Who are your top 5 players who are not in the MLB HOF who played in the 19th century?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Chicks dig the long ball. Ned Williamson

[Rad_Hazard]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Chicks dig the long ball. Ned Williamson

I am SO with you on this one! In all seriousness though, Williamson was one of the best defensive 3B of that era. Jim O'Rourke, Paul Hines, and Cap Anson all said he was the greatest player they had ever seen.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Great names listed so far. I'll put in a vote for Charlie Buffinton–perhaps not a HOF career, but he was pretty great for a stretch. King Kelly praised him as "a young fellow who pitches a pretty stiff game of ball". His 1884 stat line is ridiculous! 48-16, 2.15 ERA, 587 IP (!), 417 K (6th most all time).

[Shoeless Moe]

Moses Fleetwood Walker.......


.....and put his plaque right next to Cap Anson.

[Rad_Hazard]

Buffinton! Yes.

Moses Fleetwood Walker, without question. And I agree, just above Cap Anson's would be perfect.

[nat]

I'm going to second the nominations of Creighton and Barnes. They're not in because neither meets the Hall's played-in-10-seasons requirement. But Creighton was the first big baseball star, and Barnes was the first big star of professional ball. (Or at least professional league ball.)

[G1911]

The 10 year requirement seems particularly unfair to Creighton, as he was dead before any league counted as a major league even existed. As baseballs first star and the man largely responsible for turning the game from one of offense versus defense into one primarily of batter versus pitcher, he seems like a no brainer. I get that inducting long dead and forgotten guys that don’t serve a modern purpose doesn’t make the hall money and draws crowds, but I’d like to see them honor these two pioneers eventually.