Baseball is a unique sport when compared to the other major sports. No one would dare say Wilt Chamberlain or Johnny Unitas is the greatest player ever in their respective sport, but we’re pushing nearly an entire century since Babe Ruth last suited up, and he’s still the consensus best player of all-time.

Ruth was part of the original 1936 Hall of Fame class that saw five members elected. There are now 235 such major league players, and I attempted to rank all of them in reverse order. Making the Hall is an incredible accomplishment by itself, and it’s better to be the worst player in Cooperstown than not be in at all. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t undeserving players.

Pre-sabermetrics, voters often looked at simple numbers like home runs and wins. Now we’re blessed with in-depth websites that tell you everything from launch angle to batting average on balls in play (BABIP) to average spin rate on a curveball.

I looked at both traditional stats and sabermetrics, along with awards, impact on championship teams, and positional value, while also doing my best to factor in unquantifiable intangibles – how did peers around the league view said player?

While I have no doubt that Negro League players like Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Oscar Charleston would have excelled in the major leagues, I did not include them in this ranking. I also did not factor in pioneers/executives, managers, or umpires.

 

A few statistics explained:

WAR: Wins Above Replacement; a measure of the amount of wins a player contributes to his team in a given season compared to that of a player that could be called up from Triple-A; this factors in batting, fielding, baserunning, and positional value; 60 WAR is traditionally the benchmark for a HOF player

WAA: Wins Above Average; a measure of the amount of wins a player contributes to his team in a given season compared to that of an average major league player; a player can have a positive WAR and a negative WAA

JAWS: an invention by Jay Jaffe that combines a player’s career WAR with his WAR from his seven peak years and averages them out

OPS+: a player’s on-base percentage + slugging percentage combined and then compared to the league at the time; an average mark is 100 while 110 is considered to be 10 percent above average and 90 is 10 percent below average

ERA+: a pitcher’s ERA when compared to the league at the time; an average mark is 100 while 110 is considered to be 10 percent above average and 90 is 10 percent below average

 

I’ll break this article into five parts, largely because no one wants to read 40,000 words at once. This first part is players ranked #235-201. You’ll see a lot of players that suited up over a century ago and not so many from today’s era, and that’s largely because the voters have gotten smarter over time.

 

The Rankings

235. Tommy McCarthy, RF, 1884-1896

Stats: .292/.364/.375, 44 HR, 732 RBI, 102 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 16.2 WAR, 0.2 WAA, 3.85 JAWS, 2.06 WAR/162

Putting Tommy McCarthy in Cooperstown is unquestionably the biggest mistake in the history of the Hall of Fame. McCarthy’s 16.2 WAR is a laughably low total. It’s a lower total than Omar Infante, Jed Lowrie, or Jackie Bradley, Jr. It’s about a season and a half for peak Babe Ruth or Willie Mays.

In his Historical Baseball Abstract book, Bill James says McCarthy is often credited with having invented the hit-and-run, which is likely why he’s been enshrined in Cooperstown. If you’re going to put McCarthy in the Hall, it should be as a pioneer. As a player, he’s vastly underqualified.

 

234. Lloyd Waner, CF, 1927-1945

Stats: .316/.353/.393, 27 HR, 598 RBI, 99 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 24.1 WAR, -2.1 WAA, 22.2 JAWS, 1.96 WAR/162

Lloyd Waner’s career started promisingly enough. He batted .355 as a rookie and led the National League in runs scored. Through six seasons, he was a .340 hitter with four seasons of 200 or more hits.

The problem was that outside of hitting singles, Waner didn’t do much. And being a .316 career hitter in the 1930s really wasn’t that impressive, especially when it comes with a 99 career OPS+, meaning when you factor in his power (or lack thereof), Waner was actually a below-average hitter when compared to the league.

Not only was he a below-average hitter, but Wins Above Average (WAA) rates Waner as a below-average player for over 8,000 plate appearances. His -2.1 WAA is the worst of any Hall of Famer, and by a significant margin. If you want to make the argument that Lloyd Waner is only in the Hall of Fame because he’s Paul Waner’s brother and has a cool nickname (Little Poison), well, I can’t argue with you.

