Here is a short list of players I feel don’t belong in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
(no particular order)
William Arthur “Candy” Cummings played in the major leagues for only five seasons. In that time he was 135-94 with a 2.49 ERA.He stood at 5’9” and was 120 lbs. He made his debut in 1872. As far as I can tell the primary reason the Veterans Committee named him to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 was because he is credited with inventing the “curveball” which some say revolutionized the game not due to his performance on the field.
Jim Bunning-(James Paul David Bunning) was born on October 23, 1931 and died on May 26, 2017 played from 1955-1972 for two teams, the Tigers and Phillies. He was a 20-game winner once in his career and never led the league in ERA. He finished with a 224-184 lifetime record (.549 winning percentage) along with a 3.27 ERA. He pitched a perfect game in 1964. The Veterans Committee named him to the Hall of Fame in 1996. These numbers just don’t seem fitting for the Hall of Fame. I believe they were moved to insert him due to his perfect game and he did pitch a no-hitter.He never pitched in the postseason.
More Hall of Fame Players
Harold Baines– He played from 1980-2001 and debuted with the Chicago White Sox and played for nine team He finished his career with 2,866 hits, 384 home runs and 1,628 RBIs. He finished with a lifetime. 289 batting average. Never got to 3000 hits and never led the league. Kind of Hall of Very Good player.
Johnny Evers- The Veterans Committee placed him in the Hall of Fame in 1946. His lifetime batting average was .210 and he finished with 12 home runs. If it wasn’t for the baseball poem titled, “Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance” he wouldn’t have even been considered for the Hall of Fame.
Pee Wee Reese– Reese made his debut in 1940 and retired in 1958. He was inducted in 1984 to the Hall of Fame in 1984 by the Veteran Committee. His career batting average was.269 and he hit 126 home runs. He did lead the league in stolen bases in 1952. However, his selection appears based on being on two World Series winners not the complete career.
Ray Schalk played from 1912-1929 and managed a paltry batting average of .253 and 11 career home runs. He is known as a defensive catcher. He managed the White Sox for one season and won 45% of his games.In 1955, the Veterans Committee named him to the Hall of Fame. He has a weak resume.
Rabbit Maranville- He played from 1912-1935 for six teams. He had a .258 lifetime batting average along with 28 career home runs. He was on one World Series championship team which was in 1914 for the Boston Braves.He was named in 1954 to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The numbers are not there and no mention of defensive prowess. Makes you wonder how he got included.
Phil Rizzuto– The main thing for “Scooter” Rizzuto is he won four World Series rings in seven years. His individual numbers show he hit .273 with 36 home runs from 1941-1956. Phil was noted for “small ball”, strong defense, and clutch hitting and a very good bunter. Those are not the numbers for anything but the Hall of Very Good.
Bill Mazeroski – He played from 1956-1972 all with the Pirates. “Maz” was a .260 career hitter with 138 lifetime home runs. He was a decent defender at second base. But it appears the reason he was inducted in 2001 by the Veterans Committee was largely based on his Game 7 World Series ninth inning walk off home run to win the 1960 Series for the Pirates.
Luis Aparicio– he was a defensive specialist that played shortstop for the Chicago White Sox. He played from 1956-1973 and accrued a .262 batting average along with 83 home runs. He was balloted in 1984 to the Hall of Fame. These are not great individual numbers. He got in for his defense, not his overall work. This one I could be talked into removing from the list.
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About the author– Tom Knuppel has been writing about baseball and sports for a few decades. As an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan he began with the blog CardinalsGM. Tom is a member of the United Cardinals Bloggers and the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. He also maintains the History of Cardinals website. More recently he has been busy at KnupSolutions and the primary writer of many sports at KnupSports and adds content at Sports 2.0. Tom is a retired High School English and Speech teacher and has completed over one hundred sports book reviews. He also can be followed on twitter at tknup.
Feel free to contact Tom at tknuppel@gmail.com
