I Take It Back

    The purpose of this blog is to add some players who may have been forgotten by many back into the Hall of Fame discussion because they actually have good cases. However, I have published a number of articles on players who really can't be advocated for like I have described. They are - 

Bobby Shantz 

Bret Saberhagen 

Cecil Fielder 

Cesar Cedeno 

Claude Ritchey 

Eddie Stanky 

Gavy Cravath 

Harvey Kuenn 

Matt Kilroy 

Tommy Leach 

They were all very good players, and were interesting to write about. I will not un-publish them and I do not regret my decision to write about them, because people need not forget them. But realistically, none of these ten men really belong in Cooperstown. I will tell you a little about each of them right now, however.  

Bobby Shantz pitched from 1949 through 1964. Although he went 119-99 with a 3.38 career ERA, he really was a great pitcher. In 1952, he went 24-7 with a 2.48 ERA and won the AL MVP Award, and in 1957, he went 11-5 and led the AL with an ERA of 2.45. He also won eight Gold Glove awards. 

Bret Saberagen pitched from 1984 through 2001 and went 167-117 with a 3.34 ERA. He was absolutely dominant in 1985 and 1989, winning the Cy Young Award in each season, and also had very good seasons in 1987, 1994, and 1999. (put saberhagen back in) 

Cecil Fielder played first base and DH from 1985 through 1998 and three times led the MLB in RBI's and twice in homers, including 51 in 1990. He hit 319 home runs in 5,157 at bats, which is a better home run percentage than those of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Lou Gehrig.  

Cesar Cedeno played centerfield from 1970 through 1986. He won five Gold Gloves, stole 550 bases, and twice led the NL in doubles during his marvelous career. 

Claude Ritchey was a middle infielder active from 1897 through 1909 who batted .273 lifetime with 224 sacrifice hits and a walk to strikeout ratio better than 2-1. Ritchey was also a great fielder, and is very comparable to Phil Rizzuto. 

Eddie Stanky was also a middle infielder, active from 1943 through 1953. He had a lifetime batting average of .268 and averaged 104 runs scored and 128 walks per 162 games. Stanky also provided a valuable glove at second base to the three National teams he was a part of. 

Gavy Cravath played rightfield for the second half of the dead ball era in the 20th century, and put up some unbelievable batting statistics during his short career (albeit with much help from his home park in Philadelphia). 

Harvey Kuenn was a singles hitter who played the outfield, shortstop, and third base from 1952 through 1966. The ten time all-star batted .303 lifetime, leading the AL once in batting average, four times in hits, and three times in doubles, but his lack of power and walks pretty much ruins what otherwise would be a solid Hall of Fame case. 

Matt Kilroy pitched from 1886 through 1898 and went 141-133 with a 3.47 ERA. I chose to honor him because he struck out 513 batters in 1887, which is the most of all time. There were a lot of things working in his favor that season, however, and although this wasn't his only amazing accomplishment, Kilroy is not a Hall of Famer. 

Tommy Leach played centerfield and third base from 1898 through 1918, and was an amazing baserunner. Leach collected 2,143 hits, stole 361 bases, led the NL in home runs in 1902, and twice led the NL in runs scored, but his .269/.340/.370 slash line hurts his case. 

Most or all of these players really aren't Hall of Famers, but one might make a good argument for some of them. I just think that any (or all) of these players' inductions would water down the Hall of Fame's standards. This has already happened disastrously in the 1940's, 1970's, and 2010's, so we really don't need it to happen again.