 

233. Ray Schalk, C, 1912-1929

Stats: .253/.340/.316, 11 HR, 593 RBI, 83 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 28.6 WAR, 4.5 WAA, 25.4 JAWS, 2.63 WAR/162

Ray Schalk isn’t in the Hall of Fame for his power, which is good considering his 11 home runs put him last among all Hall of Fame position players. It’s actually fewer home runs than Bob Gibson hit (24) or Walter Johnson (24) or Cy Young (18). Schalk is also last among all Hall of Famers in runs scored (579), batting average (.253), and slugging percentage (.316). Every time he stepped up to the plate, he was an offensive liability.

But the 5’7” Schalk isn’t in the Hall of Fame because of his hitting; he’s in for his defense. As a backstopper, he caught four no-hitters and 144 shutouts. He led the league in fielding percentage eight times and putouts nine times, and he still holds the positional record for double plays (217). He’s also an innocent member of the Chicago Black Sox. That may have been the defining factor in his getting voted in.

 

232. Rick Ferrell, C, 1929-1947

Stats: .281/.378/.363, 28 HR, 734 RBI, 95 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 33.7 WAR, 9.8 WAA, 27.9 JAWS, 2.90 WAR/162

The story behind how Rick Ferrell made the Hall of Fame is hard to believe. Apparently the Veterans Committee was called and asked to throw a few votes Ferrell’s way so that he didn’t get shut out. What actually happened was that Ferrell got nine votes, which was enough to put him in the Hall. It’s a disgrace in every imaginable way.

Ferrell’s numbers don’t support a HOF career – he had just 28 HR, a 95 OPS+, and finished with just 33.8 WAR. His brother, Wes, would have been a much better selection – Wes hit 38 home runs and he was a pitcher.

Bill James has a statistic called Black Ink, which measures the number of times a player led the league in certain statistics. Rick Ferrell isn’t the only enshrined position player to be at zero, but the most unbelievable thing is that he’s actually at a zero on the Gray Ink Monitor as well, which rewards players for top-10 statistical finishes. Even Ray Schalk earned a four via Gray Ink.

 

231. George Kelly, 1B, 1915-1932

Stats: .297/.342/.452, 148 HR, 1,020 RBI, 109 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 25.3 WAR, 4.6 WAA, 24.7 JAWS, 2.53 WAR/162

There’s a barrage of 1920s New York Giants players that found their way into the Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee – George “High Pockets” Kelly, Travis Jackson, Dave Bancroft, Freddie Lindstrom, and Ross Youngs. None of them were deserving of the Hall if you go by traditional standards, but Kelly may be the worst.

Kelly is third-last among Hall of Fame position players in career WAR. He never had a five WAR season and never led the league in any statistical category. He essentially had a seven-year run as a pretty good offensive player (.306/.353/.475) for a team that went to four straight World Series. After topping out at 1.9 percent on the Hall of Fame ballot in seven different attempts (75% is needed for induction), Kelly needed a Veterans Committee group of his former teammates to add him.

 

230. Chick Hafey, LF, 1924-1937

Stats: .317/.372/.526, 164 HR, 833 RBI, 133 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 30.1 WAR, 13.8 WAA, 28.7 JAWS, 3.80 WAR/162

A .317 batting average looks pretty good on the surface, but when you look at the offensive-inflated time period in which Hafey played, it’s just not impressive. Thirty-four different players batted better than Hafey’s .317 average from 1924-1937.

Hafey also had one of the shorter peaks you’ll find for a Hall of Fame player, and only two players have had fewer plate appearances than Hafey’s 5,115. Hafey only topped 100 games played in a season on seven occasions. That’s not the peak dominance or longevity you’d expect from a HOFer, but Hafey benefited from being a teammate of Frankie Frisch who championed for him on the Veterans Committee.

 

229. Harold Baines, DH, 1980-2001

Stats: .289/.356/.465, 384 HR, 1,628 RBI, 121 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 38.7 WAR, 1.8 WAA, 30.2 JAWS, 2.22 WAR/162

In five years on the Hall of Fame ballot, Harold Baines earned between 4.8 and 6.1 percent of the votes. Eight years later, the Today’s Game committee inexplicably selected Baines, giving him 12 of 16 votes and the 75 percent needed for enshrinement. It’s one of the worst selections in the history of baseball. When you factor in the influx of advanced statistics and sabermetrics presently available that didn’t exist when Ray Schalk and Tommy McCarthy were selected, it may be the most egregious selection of all-time.

