T206 players who should be in the Hall of Fame, but are not

[SteveMitchell]

Running through those who have been offered, I would support the following, with a few added:

Ginger Beaumont
Gavvy Cravath
Bill Dahlen
Bill Dinneen (as an umpire)
Turkey Mike Donlin
Wild Bill Donovan
Larry Doyle
Johnny Kling
Ed Konetchy
Arlie Latham
Tommy Leach
Sherry Magee
Clyde Milan
George Mullin
Deacon Phillippe
Jack Quinn
Ed Reulbach
Nap Rucker
Wildfire Schulte
Cy Seymour
Jimmy Sheckard
George Stovall
Jesse Tannehill
Fred Tenney
Doc White


Close to HOF status:
Bob Bescher
Eddie Cicotte
Harry Davis
Chief Meyers
Al Orth
Heinie Zimmerman

[Sean]

Can we please agree that Eddie Cicotte, Hal Chase and Heinie Zimmerman not be inducted into the HOF regardless of their talents or statistics? They all played greater roles than Shoeless Joe Jackson did in the gambling problems that plagued baseball in that decade.

[CMIZ5290]

Originally Posted by Sean

Can we please agree that Eddie Cicotte, Hal Chase and Heinie Zimmerman not be inducted into the HOF regardless of their talents or statistics? They all played greater roles than Shoeless Joe Jackson did in the gambling problems that plagued baseball in that decade.

Agreed...But you got to admit, they were 3 pretty colorful characters! Also, I am still a little skeptical as far as Shoeless Joes goes pertaining dishonesty...I guess we'll never know, but that can be another thread!!

[johnmh71]

Originally Posted by Sean

Can we please agree that Eddie Cicotte, Hal Chase and Heinie Zimmerman not be inducted into the HOF regardless of their talents or statistics? They all played greater roles than Shoeless Joe Jackson did in the gambling problems that plagued baseball in that decade.

+1.

[SteveMitchell]

Originally Posted by Sean

Can we please agree that Eddie Cicotte, Hal Chase and Heinie Zimmerman not be inducted into the HOF regardless of their talents or statistics? They all played greater roles than Shoeless Joe Jackson did in the gambling problems that plagued baseball in that decade.

-1

I guess not - at least not until the steroids issue is settled. Check out these figures for WAR (Wins Above Replacement) from Baseball-Reference.com. Until the steroids issue is resolved, for me the Bondses and Clemenses will be on my "close to HOF" list - together with Cicotte and Zimmerman. With the cloud surrounding their on-field performances, they hardly rank among the all-time great Hall of Famers that the list below might imply.

Babe Ruth 163.20
Barry Bonds 162.53
Willie Mays 156.09
Ty Cobb 151.08
Hank Aaron 142.39
Roger Clemens 140.30
Tris Speaker 133.94
Honus Wagner 130.59
Stan Musial 128.13
Rogers Hornsby 126.97
Eddie Collins 123.99
Ted Williams 123.16

[Sean]

You can think whatever you like about steroid users, but they took these drugs in an effort to improve their performance.

Cicotte, Chase and Zimmerman deliberately allowed their teams to lose in order to collect money for themselves. I'm not defending steroid use, but not all cheating is the same. Steroid users still tried to win at all times. Throwing games is the worst thing a ballplayer can do (on the field, of course).

[Mark]

I always wondered how Doyle, captain of the Giants when the Giants were the Yankees, never made it. He was the offensive leader of the perennially dangerous Giants lineups all through the 1910's.