-95 before that with the franchise as the Quebec Nordiques. The Avalanche played 14 years -- well, 13 seasons, since 2004-05 was canceled -- before they played a single game without Sakic as Captain.

He made 13 All-Star Games (8 with Colorado), and scored 626 goals (392 in Colorado). He led the Avs to the 1996 Stanley Cup, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP. In 2001, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as regular season MVP, the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as "most gentlemanly player," and another Cup.

The Avs retired his Number 19, and he was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame and, in 2017, to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. He also won an Olympic Gold Medal with Canada in 2002, switching to Number 91 and refusing the captaincy in deference to Steve Yzerman.

1. John Elway, quarterback, Denver Broncos, 1983-98. Along with Alex Rodriguez and LeBron James, no athlete better illustrates the difference in perception between being a great athlete who's never won the big one and becoming one who has.

From 1983 to 1996, he helped the Denver Broncos reach the Playoffs 8 times, win 6 AFC Western Division titles, and win the AFC Championship for the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons. Along the way, he won more regular-season NFL games than any quarterback before him, was named NFL MVP in 1987, and NFL Man of the Year in 1992.

But the defeats were glaring. They lost Super Bowls XXI, XXII and XXIV -- in each case, to a great team. Any one of those defeats, by itself, would have been understandable, if the Broncos had simply won 1 of the other 2.

But the defeats got progressively worse. They blew a 10-9 halftime lead over the Giants, and lost 39-20. They blew a 10-0 2nd quarter lead over the Washington Redskins, and lost 42-10. And they got slaughtered by the San Francisco 49ers 55-10. That is still the 2nd-largest margin in the history of NFL Championship Games (2nd only to the Chicago Bears' 73-0 win over the Redskins in 1940), and the largest since they began calling it the Super Bowl. They lost the 1991 AFC Championship Game to the Buffalo Bills. And in 1996, they lost a Playoff game at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars, a 2nd-year expansion team.

Maybe it was the uniforms: Under the old ones, with the blue helmets with the orange D's, the Broncos were 0-4 in Super Bowls; with the new ones, purple with the horse's head, they're 3-1. With Davis behind him, Elway led the Broncos to back-to-back titles, winning Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII, and closing his career in 1999 as a Super Bowl MVP and a 9-time Pro Bowler.

Stanford University and the Broncos both retired his Number 7. He was named to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, the NFL's 1990s All-Decade Team, the Broncos Ring of Fame, The Sporting News' 1999 list of the 100 Greatest Football Players (16th), and the NFL Network's 2010 list of the 100 Greatest Players (23rd).

He is now the Broncos' general manager, building the team that lost Super Bowl XLVIII and won Super Bowl 50. He is the only man ever to win the Super Bowl as both a player and a general manager.

Canada's All-Time Baseball Team

Okay, there are lots of people in Quebec who would still prefer a returned Expos. And there may be a few people in Western Ontario, near Windsor, who prefer the Detroit Tigers. And there may be a few people in Manitoba who like the Minnesota Twins. And there may be a few people in Saskatchewan and Alberta who prefer the Colorado Rockies. And there's probably a lot of people in and around Vancouver who like the Seattle Mariners.

But I'm putting the entire Dominion of Canada into the Toronto Blue Jays' "market," thus putting Canada at 17th in the MLB rankings.

17. Canada's All-Time Baseball Team

Although the Jays have only had that one good period, 1985 to 1993, their predecessors, the Triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs, for whom the legendary hockey team was named, won Pennants in 1897, 1902, 1912, 1917, 1918, 1926, 1934, 1960, 1965 and 1966, the last 2 of these helping to produce some of the Boston Red Sox players who won the 1967 “Impossible Dream” Pennant.

And while the Expos only reached the postseason once, as second-half National League Eastern Division Champions in 1981, and had the best record in baseball when the Strike of '94 hit, their predecessors, the Triple-A Montreal Royals, won Pennants in 1898, 1935, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1955 and 1958, all but the first 2 as the top farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Can an all-time All-Hoser Team measure up to that? Possibly: Canada has 34 million people, and 243 natives have reached the major leagues.

1B Justin Morneau of New Westminster, British Columbia. He's one of those guys about him you can now say, "It's funny how these winning teams keep following him around." He spent 10 seasons with the Twins, and they made the postseason in 6 of them. Last year, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they reached the postseason for the first time in 21 years.

He was named American League Most Valuable Player in 2006, and nearly was again in 2008. He's a 4-time All-Star with a career OPS+ of 121, 221 home runs, and 4 100+ RBI seasons. He turns 33 in May, so he should remain productive for the time being. (In fact, he was born on a good day for baseball: May 15, 1981 was the day of Len Barker's perfect game.)

Honorable Mention to Joey Votto of Toronto. It seems silly to not have him as the starter, since he's one of the top 5 players in the game right now. He's got just as many MVPs (NL 2010) and All-Star berths as Morneau, a Gold Glove (which Morneau doesn't yet have), a higher career OPS+ (155), and is hitting home runs at a better rate (157 in just 6 full seasons).

And he has helped the Cincinnati Reds reach 3 of the last 4 postseasons. But these teams I'm making are weighted toward career achievement. If the Reds win a Pennant before Votto surpasses Morneau in terms of career numbers (if he does, as now seems likely), then I'll reassess.

2B Sherry Robertson of Montreal, Quebec. It was said that the only reason the Washington Senators kept him around as a coach was because he was the adopted son of owner Clark Griffith -- and thus the adoptive brother of the next owner, Calvin Griffith. There was even a rumor that the Twins, whom the "old Senators" became in 1961, had retired his uniform Number 47 (which he never wore as a player, and the rumor was shattered by Jack Morris in the Twins' 1991 World Championship season.)

But Robertson wasn't a terrible player. In 1949, he hit 11 home runs and had 42 RBIs, despite playing only 110 games, and his home games in Griffith Stadium, which had distant fences and was terrible for hitters. And second base is a very weak position for Canada.

SS Arthur Irwin of Toronto, Ontario. Pickings were slim at shortstop as well, and I had to go back to the 1880s to find this guy, but he was a productive hitter for a time and a good baserunner. He played on 2 Pennant winners, the 1884 National League Champion Providence Grays (best known for pitcher Charlie "Old Hoss" Radbourn) and the only Players' League Champions, the 1890 Boston Red Stockings.

3B Corey Koskie of Outbank, Manitoba. In 2001, his 26 homers and 103 RBIs were one of the things that boosted Twins attendance, and may have helped them avoid being contracted. He later helped the Twins win the 2003 and '04 AL Central Division titles.

