He still remains one of the top five home run-hitting catchers of all time. DiMaggio played just 11 years for the Red Sox, but had a big impact as the team's everyday center fielder playing next to Ted Williams. Foster's most famous season came in 1977 when he belted 52 home runs at a time when topping 50 homers meant something. He led the National League in hits in both 1961 and 1963. During that time, Harder made four straight All-Star games. He is responsible for one of the game's greatest accomplishments, though, pitching back-to-back no-hitters in 1938. McInnis was a fine defender who set numerous fielding records as a first baseman. His best representation on the Hall of Fame ballot came in 1981 when he received 62 votes, which was more than Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski and just shy of Orlando Cepeda's total. Raines' candidacy has been gaining momentum in the past few seasons, and it seems that one day he will take his place in Cooperstown. He won eight Gold Gloves and finished his career with a .313 average and 383 home runs. Vander Meer had a losing record over the course of his career, and that will likely keep him out of the Hall of Fame. A young and promising Derringer was traded from the Cardinals to the Reds in 1932 for Hall of Famer Leo Durocher, and he would go on to become one of the great Reds pitchers of all time. Cross was a deadball era standout from 1887 to 1907, who played most of his career in Philadelphia. He is best known for his role in one of baseball's greatest tragedies. Staubs numbers arent quite Hall of Fame level, but his longevity (23 years) is off the charts. Career: 133 OPS+, 61.8 WAR ( Wins Above Replacement) 5-time All-Star 4-time Gold Glove Award Winner 3-time Silver Slugger Award Winner Career OPS of .953 is the 15th-best in MLB history (minimum 7,500 plate appearances) Led N.L. Mays was a sidearming spitball pitcher who pitched for four teams in the early 20th century. April 18, 2022 . The Worst Starts To Hall Of Fame Careers. Minoso also led the league in "hit by pitch" 10 times, and his 192 plunkings ranks ninth all time. Votto's career .303 batting average and career .932 OPS also is good enough to be a HOF. He was a key piece in four World Series titles for the Yankees, delivering numerous clutch hits along the way. In 1952 he made history by becoming the first African-American coach in the major leagues when he joined the Cubs coaching staff. From 1996-2006, through his age-31 season, Rolen produced 54.4 of his 69.9 career fWAR. While he was one of the best players in the league during that time, he didn't maintain that excellence for a long period of time. He has three top-three finishes in MVP voting and placed sixth in 1978. Root was allegedly the pitcher who gave up Babe Ruth's "called shot," which often overshadows an excellent career. However, in his prime, he made seven straight All-Star games, had eight top-20 MVP finishes, won three Gold Gloves and three World Series titles. now in the modern age batting average is deemed pretty meaningless by Saber metrics. The list includes everyone from John Kruk, a 10-year veteran who hit .302, to Tigers legend Ty Cobb, who hit an MLB-record .366. "Indian Bob" is one of the great underrated players of the 1930s and 1940s, lost in the shuffle of playing at the same time as Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg. The 10-time All-Star won the NL MVP in 1974 and led the NL in hits in both 1978 and 1980. Hes first eligible for Cooperstown in 2024. Tiant twice led the league with ERAs under 2.00, but he also had five years with an ERA over 4.00. He had a WHIP under 1.200 an incredible 12 times during his career. While he wasn't a superstar on the level of contemporaries like George Brett or Mike Schmidt, he wasn't far off from players like Jim Rice and Andre Dawson. He finished his career with a 211-169 record. In the nine years prior to World War II, Travis had compiled a .327 average, topping .300 in eight of the nine seasons he played. He was an eight-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger Award winner and won three Gold Gloves. And the adage seems to hold true since every player who has 3000 hits and has been eligible for the Hall of Fame has been elected (with the exception of Rafael Palmeiro who has been . At the time of his retirement, Williams was the National League's all-time home run leader with 251. Adams won 194 games during the dead-ball era for the Pirates and was an early master of WHIP. Heres a look at the 20 most prolific hitters who arent in the Hall of Fame. Ryan was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999. McGwire's at-bats were must-watch TV for nearly a decade, and he fully captivated the