July 25, 201313 yr An interesting situation was brought up in another thread about how someone like Cal Ripken Jr. got a higher percentage of HOF votes than someone like Willie Mays. So it got me thinking. There's roughly 300 members in the HOF (players, managers, etc.)... if you had to choose your top 5% (roughly 15 players) that should have been absolute locks as unanimous first ballot HOF'ers...who would they be? In other words, who's the greatest of the great? (And I'm really not looking to debate the fact that someone's either a HOF'er or they're not. In other words, everyone should either be 100% or 0%. I'm just looking for the few guys that, as someone the other thread stated, you should have to give up your man card if you didn't vote for them on the first ballot.) I'll give you who I came up with (in alphabetical order) Hank Aaron Ty Cobb Joe Dimaggio Jimmie Foxx Lou Gehrig Rickey Henderson Walter Johnson Mickey Mantle Willie Mays Stan Musial Babe Ruth Nolan Ryan Tris Speaker Honus Wagner Ted Williams (And if he were eligible, I'd have had Pete Rose on the list.) This was harder than I imagined, as I left some names off the list that were great players (Seaver, Koufax, Gibson, Yastrzemski, Brock, Kaline, Clemente, McCovey). So who's your top 15? Feel free to add/subtract someone to my list.
July 25, 201313 yr An interesting situation was brought up in another thread about how someone like Cal Ripken Jr. got a higher percentage of HOF votes than someone like Willie Mays. So it got me thinking. There's roughly 300 members in the HOF (players, managers, etc.)... if you had to choose your top 5% (roughly 15 players) that should have been absolute locks as unanimous first ballot HOF'ers...who would they be? In other words, who's the greatest of the great? (And I'm really not looking to debate the fact that someone's either a HOF'er or they're not. In other words, everyone should either be 100% or 0%. I'm just looking for the few guys that, as someone the other thread stated, you should have to give up your man card if you didn't vote for them on the first ballot.) I'll give you who I came up with (in alphabetical order) Hank Aaron Ty Cobb Joe Dimaggio Jimmie Foxx Lou Gehrig Rickey Henderson Walter Johnson Mickey Mantle Willie Mays Stan Musial Babe Ruth Nolan Ryan Tris Speaker Honus Wagner Ted Williams (And if he were eligible, I'd have had Pete Rose on the list.) This was harder than I imagined, as I left some names off the list that were great players (Seaver, Koufax, Gibson, Yastrzemski, Brock, Kaline, Clemente, McCovey). So who's your top 15? Feel free to add/subtract someone to my list. Well-thought-out list. Might insert Warren Spahn in place of Henderson.
July 25, 201313 yr How anyone could take off Rickey Henderson is beyond me. His numbers are comically outrageous. Look them up. Great list, I'd put Cy Young in over Ryan.
July 25, 201313 yr Author Well-thought-out list. Might insert Warren Spahn in place of Henderson. Funny you should say that, because Ricky was probably my last one "in", and Spahn one of my last ones "out" Like I said, it was tough.
July 25, 201313 yr Author How anyone could take off Rickey Henderson is beyond me. His numbers are comically outrageous. Look them up. Great list, I'd put Cy Young in over Ryan. Thought about Cy too. (I mean, when they name the award after you, how can you NOT be in!) The reason why I went with Ryan, is that between the no-no's and the K's (but, mostly the K's), and the fact that he pitched to better hitters for the majority of his career...that gave him the slight nod.
July 25, 201313 yr To me it is almost impossible to choose because............how do you judge players when the game has changed so much thru the years? For example, I'm sure Nolan Ryan had a lot of complete games with more than 150 or even 170 pitches. No pitcher from the last 10 years on to forever I guess will ever do that. So if a pitcher wins 30 more games than Ryan but has 100 less complete games....???? Or how do we evaluate Ted Williams and Stan Musial versus players who put up better power numbers but strike out a billion times? And what about Rivera in 5 years? Best pitcher ever?
July 25, 201313 yr Bench and Seaver should have been 100% I don't know who to take off of list so I would just make it bigger than 15 players.
July 25, 201313 yr Rivera should come close to 100% but the snobs that are the baseball writers will hold it against him that he was only a reliever. The BBWAA is the most pompous and self righteous group in American Sports.
July 25, 201313 yr Bench and Seaver should have been 100% I don't know who to take off of list so I would just make it bigger than 15 players. I agree. I would have more than 15
July 25, 201313 yr If I get 10 position players and 5 pitchers, here's my list: Aaron Cobb DiMaggio Ruth Williams Mays Speaker Musial Wagner Henderson Walter Johnson Cy Young Lefty Grove Rivera Koufax Toughest to leave out - Gehrig and Foxx.
July 25, 201313 yr If I get 10 position players and 5 pitchers, here's my list: Aaron Cobb DiMaggio Ruth Williams Mays Speaker Musial Wagner Henderson Walter Johnson Cy Young Lefty Grove Rivera Koufax Toughest to leave out - Gehrig and Foxx. These list are hard but no way I could leave Gehrig off. I would have to put him in ahead of either Ricky or Stan the Man. Same for XX.
July 25, 201313 yr These list are hard but no way I could leave Gehrig off. I would have to put him in ahead of either Ricky or Stan the Man. Same for XX. ....and I'd have all four of those ahead of Joe D. Let's say this: all of these cats were really good!
July 25, 201313 yr If it's ever going to happen going forward, it'll be either Mariano Rivera or Ken Griffey Jr.
July 25, 201313 yr If it's ever going to happen going forward, it'll be either Mariano Rivera or Ken Griffey Jr. Agreed, but I don't think it will for either. The way Jr's career ended with so many injuries, diminishes for many just how great he really was. The snobs at the BBWAA have been reluctant to vote relievers in, maybe (hopefully) Mariano slam dunks that and gets 100%. They both will go in easily but there always seems to be some elitist writer that wants to make a point by leaving an obvious player off of his ballot.
July 25, 201313 yr Author Bench and Seaver should have been 100% I don't know who to take off of list so I would just make it bigger than 15 players. Fair enough. So, then rather going strictly by a specific number, let's open it completely up. Who else does everyone feel should be added to the "no brainer" list? Seaver, Bench, Cy Young, Spahn, Koufax and Lefty Grove have all been mentioned. Everybody good with those? Everybody agree that Rivera should be once he's eligible? How about Junior? What about the likes of McCovey, Clemente and Feller?
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