LF Jason Bay of Trail, British Columbia. It's easy to laugh now, but he was once one of the best players in the game. A 3-time All-Star, he was NL Rookie of the Year with the 2004 Pirates, and has 222 home runs, 4 100-RBI seasons, and a 121 OPS+. And he did help the Red Sox reach the 2008 and '09 postseasons, before signing that embarrassing contract with the Mets. He is currently a free agent after being released by the Mariners after the first half of last season, and at age 35 1/2, this Canada goose may be cooked.

Honorable Mention to James "Tip" O'Neill of Woodstock, Ontario. The "Woodstock Wonder" was the first great Canadian-born baseball player, and as a result the annual award for the country's best baseball player is named for him. A career .326 hitter with an OPS+ of 144, he had 3 100-RBI seasons in a pitcher's era.

He was an original New York Giant in 1883, but made his mark with the St. Louis Browns of the American Association, the team that would become not the AL's Browns, but the NL's Cardinals, winning 4 straight Pennants, 1885-88. In 1887, he led the AA in batting (.435), runs, hits, total bases, doubles, triples, home runs and RBIs -- possibly the best hitting year that 10-year league ever had.

If he could have done anything close to his 19th Century career numbers within a 20th Century framework, he could have been a Hall-of-Famer. As it is, Baseball-Reference.com has him at 112 on their HOF Monitor, where 100 means you should be in; while they have him at 33 on their HOF Standards, where 50 means you should be in. How he would have fared in the era of international, multiracial opposition, night games and coast-to-coast travel is a mystery, but, clearly, he had talent. (He also started the tradition of men named O'Neill with 2 L's being nicknamed "Tip," as with the legendary Boston Congressman Thomas P. O'Neill Jr.)

On my original team, my left fielder was Jeff Heath a very good hitter who made 2 All-Star teams, had 2 100-RBI seasons, and 5 times received votes in the MVP balloting. Twice while playing for the Cleveland Indians, he led the AL in triples, in 1938 and 1941. But while he was born in Fort William, Ontario, he grew up in Seattle.

CF Terry Puhl of Melville, Saskatchewan. An All-Star in 1978, his 1st full season in the majors, he hit 13 homers and drove in 55 runs despite playing his home games in the Astrodome, helping the Houston Astros reach their first postseason. A .282 career hitter, with a 112 OPS+, he also stole 217 bases thanks partly to his natural speed, and partly to that awful Astrodome carpet. In short, he was a natural fit for the 1980s Astros.

He actually played more right field in his 14 seasons with the Astros (plus one more, 1991, with the Kansas City Royals), but center field is another weak position for Canadians: Only 2 other men born in that country played the position much in the majors, and not for long. I considered moving 1930s Yankee All-Star George "Twinkletoes" Selkirk of Huntsville, Ontario, or more recent slugger Matt Stairs of St. John, New Brunswick over from right field, but I decided Puhl was a better choice, as he was a good defensive outfielder, I've never seen footage of Selkirk in the field, and Stairs has never been all that mobile. So Selkirk and Stairs will have to be backups in RF to…

RF Larry Walker of Maple Ridge, British Columbia. He could be the greatest hitter the Great White North has ever produced, and is easily the best Canadian player to play for a Canadian team (the Expos). He has a .313 lifetime batting average, 3 batting titles (peaking at .379 in 1999, 1 of 4 times he hit .350 or higher), a 140 OPS+, 471 doubles and 383 home runs (a lot hit in the thin air of Denver, though), 5 100-RBI seasons, 5 All-Star berths, 7 Gold Gloves, and the 1997 NL MVP.

He helped the Rockies reach the postseason in 1995, only their 3rd season of play, and the Cardinals to get there in 2004 (his only World Series appearance) and '05. He is now eligible for the Hall of Fame, but hasn't come close to being elected. His B-R HOF Monitor is 148, and his HOF Standards are 58, both meaning he should obviously be in. If the voters are holding Coors Field against him, they also need to remember that he played 5 years in the Montreal Olympic Stadium, which wasn't exactly a homerdome.

C Russell Martin of Montreal, Quebec. No, he's not the Yankees' catcher anymore, but he's still one of the best defensive catchers in baseball (he's won a Gold Glove), and he's still got some power (enough to be a 3-time All-Star). And he's been to 6 of the last 8 postseasons: 2006, '08 and '09 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2011 and '12 with the Yankees, and 2013 with the Pirates. Yeah, another one of those guys that winning teams seem to follow around.

Honorable Mention to George Gibson of London, Ontario. Not much of a hitter (.236, OPS+ a mere 81, never topped 52 RBIs), but he must have been good defensively, because he stuck around the majors for 14 seasons, and was a member of 2 Pennant winners: He helped the Pirates win the 1909 World Series against Ty Cobb's Tigers, then got the Giants into the 1917 Series which they lost to the Chicago White Sox with Shoeless Joe Jackson. Gibson is also the manager of this team, almost by default. (No, De Fault is not a village in Quebec.)

SP Russ Ford of Brandon, Manitoba. The 1st Ford to be a great pitcher for the Yankees wasn't Whitey. Russ was one of the trickiest pitchers of his time, throwing a knuckleball, a spitball, and a pitch he claimed to have discovered accidentally, the "emery ball." He threw a warmup pitch that hit a post, noticed a scuff on the ball, and saw that it curved funny afterward. From that point onward, he carried an emery board with him in his back pocket, to "doctor the ball." Like the spitball, the emery ball was outlawed in 1920.

He won 48 games for the Highlanders, as the Yankees were then known, in 1910 & '11. He bolted for the Federal League in 1914, winning 21 for the Buffalo team that year and leading the FL in winning percentage and, although these 2 categories weren't known at the time, ERA+ and WHIP. But he tumbled from 21-6 to 5-9 in 1915, suggesting an injury.

Despite going 16-9 for the high minors' Denver Bears in 1916, the next season was his last in pro ball, and he was done at age 34. (Although I can find no record of it, he may have missed the 1918 season, and part of 1917, due to serving in World War I, and then been so stale after the Armistice that he simply couldn't catch on anywhere.) He went 99-71 in his major league career, with an ERA+ of 124 and a WHIP of 1.154.

