Posted By:
Chris CountsMinnie Minoso, Lefty O'Doul, Ron Santo, Cecil Travis, Tony Oliva, Bert Blylevin, Billy Martin and Andre Dawson.
Next to Mantle, who was a better all-around player in the A.L. than Minnie Minoso in the 50s? He got a late start because of the color barrier, endured a tremendous amount of abuse (just check out is record-setting hit-by-pitch totals), and still put up a decade of all-star numbers. Why I seem to be just about the only guy pushing for Minnie's induction is beyond my comprehension ...
Cecil Travis is another one of those guys whose rejection by HOF voters puzzles me greatly. The only knock on him is he didn't play long enough. Well, what do you expect from a guy who lost a couple toes from frostbite fighting in the Battle of the Bulge? Compare his stats to other HOF shortstops ... most aren't even close (sorry Joe Tinker) ...
Both of these guys are still alive ... I'd love to see each of their smiling grins standing at the podium in Cooperstown ...
Billy Martin, by the way, was simply a more volatile and more successful version of Leo Durocher. He just didn't have the good fortune of being buddies with Frankie Frisch. Ron Santo was one of the greatest third basemen who ever lived. Tony Oliva was flat-out the best AL hitter of the 60s (sorry Yaz). Bert Blylevin was better than at least a dozen HOF pitchers. Andre Dawson was simply a monster player. As for Lefty O'Doul, his contributions to Japanese baseball are enough to put him in ... and his .349 lifetime batting average.