Baines wasn’t a Hall of Famer for a day in his life. He was primarily a DH who suited up for five different teams, never finished inside the top eight in MVP voting, and finished with the second-lowest WAA of any HOF position player. His biggest calling card was longevity to an induction committee consisting primarily of his former teammates.

 

228. Bill Mazeroski, 2B, 1956-1972

Stats: .260/.299/.367, 138 HR, 853 RBI, 84 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 36.5 WAR, 5.0 WAA, 31.3 JAWS, 2.73 WAR/162

The old Total Baseball encyclopedias once rated Bill Mazeroski as the premier defensive player at any position. He led the league in putouts, assists, range factor, total zone runs, and fielding percentage numerous times, and was officially credited with eight Gold Gloves. It’s safe to say he was a defensive wizard at second base.

The problem is Maz’s offense, and it wasn’t close enough to make up for his defense. His .299 on-base percentage is the lowest of any player in the Hall of Fame. He didn’t run well and grounded into a lot of double plays. He has the worst offensive WAR of any HOF player whose career began after 1900. Without arguably the most famous home run in baseball history (the walkoff in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series), Mazeroski doesn’t make the Hall of Fame.

 

227. Freddie Lindstrom, 3B, 1924-1936

Stats: .311/.351/.449, 103 HR, 779 RBI, 110 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 28.4 WAR, 9.3 WAA, 11.4 JAWS, 3.20 WAR/162

If you’re a fan of baseball history, you know Freddie Lindstrom as the third baseman in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series when a ball hit a pebble and bounced over his head to win the game for Washington. Lindstrom was only 18 years old at the time and played 12 more years, although that was the closest he would get to winning a World Series.

Lindstrom was a .311 hitter for his career and played slightly above-average defense at the hot corner, but .311 was nothing special in the era in which Lindstrom played. He retired with just 1,747 hits and doesn’t even crack the top 60 for third basemen in career WAR. This is a Veterans Committee mistake.

 

226. Rube Marquard, SP, 1908-1925

Stats: 201-177, 3.08 ERA, 3,306.2 IP, 1,593 K, 1.237 WHIP, 103 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 32.5 WAR, 7.3 WAA, 31.3 JAWS

Is Rube Marquard the worst pitcher in the Hall of Fame? There’s certainly a case to be made. He is last among the 73 HOF pitchers in adjusted ERA, finishing with a 103 mark (100 is average). After his three years of dominance from 1911-1913, Marquard spent the next 12 years pitching to the tune of a 97 ERA+ and a .476 winning percentage.

In 14 years on the Hall of Fame ballot, Marquard never received higher than 13.9 percent of the vote; in fact, the sum of all of his years on the ballot was just 66.3 percent, still less than the total needed to earn enshrinement.

 

225. Jesse Haines, SP, 1918-1937

Stats: 210-158, 3.64 ERA, 3,208.2 IP, 981 K, 1.350 WHIP, 109 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 32.6 WAR, 7.4 WAA, 27.4 JAWS

Jesse Haines was a fine pitcher who won 20 games in a season three times and finished with over 200 victories. But it’s tough – or almost impossible – to present a solid HOF case for Haines, who had a career comparable to that of Mark Buehrle or Jon Lester, but in no way Cooperstown-worthy. He never led the league in wins, ERA, or strikeouts, and ranks near the bottom of the list among HOFers in nearly every category.

 

224. Lee Smith, RP, 1980-1997

Stats: 71-92, 478 SV, 3.03 ERA, 1,289.1 IP, 1,251 K, 1.256 WHIP, 132 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 28.9 WAR, 13.2 WAA, 24.8 JAWS

Relief pitchers don’t throw enough innings to accumulate standout WAR or WAA totals, so Lee Smith is in the Hall largely for retiring with the career record in saves (478). Four times he led the NL or AL in saves, and he finished with an impressive 132 career ERA+.

It’s surprising that a great closer like Smith changed teams so often, pitching for eight different organizations over an 11-year span from 1987 to the end of his career. He failed to make the Hall of Fame on the initial ballot, topping out at just over 50 percent of the votes on 15 tries before the Today’s Game committee of just 16 members elected him in 2019.