SP Ferguson Jenkins of Chatham, Ontario. The only Canadian thus far elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he won 284 games, and is a member of the 3,000 Strikeout Club. He only made 3 All-Star teams, and never reached the postseason, mainly because he played for some snakebit franchises: The Phillies, the Cubs, the Rangers and the Red Sox. But he had 7 20-win seasons -- including 6 in a row. But he did have 7 20-win seasons, including 6 in a row. One of these was 1971, when he got the NL Cy Young Award.

SP Reggie Cleveland of Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Okay, not the best Reggie in baseball in the 1970s -- or even the 2nd-best, that would be Reggie Smith. And he was sub-.500 for his career, 105-106. Still, he's 1 of only 4 Canadian-born pitchers to win 100 games in the majors, and he did help the Red Sox win the 1975 AL Pennant.

SP Kirk McCaskill of Kapuskasing, Ontario. His career W-L record resembles Cleveland's, 106-108. But he did last 12 seasons in the majors, and helped the California Angels get to within 1 strike of the AL Pennant in 1986, and the White Sox to within 2 games of the 1993 Pennant.

SP Ryan Dempster of Gibbons, British Columbia. He'll be 37 in May, but he's not ready to pack it in. He's a 2-time All-Star who, unlike Fergie Jenkins, has reached the postseason with the Cubs and the Red Sox -- think about that combination! In fact, he got to the postseason with the Cubs in back-to-back seasons, 2007-08, and won a ring * with last year's Red Sox.

Like Cleveland and McCaskill, he's just under .500 for his career (132-133), but from 3 seasons as the Cubs' closer (including those 2 trips to the postseason), he's also got 87 saves.

I originally had Erik Bedard as one of the starters on this team, but, while born in Navan, Ontario, he grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut.

RP John Hiller of Scarborough, Ontario. In 1968, he was in the bullpen for the Tigers' World Championship team. He suffered a heart attack at age 28, and missed the entire 1971 season, and wasn't able to contribute much to their 1972 AL East title. But in 1973, he saved 38 games, a new major league record that stood for 12 years, and went 10-5. The next season, as the Tigers got old in a hurry, he only saved 13, but went 17-14, making the All-Star team. He ended up winning 87 games and saving 125 others.

Honorable Mention to Claude Raymond of St. Jean, Quebec, who bounced around the majors in the 1960s, including an All-Star berth with the 1966 Astros, before being picked up by the expansion Expos in 1969, making him the first Canadian-born player (French or otherwise) to play for a Canada-based team. In fact, the Expos' first stadium, Jarry Park, was built on the site of a sandlot where he had played as a boy.

Raymond later became the Expos' French voice on radio from 1972 until their "death" in 2004. This did not, however, make him the first Canadian-born broadcaster in the majors. Jack Graney of St. Thomas, Ontario was the first former player -- a left fielder with the Indians from 1908 to 1922, including their 1920 World Championship -- to become a broadcaster, also for the Indians.

Also available for the Canadian bullpen is Rheal Cormier of Moncton, New Brunswick, who pitched 16 years in the majors, and actually won more games as a reliever (40) than he did as a starter (31).

Now, you might be asking about Eric Gagne of Montreal. No. He cheated, and he got caught. As such, he was much closer to Sammy Sosa, who never would have amounted to much if he hadn't cheated, than to Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez, who didn't need to cheat but did anyway.

*

Best players from each Province, going West to East:

British Columbia: Larry Walker of Maple Ridge.

Alberta: Mike Johnson of Edmonton, a pitcher who spent 5 years straddling the new millennium with the Expos.

Saskatchewan: Terry Puhl of Melville.

Manitoba: Russ Ford of Brandon.

Ontario: Fergie Jenkins of Chatham.

Quebec: Russell Martin of Montreal.

New Brunswick: Matt Stairs of Fredericton.

Nova Scotia: Charles "Pop" Smith of Digby, an infielder who played for several teams, mostly the Pirates, from 1880 to 1891.

Prince Edward Island: Vern Handrahan of Charlottetown, a pitcher for the 1964-1966 Kansas City Athletics, is easily the best of the 3 men from PEI to make it to the majors.

No player born in Newfoundland and Labrador, or in any of Canada's Territories (Yukon, Northwest, Nunavut), has ever reached the major leagues.

*

In case you're a hockey fan (and if you're not, what the hell is wrong with you, eh?), here are my picks for the best hockey players from each of the Provinces and Territories:

Nunavut Territory: As yet, no player from there has reached the NHL.

Yukon Territory: Peter Sturgeon of Whitehorse, 6 games with the 1980 and '81 Colorado Rockies, not the Denver baseball team but the hockey team that, in 1982, became the New Jersey Devils. Byron Baltimore is the only other Yukon native to reach the NHL, and while neither scored a goal, Sturgeon, at least, got an assist.

Northwest Territory: Geoff Sanderson of Hay River, easily the best of the 5 NT players who've made it, scoring 355 goals for several teams, playing the longest for the Hartford Whalers.

British Columbia: Joe Sakic of Burnaby. Steve Yzerman was born in Cranbrook, but grew up in Ottawa, Ontario. Scott Niedermayer, born in Edmonton, grew up in Cranbrook, but, for career achievement, I can't put him ahead of Sakic.

Alberta: Mark Messier of Edmonton. And remember: He's not only the Hair Club Team Captain, he's also a client!

Saskatchewan: Gordie Howe of Floral.

Manitoba: Bobby Clarke of Flin Flon.

Ontario: Bobby Orr of Parry Sound. Yes, ahead of Wayne Gretzky of Brantford -- and I place Howe ahead of both of them.

Quebec: Maurice Richard of Montreal.

New Brunswick: Don Sweeney of St. Stephen, an All-Star defenseman with the Boston Bruins in the 1990s.

Nova Scotia: Al MacInnis of Port Hood.

Prince Edward Island: Gerard Gallant of Summerside, who scored 211 goals, mostly for the Detroit Red Wings, including 4 30-goal seasons.

Newfoundland and Labrador: Keith Brown of Corner Brook, a defenseman who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win several Division titles.

Top 10 Should-Be Baseball Hall-of-Famers

In the wake of the Baseball Writers' Association of America electing no one to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Wednesday's vote, the question needs to be asked: Who is eligible for the Hall of Fame, and deserves it, but is not in?

Someone (I forget who) said that one good way to judge whether a player is deserving is if he's a "1 in 100" kind of player. That is, if you think he's in the top 1 percent of all baseball players, ever.

There are 297 people in the Hall. Of these, 236 were elected as players, rather than as managers, umpires, or executives of any kind (owners, general managers, league presidents, commissioners, or "pioneers").

