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Posted By: Paul

There's a very good book (I think it may be the Bill James' Politics of Glory) that explains that the Hall of Fame has always had losers -- not just since 1974. The 1945 class, with Tinker, Evers, Chance, and a bunch of others, was awful. Roger Bresnahan was selected very early on. I believe 1971 was another weak class, with guys like Dave Bancroft and Rube Marquard. I agree there have been some abysmal selections since 1974 -- Rick Ferrell, Travis Jackson, Red Schoendienst, Phil Rizzuto -- but Bill James is right. It's always been this way.

By the way, Bob Caruthers played 10 years, not 9, so he is eligible for the Hall. In his final year, he did not pitch, so you have to look in the hitters' section of the Baseball Encyclopedia to find his 10th year.