 

223. Bruce Sutter, RP, 1976-1988

Stats: 68-71, 300 SV, 2.83 ERA, 1,042 IP, 861 K, 1.140 WHIP, 136 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 24.1 WAR, 10.4 WAA, 24.2 JAWS

Someone has to have the fewest innings pitched of any pitcher in the Hall of Fame, and because he was only a reliever for his 12-year career, Bruce Sutter holds that distinction. Sutter is one of just two HOF pitchers to never start a game; even the great Mariano Rivera started six early on.

Sutter’s devastating split-fingered pitch was close to unhittable. Five times he led the NL in saves, tying the single-season record of 45 in 1984, and he retired third on the all-time list with exactly 300. Because he pitched in an era in which relievers threw more innings, 130 were six-out saves (the second-most ever). Sutter is still one of just nine relief pitchers in history to win the Cy Young award.

Sutter isn’t a bad selection for the Hall, but because he pitched so many fewer innings than his contemporaries, he’s going to rank low on this list.

 

222. Jack Morris, SP, 1977-1994

Stats: 254-186, 3.90 ERA, 3,824 IP, 2,478 K, 1.296 WHIP, 105 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 43.5 WAR, 9.3 WAA, 38.0 JAWS

It’s a fun game to look back in sports history and evaluate which players wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame if you take away a game (or even a play). Take away Bill Mazeroski’s Game 7 home run in the 1960 World Series, and he’s probably not in. And if you remove Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, he’s likely on the outside looking in.

Morris’ shutout did happen though, and it’s one of the all-time clutch moments in baseball history. Even so, it doesn’t make a good career into a Hall of Fame one. Morris’ 3.90 ERA is the highest of any pitcher in Cooperstown and he has the third-worst adjusted ERA of any Hall of Fame starting pitcher. Morris was much closer to Bartolo Colon or Chuck Finley than Jim Palmer or Juan Marichal.

 

221. Rabbit Maranville, SS, 1912-1935

Stats: .258/.318/.340, 28 HR, 884 RBI, 82 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 42.9 WAR, 7.6 WAA, 36.7 JAWS, 2.60 WAR/162

The Hall of Fame isn’t shy about welcoming in slick-fielding middle infielders who couldn’t hit well. There’s Bill Mazeroski, Ozzie Smith, Luis Aparicio, Joe Tinker, and Rabbit Maranville (which certainly bodes well for Omar Vizquel one day).

According to Baseball Reference’s batting runs, Maranville cost his team 229 runs at the plate during his career. No other Hall of Famer is below -200. Maranville hit just 28 home runs in over 10,000 at-bats. He once led the league with 746 plate appearances in a season, and he did it without hitting a single home run.

Back then, voters didn’t seem to mind great-fielding shortstops who couldn’t hit. Maranville earned MVP votes eight different times, once finishing runner-up despite a .246/.306/.326 slash line. And he was good enough in the field that he was allowed to play in 2,670 games despite an 82 career OPS+.

 

220. Jim Hunter, SP, 1965-1979

Stats: 224-166, 3.26 ERA, 3,449.1 IP, 2,012 K, 1.134 WHIP, 104 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 40.9 WAR, 10.1 WAA, 37.9 JAWS

For a five-year period from 1971-1975, Jim “Catfish” Hunter won 20 games every season, captured a Cy Young, and helped the Oakland A’s to three straight World Series titles. He famously signed with the New York Yankees in free agency after 1974, winning two more World Series – giving him a ridiculous five rings for the decade.

Hunter’s peak was brief though. He was done his major league career by age 33. He had a 94 ERA+ in his first six seasons and 91 in his last four. Being on the right teams at the right time – and being the first famous free agent – really helped Hunter’s HOF case.

 

219. Ross Youngs, RF, 1917-1926

Stats: .322/.399/.441, 42 HR, 592 RBI, 130 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 32.2 WAR, 15.7 WAA, 31.3 JAWS, 4.31 WAR/162

Ross Youngs’ story was an interesting one; he barely even met the Hall of Fame minimum playing requirements (10 seasons) before tragically succumbing to Bright’s disease at the age of 30. Youngs was a good offensive player during his career, batting .322 with a 130 OPS+ and helping the New York Giants win four straight pennants, but there was no Hall of Fame buzz around Youngs when he retired.

He peaked out at 22.4 percent of the votes, fell off the ballot, then inexplicably garnered admission via the legendary Frankie Frisch-led Veterans Committee in the 1970s.