Of those, 35 were elected due to the perception of their performance in the Negro Leagues -- for which statistics are, through no fault of the players involved, woefully incomplete, so we're essentially just guessing how good they were, based on the word of those who saw them play, either in contemporary newspaper accounts or from reminiscences.

That leaves 201 players whose statistical performances we can look at, and from which we can draw our own conclusions.

According to Baseball Reference, a website which is your friend whether you know it or not, there have been 17,943 men who have appeared in at least one regular-season Major League Baseball game.

Therefore, if we were adhering to the 1 percent guideline, there should be 179 players in the Hall of Fame that fit the description I gave. Not 201. Which means we may have more than we should.

Nevertheless, I'm going to list 10 players that I think should be in the Hall, but aren't.

I previously did such a list on May 14, 2010. Here were my Top 10 at that time:

10. Don Newcombe
9. Wes Ferrell
8. Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat and Vic Raschi
7. Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker
6. Ted Simmons
5. Tommy John
4. Jim Kaat
3. Bert Blyleven
2. Ron Santo
1. Gil Hodges

Some explanation is needed. I reckoned that, if Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance, the 1906-10 Chicago Cub double play combination, could be elected as a unit, why couldn't we do this for others?

Separately, Reynolds, Lopat and Raschi were not HOFers; together, they formed a HOF unit, every bit as much as did the later Atlanta Braves triad of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. And "TramWhit" was much worthier of the Hall than Tinker-Evers-Chance, if you're judging them solely on their playing: Chance deserved election as a manager, but was a step below greatness as a player. Tinker was no better, and Evers, while better, is a close call.

In the nearly 3 years since, Blyleven and Santo have been elected -- although Santo died before it could happen.

The Hall does not combine records for playing and managing, which hurts Hodges, but shouldn't: He should be in as a player. The Hall also does not combine records for playing and broadcasting, which hurt Santo, and still hurts Kaat. In all 4 major North American sports, only one man has been honored by his sport's Hall of Fame for both playing and broadcasting, pro football's Frank Gifford.

UPDATE: Len Dawson has joined Gifford as having been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a broadcaster. But no baseball, basketball or hockey player has been so honored.

Here is Baseball Reference's top 10 nonpitchers eligible but not in, using "WAR," or "Wins Above Replacement," which is defined as how many games said player appears to have won for his team, above and beyond what a rookie just called up from the minors might do. It's subjective, and the part of it that is statistical includes a formula that I don't think I've ever seen, and don't care to. Keep in mind that Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose are not currently eligible:

1. Barry Bonds
2. Jeff Bagwell
3. Lou Whitaker
4. Bill Dahlen
5. Larry Walker
6. Bobby Grich
7. Alan Trammell
8. Tim Raines
9. Rafael Palmeiro
10. Kenny Lofton

UPDATE: Bagwell, Walker, Trammell and Raines are now in.

Incidentally, the difference between Bonds at 1 and Bagwell at 2 is, by the standards of this stat, enormous. Indeed, Bonds is 2nd all-time behind Babe Ruth.

You say Bonds and Palmeiro shouldn't be up there, because they used steroids? I agree. But this particular list isn't about who's worthy, which is based on opinion; it's about who's high-ranking and eligible, which is based on facts.

Here's the top 10 pitchers, based on Pitching WAR:

1. Roger Clemens (all-time, trails only Cy Young and Walter Johnson)
2. Curt Schilling
3. Jim McCormick
4. Bobby Mathews
5. Rick Reuschel
6. Kevin Brown
7. Luis Tiant
8. Tommy Bond
9. David Cone
10. Charlie Buffinton

UPDATE: Through the election of 2025, none of those have made it.

No, I'd never heard of McCormick, either, even though he lived most of his life in my native North Jersey. He played his last game in 1887, the 1st term of President Grover Cleveland, and anybody who played back then and isn't in the Hall of Fame is, almost certainly, going to be forgotten. And that's the difference between getting into the Hall, and not.

I had heard of Mathews, whose finale was also in 1887, but only because I read an article about the 300 Wins Club, and saw that, if you count what he did in the National Association of 1871-75 (some sources do, some don't), his career win total was 297, just short. If he'd gotten just 3 more, he'd have had 300, and he would be in. But he didn't, so he's not, and so I never heard of him until a few years ago, when I read the article online.

Bond was one of the best pitchers in the game as it moved from the first professional league, the NA, to the first totally major league, the National League, in 1876. It was a very different game then, especially as far as pitching is concerned: It was all underhanded, and batters could call for a high or a low pitch. As in baseball's British cousin, cricket, where the position is called the bowler, the pitcher was the least important defensive player, not the most important, as it would become once overhand pitching was legalized in 1884. (In the pitcher's favor, though, it then took 9 balls to walk a batter, not 4.)

And the pitching distance was extended from 50 feet to 60 feet, 6 inches in 1893, and a lot of pitchers who were good before that year either lost their effectiveness or retired. So it's hard to say that a pitcher whose best years were before 1893, and even harder if they were before 1884, would have excelled afterward. It's a bit easier to say a pitcher good between 1893 and the dawn of the Lively Ball Era in 1920, and easier still for one good between then and the dawn of the Integration Era in 1947, would have excelled afterward.

Buffinton was a pitcher for whom the 1884 legalization of overhand pitching was a godsend, but for whom the 1893 extension appears to have been the end of the line, as his last appearance was in 1892, when he was only 31. I had never heard of him until I read the book about Edward Achorn's book about the 1884 Pennant race between the Charlie "Old Hoss" Radbourn's Providence Grays and Buffinton's Boston Beaneaters, Fifty-Nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had. Again, it's the difference between being in the Hall of Fame (Radbourn, career record 309-194) and not (Buffinton, 233-152).

But let's get real: While Clemens is in the 300 Wins Club, he and Schilling are both in the 3,000 Strikeouts Club, and both Tiant and Cone have their advocates, I don't know why anyone would think Rick Reuschel or Kevin Brown was a Hall-of-Famer. And that would be my stance even if Brown hadn't broken his hand in September 2004 and then had that horrible start in Game 7 of the ALCS for the Yankees.

So who are the top 10 deserving men?

Well, if we were including the Negro Leaguers, for whom the stats just aren't available in full, we would have to include Buck O'Neil. And if Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui get considered, why not Sadaharu Oh? It's not his fault that he never played in the North American majors. But we're only looking at major leaguers.