nation for a summer in 1998. Let's put Ichiro in the Hall of Fame. Yost was a supremely talented defender who set American League records for third basemen in career putouts, assists and total chances by the end of his career. Damon is no longer on the writers Hall of Fame ballot, but his consistency and starring roles on both Red Sox and Yankees title teams might get him in one day. Bartell didn't have the hitting prowess of Cobb, but he did have a fine career nevertheless. His 2,139 hits as a Cub were second only to 19th century legend Cap Anson on the Cubs' all-time list. O'Doul is in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and is credited with helping to popularize the sport in Japan in the 1930s. in double plays turned by a first baseman six times in his career (cover photo: Denver Post) However, Smith does have a case that puts him in the Hall of Fame discussion. He also was one of the first power-hitting leadoff hitters, setting a MLB record with 35 career leadoff homers, a record that has since been broken. Gonzalez racked up his total over 19 seasonas and 10,531 major league plate appearances and led the. He won the batting title in 1913 and 1914 while also displaying average power and speed and playing excellent defense. Staub may have cost himself an enshrinement when he chose to return to the Mets to mentor young players in a part-time role rather than seeking full-time work elsewhere late in his career. With another 2-3 seasons, he wouldve reached the magic 3,000 number that wouldve almost assuredly ensured his induction. Browning compiled a .341 batting average over 13 seasons starting in 1882. As of this writing, Cabrera was also just one homer away from No. The plaque dedicated to Sanford 'Sandy' Koufax at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New . In 1971, he finished fourth with 180 votes, better than 12 future Hall of Famers. generally a low batting average used to be a bad thing and the only way to make the hall as a sub 300 hitter used to be hitting 500+ home runs (killebrew). He had more than 300 strikeouts in a . If McGriff's totals continue to trend upward, he could gain a groundswell of support, especially without the specter of steroid abuse holding him back. Franco led the league in saves three times and was a four-time All-Star. But when it came to hitting towering shots, no one was better than "Big Donkey." 1 1. Hell be a first-ballot inductee for the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class. He won the National League pitching triple crown in 1918 and finished with a career record of 178-137. In DiMaggio's 11 seasons, he made the All-Star game seven times and received MVP votes in six seasons. However, his ability as one of the game's top sluggers cannot be denied. 500. His 137 career OPS+ ranks behind only Mantle, Berkman and Jones among modern switch-hitters. His .564 slugging percentage ranks 14th all time. Murphy was hurt by a severe drop-off in production after the age of 31. One of the great crimes in modern Hall of Fame balloting is that Bill Freehan received just two votes in 1982, his only year on the ballot. Coombs, however, didn't have the longevity of his teammates and faded fast. Allen is a divisive figure when it comes to the Hall of Fame debate. He played for five teams over 22 years and was a well-respected, professional hitter everywhere he went. The best argument Trammell supporters have in their quest for his enshrinement is that many people feel Trammell was superior to Ozzie Smith, a contemporary of his who waltzed into Cooperstown on the first ballot with 91.7 percent of the vote. He had at least 190 strikeouts in a season 10 times and won 20 games twice. From 1946 to 1950, he won 20 games four times, leading the league with 24 wins and 28 complete games in 1948. He consistently received between 25 to 30 percent of the votes on the Hall of Fame ballot, peaking in 1988 when he finished sixth with 39.3 percent. Walker was a phenomenal all-around player, and for a five-year period during the peak of the steroid era, Walker had some of the best seasons the game had seen. His .948 OPS ranks 21st all time. For the kind of player Raines was, that should not keep him out of the Hall of Fame. Morris' best argument for enshrinement may be that he was the American League's winningest pitcher of the 1980s and the respected staff ace for a lengthy period of time. For a nine-year period in the 1980s, Murphy wasunarguablyone of the best all-around players in the National League. In 1910, he led the A's to a World Series title with a 31-9 record and a 1.30 ERA. Maris' lifetime numbers simply don't stack up, as he tailed off dramatically after the age of 29. Bridges was a fine pitcher for the