 

218. Jim Bottomley, 1B, 1922-1937

Stats: .310/.369/.500, 219 HR, 1,422 RBI, 125 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 35.3 WAR, 9.0 WAA, 12.2 JAWS, 2.87 WAR/162

There are more Hall of Famers from the late 1920s and early 1930s than any other time period in baseball history. In fact, 47 different Hall of Fame position players during that era had at least 400 plate appearances. It’s easy for voters to get impressed by gaudy batting averages, even if everyone was hitting .300.

Jim Bottomley batted .310 during his career, won an MVP award, posted the second 20/20/20 (doubles/triples/HR) season in baseball history, and led St. Louis to two World Series titles. That being said, his 35.3 WAR is light when compared to other Hall of Famers, and even his 125 OPS+ ranks just 91^st among all HOF position players.

 

217. Red Schoendienst, 2B, 1945-1963

Stats: .289/.337/.387, 84 HR, 773 RBI, 94 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 42.3 WAR, 8.5 WAA, 36.2 JAWS, 3.09 WAR/162

Red Schoendienst was a quick-fielding second baseman who played long enough to accumulate nearly 2,500 hits at the tune of a pretty solid .289 batting average. The problem with Schoendienst is that he had very little power (84 home runs) and just a 94 career OPS+, making him one of only 10 position players in the Hall of Fame to have accumulated negative career batting runs. Being a manager eventually helped Schoendienst’s Cooperstown case.

 

216. Travis Jackson, SS, 1922-1936

Stats: .291/.337/.433, 135 HR, 929 RBI, 102 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 44.0 WAR, 22.7 WAA, 39.5 JAWS, 4.30 WAR/162

Stop me if you’ve heard this before but Travis Jackson was a 1920s New York Giants player who ended up making the Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee of the 1970s. Jackson rebounded from an atrocious 1924 World Series performance at age 20 – a .074 batting average and three errors in the field – to have a pretty productive career.

He batted .291 with a slightly-above league-average OPS+, and while he made a ton of errors, he also got to enough balls at shortstop that he had good defensive metrics. Nothing Jackson did was Hall of Fame-worthy, but you probably figured that out by the VC part.

 

215. Herb Pennock, SP, 1912-1934

Stats: 241-162, 3.60 ERA, 3,571.2 IP, 1,227 K, 1.349 WHIP, 106 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 45.6 WAR, 11.2 WAA, 41.3 JAWS

Herb Pennock carried the distinction of having been Babe Ruth’s teammate with both the Boston Red Sox (1915-1919) and then again with the New York Yankees (1923-1933). Pitching on great offensive teams got him 241 wins despite an ERA just six percent better than league average, and never having led the league in a single pitching Triple Crown category (wins, strikeouts, and ERA). He’s also last among all HOFers in hits allowed per nine innings (9.83).

 

214. George Kell, 3B, 1943-1957

Stats: .306/.367/.414, 78 HR, 870 RBI, 112 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 37.4 WAR, 15.2 WAA, 32.2 JAWS, 3.38 WAR/162

George Kell was a fine player during the prime of his career, batting .322/.392/.440 over a seven-year span from 1947-1953 that saw Kell earn MVP votes in six of the seasons. That’s a 122 OPS+, which is pretty good, but it’s just not HOF-worthy. During that same span, Kell trailed non-HOFers like Andy Pafko, Vic Wertz, Luke Easter, Hank Sauer, and Gus Zernial.

Kell’s peak was also brief; he had just nine seasons with 500 plate appearances and ranks in the bottom quarter of Hall of Famers with just 6,702 at-bats. Like most of the players at this point on the list, he required the Veterans Committee’s help to get into the Hall.

 

213. Pie Traynor, 3B, 1920-1937

Stats: .320/.362/.435, 58 HR, 1,273 RBI, 107 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 36.3 WAR, 10.2 WAA, 30.0 JAWS, 3.03 WAR/162

For the first 50 years of baseball, Pie Traynor was considered the best third baseman ever, although he’s since been surpassed by the modern crew of Mike Schmidt/Eddie Mathews/Wade Boggs/Chipper Jones/Ron Santo/Adrian Beltre/etc. Traynor was a very good player, batting .320 for his career and averaging 102 RBIs over a 10-year period.

But the advanced metrics don’t see him as even a surefire Hall of Famer. He’s just 48^th in WAR among third basemen, behind players like Gary Gaetti, Harlond Clift, Troy Glaus, and Eric Chavez, none of whom will sniff the Hall. Traynor’s OPS+ of 107 means he was just seven percent above average for his entire career, and Baseball Reference actually rates him as being a negative fielder at third base.