And I won't cop out by suggesting the joint entries of ReynLopSchi and TramWhit. One TinkEvAnce in Cooperstown is enough.

But it is worth pointing out where they stand. Baseball Reference has a Hall of Fame Monitor, on which 100 is a "Likely HOFer." They also have a Hall of Fame Standards, on which 50 represents the "Average HOFer." And they have "Similarity Scores," which shows the 10 players whose statistics most closely resemble that player's, and is weighted toward players who also that player's position, so as to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.

HOF Monitor: Trammell 118, Reynolds 110, which means they should be in; Whitaker 92, which means he falls a little short; Raschi 82 and Lopat 64, which means they fall well short.

HOF Standards: Whitaker 43, Trammell 40, Reynolds 33, Lopat 27, Raschi 25, which means they all fall short.

10 Most Similar: Of the Yankee trio, only Reynolds has anyone in his Top 10 who are in, but those are his Top 2: Lefty Gomez and Bob Lemon. Trammell's 10 Most Similar include Whitaker, and also Barry Larkin, Ryne Sandberg and Pee Wee Reese, who are in; and Jimmy Rollins, who will probably make it. Whitaker's 10 Most Similar include Trammell (obviously); already-in players Sandberg, Larkin, Roberto Alomar and Joe Morgan; and Joe Torre, who will be in as a manager.

UPDATE: Rollins had a major dropoff that may have knocked him out of consideration. He will be eligible in 2022.

As for my Top 10, I am listing these in chronological order, not in ascending (or descending) order of how much they deserve it.

And since we're going chronologically, let me mention 3 players who are so far back that it's difficult to judge their careers, but for their pioneering roles, should be in.

Doc Adams. After all, if we're reflecting the history of the game, shouldn't we go back to the beginning of its history? Daniel Lucius Adams (1814-1899), a physician from Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, even more than the man usually credited, Alexander Cartwright, was the guiding force behind the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club and, more than any other person, comes close to being the man who shaped the rules of earlier forms of "base ball" (even into the early 20th Century, it was often printed as two words) into a game that we would recognized as "baseball," and thus comes closer than anyone else to being "the man who invented baseball."

He began with the New York Base Ball Club -- the team that beat the Knickerbockers 23-1 in what's long been considered "the first baseball game" in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 19, 1846. That club split over some dispute or other, and led to the formation of the Knickerbocker Club. So that New York Club was already in existence, and now you know why they clobbered the supposed inventors of the sport in "the first game." Adams played in that game.

According John Thorn, author of a slew of books about the sport and now the official historian of Major League Baseball, Adams essentially invented the position of shortstop, more as what we would now call a cutoff man than as a way to better stop grounders. Adams played every position available at the time except pitcher, and was a lefthanded hitter with, under the conditions of the time, power, hitting some balls from Hoboken's Elysian Fields into the Hudson River. Thorn has called him the best player of the 1840s, and he played until 1859.

More important that his performance were his innovations. In addition to inventing shortstop, he was the man who, at a New York convention to standardize rules in 1857, convinced the other men to settle on 9 innings for a game, 90 feet between bases (making official the rough estimate Cartwright made of "42 paces" between home plate and 2nd base, and between 1st and 3rd bases), and eliminating the rule of catching the ball on the first bounce still counting as an out.

Cartwright has been overcredited -- including by myself, on this blog, in years past. He is in the Hall of Fame, but probably shouldn't be, just as Abner Doubleday, whom we now know to have had nothing to do with baseball, is not. Adams should be in the Hall. And case can also be made for another Knickerbocker, William R. Wheaton (1814-1888).

Jim Creighton. Born in Brooklyn in 1841, James Creighton Jr. didn't last long, but his impact was tremendous. He was a superb batter, and as a pitcher, he used what may well be the first "trick pitch." Pitching was done underhand, but he managed to put in a snap of his wrist, and make the pitch much faster. Essentially, he invented the fastball.

A lot of people thought this was unfair. Most of them were probably in favor of big offense. Even during the American Civil War, people dug the long ball. But Creighton's delivery was described as being "as swift as it was shot out of cannon" and "fairly unhittable." Up to that point, high scores were common. If you think ERAs are high now, in the amateur era, there were scores that today's football purists would have found to be a bit high.

He played for several amateur clubs in Brooklyn, until 1898 a separate city from New York (then just Manhattan Island). He helped establish the Excelsior Club (named for the motto of New York State, meaning "Ever upward") as one of the dominant clubs. The Excelsior Club lured Creighton in 1860 but getting him a job that paid him $500 a year -- a big sum for a working man then.

Another player they lured was Asa Brainard, himself a great pitcher. They also lured his brother Henry Brainard. They were probably the first professional players, but, in American baseball as in English soccer, professionalism was then considered ungentlemanly.

On October 14, 1862, in a match against the Union Club of Morrisania (which was included in the City as part of the Borough of The Bronx when Consolidation happened in 1898), Creighton hit a home run, but suffered a hernia. With medicine being what it was then, he couldn't be helped, and spent 4 days in immense pain until he died. He was only 21.

William Arthur "Candy" Cummings is in the Hall of Fame, even though statistics suggest he wasn't such a great pitcher, because of his claim to inventing the curveball. That claim has been revealed to be highly questionable, as another pitcher seems to have thrown one in a game earlier. If Cummings is in the Hall for "inventing the curveball," why is Creighton not in the Hall for being a superb hitter and the almost-certain inventor of the fastball?

Lip Pike. While Creighton and the Brainards were the first professional players, Lipman Emanuel Pike (1845-1893) was the first player revealed to have been paid to play. The Manhattan native is also the first baseball player known to have been Jewish.

His willingness to let it be known that he was paid to play, by the first team to be known as the Philadelphia Athletics, in 1866, paved the way for the first openly all-professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. That team included Asa Brainard, who had become the best pitcher in the baseball after Creighton's death, and whose name led to a star pitcher being called an "ace." (Brainard is also worthy of HOF consideration.)

The Red Stockings went through the entire 1869 season without losing a game, and were still undefeated on June 14, 1870 (their streak being anywhere from 81 to 130 games, depending on whose story you believe), before crossing the ferry to Brooklyn (the Brooklyn Bridge was in the first stages of construction and wouldn't open until 1883) to face the Atlantics at the Capitoline Grounds in what's now the Bedford-Stuyvesant section.