Tigers starting in 1930 and running right up until he was called into service for World War II in 1944. He had enough support to stay on the Hall of Fame ballot for the maximum of 15 years, garnering 88 votes in 2008, his final year. 10-07-2016, 07:41 AM. Hodges' 370 homers might not stand as too impressive today, but when he retired it marked the league's fourth-best career total. Stanton. career 300 hitters not in hall of fame. He currently ranks 12th and is 18 hits away from tying Paul Molitor, who currently occupies 10th place. He received MVP votes in eight seasons, finishing in the top 10 in six of those years. He won just 43 games over his final seven seasons. In making this list, players were not penalized for admitting steroid use or rumored steroid use. Travis played in just 226 games after returning from the war, though, batting just .241 over that time. In the World Series, he hit .529 in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Reds. He still holds the Reds' franchise records for most wins by a righty with 161, and his 579 games pitched ranked eighth in NL history when he retired in 1945 after a 15-year career. Over his final seven seasons, he topped 130 games played just once. He was a six-time All-Star and a three-time top-five MVP finisher. The years he did play, though, he was unquestionably one of the top hitters in the league. He led the NL in home runs four times. HR Rank All Time. He finished fifth in the AL MVP voting on three separate occasions. He finished with 2,210 career hits and played excellent defense. A remarkable career largely lost to time will take center stage this . Arguably the best designated hitter of all time, Martinez was very similar to Baines but with a little bit more hardware. A five-time All-Star, he was not quite a Hall of Famer. Strikeouts thrown by a pitcher in a career, 5,714, Nolan Ryan, 1966-93 . Out of all eligible players, only Vada Pinson and Harold Baines have had more and not been voted into the Hall of Fame. His support waned from there, though. Notes: A minimum of 1,000 career games played and 1,000 career at-bats are needed to make this list, raw averages are presented to further clarify the one-thousand greatest career batting averages of all-time, and a bold faced entry denotes that the player was active during the previous Major League season. Some will be coming off this list soon. The highest batting average for an ELIGIBLE player is Lefty O'Doul, 6th place overall, at .3493. His best years came between 1983 and 1987 when he made all five of his All-Star appearances, won four Silver Slugger and three Gold Glove Awards. Teixeira was a gifted defensive first baseman and is one of the best switch-hitters of all time. As shown in Table 5, seven former members of the Career .300 Hitters Club finished their major-league careers with .296 batting averages. In fact, when Grich led the American League in home runs in 1981, he became the first second basemen to do so since Nap Lajoie in 1901. Lolich enjoyed a solid career spent mostly with the Detroit Tigers, but his exploits in the 1968 World Series are his legacy. Rube Marquard was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971. He ranked fifth in all-time hits when he retired. He was a key pitcher on the great A's teams of the 1970s and finished his 17-year career with a record of 209-161. He won three batting titles, led the AL in hits five times and had two runner-up finishes in MVP voting. But not many . He lingered on the Hall of Fame ballot for the full 15-year run, never really threatening to be elected or dropped off the ballot. He went 208-126 with a 2.92 ERA and twice led the league in complete games, shutouts and saves. The Cobra won two batting titles with the Pirates (1977-78) and won the 1978 NL MVP award. When Smith retired, he was the game's all-time saves leader and topped the list in games finished. It was one of the truly remarkable runs of success in the decade. Note: Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame five years after they retire. Some players are kept out because of theirtemperament, some didn't have a long enough peak and others are just totallyunderappreciated. Cooper was a main cog in the great Brewers teams of the 1980s, batting third in the lineup behind Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Robin Yount. Two of those former members came close to Emeritus Member status Ivan Rodriguez and Albert Pujols. Despite being just a part-time pitcher over his final seven seasons, Harder won 223 games in his career and is the only eligible player who has pitched at least 20 seasons for one club who is not in the Hall of Fame. 01, 2023, 6:00 a.m. 9. 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