 

212. Jack Chesbro, SP, 1899-1909

Stats: 198-132, 2.68 ERA, 2,896.2 IP, 1,265 K, 1.152 WHIP, 110 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 42.7 WAR, 17.5 WAA, 41.9 JAWS

Jack Chesbro’s 1904 season is still one of the more remarkable in the sport’s history. He holds modern records in wins (41), games started (51), and complete games (48), none of which will ever be touched again. At one point, Chesbro won 14 straight starts.

Take away that season though, and you take away Chesbro’s HOF case. In fact, he shouldn’t be in even with the magical 1904 campaign. Chesbro finished with under 200 wins; his stats make him most comparable to non-Hall of Fame pitchers like Jesse Tannehill, Urban Shocker, Lon Warneke, and Babe Adams. The fact that the BBWAA never gave him more than 2.2 percent of the vote before the Veterans Committee put him in tells you all you need to know.

 

211. Lefty Gomez, SP, 1930-1943

Stats: 189-102, 3.88 ERA, 2,503 IP, 1,468 K, 1.352 WHIP, 125 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 38.7 WAR, 15.1 WAA, 37.4 JAWS

Only six pitchers in the Hall of Fame have a better winning percentage than Lefty Gomez’s .649 mark, and Gomez can thank the fact that he played with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio for that.

Gomez was certainly a good pitcher – he won two pitching Triple Crowns (leading the league in W, K, and ERA), led the league in strikeouts three times, and was a perfect 6-0 in his World Series starts. The biggest reason Gomez isn’t ranked higher is a shortened career. He had just one quality season after the age of 30 and pitched just 2,500 innings.

 

210. Hack Wilson, OF, 1923-1934

Stats: .307/.395/.545, 244 HR, 1,063 RBI, 144 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 38.9 WAR, 21.4 WAA, 37.4 JAWS, 4.67 WAR/162

Hack Wilson’s best season was 1930 when he hit 56 home runs with a still-standing major-league record 191 RBIs. He had a five-year peak as the National League’s Babe Ruth, leading the league in homers four times and putting up a 160 OPS+. The problem is that Wilson’s alcoholism began to affect his play on the field, and he was effectively finished as a player by age 32. He was also a horrendous defensive player. If the DH had existed in the 1920s, Wilson would have been a perfect fit.

 

209. Hughie Jennings, SS, 1891-1918

Stats: .312/.391/.406, 18 HR, 840 RBI, 118 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 42.3 WAR, 23.3 WAA, 24.9 JAWS, 5.34 WAR/162

Hughie Jennings is lucky to have lived until he was 58. He once was beaned in the head and stayed unconscious for three days. Another time, he dove headfirst into a swimming pool, not realizing the water had been drained, and he fractured his skull. Still another time, he was in a car accident and suffered a fractured skull (again) plus two broken legs and a broken arm.

When he did play, he was a rough-and-tumble player who was perfect for the turn of the century game. Jennings’ specialty was literally getting hit by the pitch – he leaned into 287 pitches in his career. Over his five best seasons, he batted .361, scored over a run per game, and led the league in HBPs all five times. Outside of those five years, his value was pretty limited, and a great amount of his value as a player was simply letting a baseball hit him.

 

208. Roger Bresnahan, C, 1897-1915

Stats: .279/.386/.377, 26 HR, 530 RBI, 126 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 40.9 WAR, 23.0 WAA, 36.2 JAWS, 4.58 WAR/162

Roger Bresnahan holds the dubious distinction of having the lowest RBI total (530) of any position player in the Hall of Fame. That’s only three peak seasons for Lou Gehrig or Jimmie Foxx, and while it shouldn’t be Bresnahan’s defining attribute, it does show that he lacks the traditional offensive stats you might expect. Bill James even called Bresnahan’s selection as part of “the Hall of Fame’s first clear, unmistakable errors.”

As a hitter, Bresnahan only topped 500 plate appearances twice and his 4,481 at-bats is the third-lowest total of any Hall of Famer. Bresnahan walked a lot – his 13.28 walk rate is better than any Hall of Fame catcher except for Mickey Cochrane – and he was behind the plate for all three of Christy Mathewson’s shutouts in the 1905 World Series. It’s not a great selection, but catchers do have to be weighed differently.