A crowd of at least 12,000 came out, and in a game that required 11 innings to be completed, the Atlantics -- with early stars Pike at 2nd base, Dickey Pearce at shortstop, Joe Start at 1st base, George Zettlein pitching, and the man with the wildest nickname in baseball history, the fine-fielding Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson, catching -- won 8-7 to give the Cincy club their first defeat. It was the first great game in professional baseball history.

When the NA was founded in 1871, Pike was one of its first stars, leading it in home runs in each of its 1st 3 seasons. Ironically, he later played for and managed a new club called the Cincinnati Reds. He played his last game in 1887, at age 42. Unfortunately, he died of heart disease at 48, just as the 60-and-6 pitching distance ended forever the game he knew.

But, having been a nonpitcher, he is much more likely than Brainard or even Creighton to have been able to adapt to the modern game, had someone time-traveled back to the 1870s and offered him the chance to play in the 21st Century.

Now, the Top 10:

1. Wes Ferrell.  Born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1908, Wesley Cheek Ferrell debuted in the majors with the 1927 Cleveland Indians. In his 1st 4 full seasons, he won 91 games -- all before his 25th birthday. He won 21 at 21, 25 at 22, 22 at 23 and 23 at 24. That was from 1929 to 1932, one of the biggest periods ever for hitters, rather than the Dead Ball Era of the 1900s and 1910s, or the 1960s. And it was for an Indians team that really didn't contend while he was there.

Acquired by Tom Yawkey in his bid to buy championships for the Boston Red Sox, he rode better support to add 2 more 20-win seasons, and finished with 193 wins and a .601 winning percentage.

And he was a really good hitter, too: In 1931, he won 22 games and hit 9 home runs. In 1935, he won 25 and hit 7. His lifetime batting average was .280, he had a .797 OPS, and OPS+ of exactly 100 (How many pitchers hit as well as the average hitter of their time?), and had 107 extra-base hits, including 38 home runs, more than any player whose primary position was pitcher. (This, of course, excludes former pitcher Babe Ruth.) He last appeared in the majors in 1941, and died in 1976.

So why is he not in the Hall? Well, an injury meant that his last productive season was at age 30, and he last pitched in the majors at at 33, and then came World War II. His career ERA was 4.04. Granted, that was, as I said, in the power-happy 1930s, and his career ERA+ was 117, meaning he was 17 percent better at preventing runs than the average pitcher of his time. But his career WHIP was also high, 1.481. And he also gave up a lot of home runs, including a league-leading 25 in 1937. His brother Rick Ferrell, a fine defensive catcher, is in the Hall. Wes deserves it more.

HOF Monitor: 75. HOF Standards: 22. Both mean he shouldn't be in. None of Ferrell's 10 most similar pitchers are in the Hall, and if you're under age 75, the 2 you're most likely to have seen are Rick Sutcliffe and Dave Stewart, and you don't see much agitation for either of those to be elected.

It doesn't matter: I think Ferrell should be in.

2. Gil Hodges. They don't combine playing and managing. If they did, Gilbert Raymond Hodges, born in 1924 in Indiana, would be, to mix my sports metaphors, a slam dunk. After all, he managed the New York Mets to a World Championship.

True, so did Davey Johnson, and no one recommends him for the Hall. Then again, Johnson was lucky: While he also managed L.A. and Baltimore to postseason play, he only won that one Pennant. We'll never know what else Gil could have done as a manager: He died right before the '72 season, and the Mets won the '73 Pennant.

But what a player: A 120 OPS+, 370 home runs, 10th all-time when he retired, and he did not play in a homer-happy era; and the best-fielding 1st baseman of his generation. 

HOF Monitor: 83. HOF Standards: 32. Both mean he falls a little short. Keep in mind, though, this measures only hitting, not fielding. 10 Most Similar: Norm Cash, George Foster, Tino Martinez, Jack Clark, Boog Powell, Rocky Colavito, Joe Adcock, Lee May, Willie Horton, Derrek Lee. Lee has not yet officially retired, but he isn't going to the Hall. But Colavito might belong, and Foster, Powell and Clark sure looked like they would end up in before tailing off. No matter: Gil Hodges belongs.

(UPDATE: In 2021, Hodges was finally elected.)

3. Don Newcombe. The fact that Donald Newcombe, born in 1926, is a lifelong resident of New Jersey (grew up in Madison Borough, Morris County, and has lived most of his adult life in Woodbridge) is nice, but has nothing to do with his qualifications.

Unlike a lot of the early black players, racism didn't keep him out long enough to cost him his prime, as he was 23 years old when he debuted. But injuries and alcoholism ended his career at 34, and the Korean War cost him the seasons in which he turned 26 and 27, and half of the season when he turned 28, ruining what could have been his 3 best seasons.

(Shocking: The Dodgers won the Pennant in 1952 and '53 without him -- imagine them facing the Yankees in those World Series with him. Though it's worth noting the Yanks were, themselves, without Whitey Ford due to the same war in '51 and '52, and won the Series in those seasons anyway.)

In the 3 seasons before that, his 1st 3, he won 56 games; in his 1st 2 after that, he won 47 -- he went 47-12! In 1955, he won 20 games and hit 7 home runs, a feat matched only by Wes Ferrell (twice), Bob Lemon, and Newk's eventual Dodger teammate Don Drysdale. Cy Young died the following off-season, and the Cy Young Award was established to honor the pitcher (first in all of the majors, then in 1967 in each League) judged to be most valuable to his team, a reflection of the idea that, not playing every day, pitchers didn't deserve the MVP. Newk ended up winning the 1st Cy Young, and the MVP anyway, with 27 wins, a total topped only once since and matched only 2 other times.

He had a lifetime batting average of .271, a .705 OPS (though only an 85 OPS+, still amazing for a pitcher), and had 51 extra-base hits, including 15 home runs. He won 149 games despite missing almost 3 prime seasons, with career stats of a .623 winning percentage and a 1.203 WHIP. In his 1st 6 seasons, the Dodgers finished 1st or 2nd every year; in each of his 1st 5 full seasons, the Dodgers either won the Pennant or lost it on the final day.

The knock on Newk was that he wasn't a big-game pitcher. In 1949, as a rookie, he started Game 1 of the World Series and held the Yankees scoreless for 8 innings, but Allie Reynolds held the Dodgers scoreless for 9 and Tommy Henrich homered off Newk in the bottom of the 9th to win it. On the final day in 1950, he held the Phillies off for 9 innings, before giving up Dick Sisler's Pennant-winning homer in the 10th. 

