Expert: Tom Schott - 2/6/2005

Question
Saw a very good article by Dan Daly of the Washington Times (Washtimes.com) about QB Benny Friedman & the Hall of Fame.  Leads me to the question -- who are the greatest in baseball not to make it into the Hall of Fame?  What makes them great or worthy in your mind?  Could include any era, non-players, etc. etc.  I teach a Pop Culture course in h.s. & hope to include the info. in a lesson.

Thanks so much for your time!

Jim  

Answer
Two I can think of right off the bat are Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. It is much easier to tell you about players in the Hall who don't belong there. Bill James' book =Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?= suggests that the following players not in the Hall should be. Asterisks are particularly glaring omissions:

Bob Caruthers
Bill Dahlen
George Davis
Darryl Evans
Dwight Evans
Tony Oliva
Wes Ferrell
Jim Kaat*
Billy Martin (as a manager)
Carl Mays
Minnie Minoso
Ron Santo*
Joe Torre*
George Van Haltren

Tom