In the final game of the 1951 Playoff, he threw his 264th through 272nd innings of the season, complained that he was tired in the 270th, was told by teammate Jackie Robinson (who didn't want people to see a black man complain of fatigue), "You keep pitching until your fucking arm falls off," and was finally relieved in the 9th while still holding a 4-2 lead in the Polo Grounds. (Ralph Branca was brought in, and you know what happened: The Giants won the Pennant.) Newk gave his all in big games, and that his opponents were often the better team isn't his fault.

Finally, allowance should be made that, while he was just 23 when he reached the majors, he did pitch in the Negro Leagues, and quite well, helping the Newark Eagles win the 1946 Negro World Series.

HOF Monitor: 78. HOF Standards: 28. Both mean he should not be in. 10 Most Similar: Ray Kremer, Dizzy Dean, Schoolboy Rowe, Dennis Leonard, Chris Carpenter, Newk's Dodger teammate Elwin "Preacher" Roe, Roy Oswalt, Nig Cuppy, Rip Sewell, Mike Garcia. Dean is in. Kremer and Rowe fall a little short. Leonard, Roe, Sewell and Garcia are well short. So was George Cuppy, a righthander for the 1890s Cleveland Spiders, who was, in that politically incorrect time, called "Nig" because he was a white man with a dark complexion. Oswalt and Carpenter are still active, but neither will make it.

4. Jim Kaat. Born on the Lake Michigan coast of Michigan in 1938, he won 283 games and 16 Gold Gloves. He was the ace of the Minnesota Twins' 1st Pennant, and was a key member of a St. Louis Cardinals' World Championship -- 17 years later. As far as I know, that's the longest gap between World Series appearances of any player.

In between, he helped the Twins reach the LCS twice and the Philadelphia Phillies to 3 times. He won 18 games at age 23, and 20 at age 36. And he was a terrific broadcaster. And as both a player and a broadcaster, "Kitty" was a man of sterling character. Put him in.

HOF Monitor: 130, which means he should be in. HOF Standards: 44, which means he falls a little short. 10 Most Similar: Tommy John (No, but should be), Robin Roberts (Yes), Fergie Jenkins (Yes), Eppa Rixey (Yes), Jamie Moyer (officially still active but probably won't make it), Bert Blyleven (Yes), Early Wynn (Yes), Burleigh Grimes (Yes), Frank Tanana (No) and Red Ruffing (Yes).

(UPDATE: Kaat was elected in 2022.)

5. Tommy John. Born in 1943 in Terre Haute, Indiana, Thomas Edward John used a blazing fastball to win 124 games for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers -- which would be a fine career for most pitchers.

Then he wrecked his elbow. Then he had surgery, a pioneering procedure that now bears his name. Then, after sitting out a season, he became a sinkerballer, and won 164 games for the Dodgers, New York Yankees, California Angels and Oakland Athletics -- winning more games after the surgery that could have ended his career (had it gone wrong) than he did before it.

Think about this: Due to an injury, Dizzy Dean won "only" 150 games, and he's in the Hall of Fame. Due to an injury, Sandy Koufax won "only" 165 games, and he's in the Hall of Fame. Though, to be fair, from 1933 to 1937, Dean was one of the top 3 pitchers on the planet along with Carl Hubbell and Satchel Paige; and from 1961 to 1966, Koufax was one of the top 5 pitchers on the planet at the time and from 1963 to 1966 was one of the top 5 pitchers who has ever lived. TJ was only occasionally (1973-74, 1977-80) one of the top 5 or even one of the top 10 pitchers on the planet.

But he won more games after his potentially career-ending injury than Dean did in his entire career, and almost as many as Koufax won in his entire career. Total wins: 288, the closest any pitcher (aside from the aforementioned Bobby Mathews) comes to 300 major league wins -- long considered a benchmark for Cooperstown -- without making it. His .555 career winning percentage also opens eyes.

HOF Monitor: 112, which means he should be in. HOF Standards: 44, which means he falls a little short. 10 Most Similar: Kaat (No, but should be), Roberts (Yes), Blyleven (Yes), Jenkins (Yes), Wynn (Yes), Grimes (Yes), Tom Glavine (Not yet eligible, but will get in), Tony Mullane (No), Don Sutton (Yes), Rixey (Yes).

6. Ted Simmons. You have to judge the stats of catchers, who play the hardest defensive position, a little differently from those of outfielders and 1st basemen. Ted Lyle Simmons (not "Theodore"), born in 1949 in the Detroit suburbs, has a lifetime batting average of .285. His OPS is .785, his OPS+ 117, and he hit 248 home runs despite his position and playing most of his home games at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

As the man who sponsors his Baseball-Reference.com page points out, compared to other HOF catchers of the last half-century, "The Mighty Simba" had more career RBIs than Johnny Bench, scored more runs than Gary Carter, and collected more hits than Yogi Berra or Carlton Fisk. He had 3 seasons of 100 or more RBIs and just missed 4 other times. He played in 8 All-Star Games.

He led the Milwaukee Brewers to their 1st 2 postseason appearances in 1981 and '82 -- until 2008 their only postseason appearances -- but, ironically, ran into his former Cardinal teammates in his only World Series appearance, and still almost won it for the Brew Crew, hitting 2 home runs in that 7-game thriller. (In another irony, the Series MVP was his replacement as Cardinal catcher, Darrell Porter.) He never won a Gold Glove, but that was because he played in the same league at the same time as Bench and Carter, and then switched leagues and got stuck behind Fisk.

From the ages of 22 to 33, he was one of the most productive catchers ever, was still a productive regular at 35, and still a productive pinch-hitter at 37 -- pretty good considering he caught 1,771 games in his career, more than all but 4 players before him.

HOF Monitor: 124, which means he should be in. HOF Standards: 44, which means he falls a little short. 10 Most Similar: Miguel Tejada (not yet eligible, and wouldn't get in even if you didn't know he was a juicer), Trammell (No, but should be), Joe Torre (No, falls a little short as far as his playing is concerned), Fisk (Yes), Carter (Yes), Whitaker (No, but should be), Larkin (Yes), Joe Cronin (Yes), Berra (Yes), Sandberg (Yes).

(UPDATE: Simmons was elected in 2019.)

7. Tim Raines. Quick: Tell me what these 4 men have in common: Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, Billy Hamilton and Ty Cobb? Answer: They are the only 4 human beings, living or dead, male or female, black or white or whatever, American or foreign-born, who stole more bases in Major League Baseball games than the 808 stolen by Raines.

And he wasn't just about the steals. Born outside Orlando in 1959, Timothy Raines was the NL's answer to Henderson, the best leadoff hitter the league had ever seen. He batted .294 lifetime, topping .300 7 times and just missing one other, had an OPS+ of 123, and collected 2,605 hits. With the Montreal Expos, he led the NL in stolen bases in 1981, '82, '83 and '84; in runs scored in '83 and '87; in doubles in '84; and in batting average and on-base percentage (.334 and .413) in 1986.

He nearly won the NL Rookie of the Year in 1981, as the Expos came within 1 run of a Pennant. He didn't return to the postseason until 1993 with the Chicago White Sox, and in 1996 and 1998 won rings as the closest thing the Joe Torre Yankees had to a regular left fielder.

HOF Monitor: 90. HOF Standards: 47. In each case, he falls a little short. 10 Most Similar: Brock (Yes), Kenny Lofton (No), Max Carey (Yes), Johnny Damon (still active but I don't think he makes it), Willie Davis (No), Jimmy Ryan (No), Jose Cruz Sr. (No), Julio Franco (No), Fred Clarke (Yes) and Enos Slaughter (Yes).

(UPDATE: Raines was elected in 2017.)

8. Curt Schilling. Born in 1966 in Anchorage and grew up in Phoenix, I am judging Curtis Montague Schilling totally on performance, not on personality. 216-146 (including 3 seasons of 21 or more wins), for .597. ERA, 3.46; ERA+, 127. WHIP, 1.137. Strikeouts, 3,116, including 2 (nearly 3) seasons of 300 or more.

Big pitcher in big games, which certainly helps his cause. Pitched a shutout in Game 5 of the 1993 World Series to keep the Phillies alive. Went 4-0 with a 1.11 ERA for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 postseason. Gutted out wins on an injured ankle in 2004 in Game 6 of the ALCS and Game 2 of the World Series to help the Red Sox finally win the Series after 86 years. Went 3-0 in the 2007 postseason as the Sox did it again.

HOF Monitor: 171, meaning he's an easy choice. HOF Standards: 46, meaning he's a little short. 10 Most Similar: Kevin Brown, Bob Welch, Orel Hershiser, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Milt Pappas, John Smoltz, Don Drysdale, Dazzy Vance, Jim Perry, and his former Red Sox teammate Pedro Martinez. Only Drysdale and Vance are already in, and only Smoltz and Pedro are likely to get in.

9. Larry Walker. Born in 1966 in a suburb of Vancouver, Larry Kenneth Robert Walker got skunked for a 3rd year in a row this week. Part of it was the fact that he played 1st 1/3rd of his career with the Expos, making him the greatest player to both come from and play in Canada. Part of it was the fact that he played his most productive years for the Colorado Rockies in homer-happy Coors Field.

And part of it was a thin postseason resume: He helped the Rox reach the Playoffs in 1995, but didn't get back until 2004, when he was one of the few St. Louis Cardinals to hit well in the World Series (.357, 2 homers, 3 RBIs).

For a guy who played in a homer-happy park, his career home run total doesn't look so hot: 383. Although that's more than a few guys who are in, like Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Bench and Jim Rice. But he batted .313 at a time when few players had lifetime averages over .300. He batted .300 9 times and just missed a 10th; he batted at least .322 6 times, and 3 times in 4 years he won the NL batting title: .363 in 1998, .379 in '99, and .350 in 201. His career OPS+ is 141.

HOF Monitor: 148, an easy choice. HOF Standards: 58, also an easy choice. 10 Most Similar: Duke Snider (Yes), his former Rockies teammate Ellis Burks (No), Moises Alou (Not yet eligible and won't make it), Jim Edmonds (Not yet eligible and will be a tough call), DiMaggio (Yes), Johnny Mize (Yes), Vladimir Guerrero (Active and has an excellent shot if he's not proven to be a juicer), Carlos Beltran (Active and probably won't make it), Chuck Klein (Yes) and his former Rockies teammate Todd Helton (Active but has really declined the last 3 seasons, and now might not make it).

(UPDATE: Walker was elected in 2020.)

10. Craig Biggio. Like the Casey Stengel-era Yankee Big 3 and TramWhit, Biggio should have been elected in a package deal with Jeff Bagwell. But if you can only pick one, it should be Craig Alan Biggio, born in 1965 in Smithtown, Long Island, because he has the 3,000 hits. And when 668 of those are doubles -- only Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial and Ty Cobb had more, and of those only Rose debuted after World War II -- and there's no accusation of steroid use, you should have an easy case.

Not that you could go particularly wrong by selecting Jeffrey Robert Bagwell, born in 1968 in Boston and grew up in Killingworth, Connecticut. Lifetime batting average .297, with 6 .300+ seasons and 8 100+ RBI seasons. OPS+ 149 -- among players debuting in my lifetime, only Bonds, Albert Pujols, Mark McGwire, Frank Thomas, Joey Votto, Manny Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera are higher; only Pujols, Thomas and Votto have avoided serious juicing allegations.

Bags has been suspected, but unless something is being hidden, those suspicions are just guesses. His 449 home runs make him the Astros' all-time leader, and he added 448 doubles. Yes, they played the 2nd half of their careers' home games at hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park, but they also played the 1st half at the pitcher-friendly Astrodome.

HOF Monitor: Biggio 169, Bagwell 150. HOF Standards: Bagwell 59, Biggio 57. Easy choices.

Biggio's 10 Most Similar: Robin Yount (Yes), Derek Jeter (Active but an easy choice), Morgan (Yes), Paul Molitor (Yes), Alomar (Yes), Cal Ripken (Yes), Damon (Active but probably won't make it), Brooks Robinson (Yes), Whitaker (No but should be) and George Brett (Yes).

Bagwell's 10 Most Similar: Carlos Delgado (Not yet eligible, hard to think of him as a HOFer but he did hit 473 home runs with 9 100+ RBI seasons in mostly pitchers' parks), Thomas (Not yet eligible but should make it), Fred McGriff (Not yet in but should be), Guerrero (Active and has an excellent shot if he's not proven to be a juicer), Helton (Active but now a question mark), Jason Giambi (Not yet eligible and wouldn't make it even if you didn't know he juiced), Andres Galarraga (No, and is a borderline case at best), Willie Stargell (Yes), Pujols (Active but will almost certainly make it unless he's outed as a juicer) and Orlando Cepeda (Yes).

Of these, the most deserving? Biggio, which makes sense, as he is the one of these who has come the closest to election.

(UPDATE: Biggio was elected in 2015.)