 

207. Lou Brock, LF, 1961-1979

Stats: .293/.343/.410, 149 HR, 900 RBI, 109 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 45.3 WAR, 8.4 WAA, 38.6 JAWS, 2.81 WAR/162

Lou Brock’s crowning achievement is reaching the 3,000-hit club; at the time, he was only the 14^th player to have done so and he’s still one of just 32 players with 3,000 hits. Brock was also a dynamic base stealer who ranks second all-time with 938 stolen bases (including a ridiculous 118 at age 35 in 1974).

Brock falls in the bottom of the class when compared to his 3,000-hit peers – he’s last in OPS (.753), BB:K ratio (0.44), WAR (45.3), WAA (8.4), and JAWS (38.6). His high hit total masked a porous walk rate that saw him frequently register fewer than 50 in a full season. And his defensive metrics at a relatively easy position in the field weren’t very good. There are 36 position players elected by the BBWAA in their first year of eligibility, and Brock is by far the worst.

 

206. Chief Bender, SP, 1903-1925

Stats: 212-127, 2.46 ERA, 3,017 IP, 1,711 K, 1.113 WHIP, 112 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 42.7 WAR, 16.6 WAA, 37.3 JAWS

As a 19-year-old in 1903, Chief Bender threw 270 innings, the third-most ever by a teenager in the modern era. Bender was an integral part of the Connie Mack Philadelphia A’s, pitching the team to three World Series titles (and five appearances) in his first decade as a pro.

Pitching in the Dead Ball Era certainly helped Bender’s ERA, so while a 2.46 career mark would be outstanding today, it was just 12 percent better than league average in Bender’s era. Interestingly enough, Bender was only the third-best pitcher on his A’s teams by virtue of having played with Eddie Plank and Rube Waddell.

 

205. Deacon White, 3B, 1871-1890

Stats: .312/.346/.393, 24 HR, 988 RBI, 127 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 45.7 WAR, 22.1 WAA, 36.0 JAWS, 4.75 WAR/162

Deacon White debuted as a player in 1871, the first-ever year of major league baseball. He was the first player ever to get a hit in professional baseball. He played for 20 seasons, appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1936 and earned just 1.3 percent of the votes, and then re-emerged 77 years later to earn induction via the Veterans Committee. That means it took White 142 years to make the Hall of Fame after starting his career.

It was a completely different game when White played. He was a catcher who didn’t wear a glove. He played every position in the field. No one hit home runs back then – they bunted, sacrificed runners over, stole signs, slid spikes up, and brawled constantly. White’s numbers suggest he was a great player – a .312 hitter who led the league in RBIs three times and played for two decades. When you compare White to other players from that time period, White is probably more of a fringe Hall of Famer than in the class of Ed Delahanty, Cap Anson, and Billy Hamilton.

 

204. Bob Lemon, SP, 1946-1958

Stats: 207-128, 3.23 ERA, 2,850 IP, 1,277 K, 1.337 WHIP, 119 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 48.2 WAR, 25.6 WAA, 43.2 JAWS

Here’s a cool fact: Bob Lemon debuted as a 20-year-old third basemen, played sparingly for two years and then missed three in a row due to WWII service time. When he came back in 1946, he transitioned to a full-time starting pitcher and went on to have a Hall of Fame career.

Lemon’s greatest attribute was his durability. In a decade as a pitcher, he led the AL in complete games and batters faced five times each, innings pitched four times, and games started three times. Because he started his career as a position player, Lemon was a tremendous-hitting pitcher who still ranks second all-time with 37 home runs. His 48.2 WAR falls well below the expected HOF threshold, but there are certainly worse candidates.

 

203. Burleigh Grimes, SP, 1916-1934

Stats: 270-212, 3.53 ERA, 4,180 IP, 1,512 K, 1.365 WHIP, 108 ERA+

Sabermetrics: 52.8 WAR, 20.1 WAA, 47.0 JAWS

270 wins is an impressive total, ranking ahead of 44 Hall of Fame pitchers, and Burleigh Grimes got there by being one of the last legal spitballers. He was a five-time 20-game winner who led the league in starts, complete games, innings pitched, and batters faced at least three times each.

Still, Grimes ranks near the bottom of all his HOF contemporaries in advanced stats. Among 73 HOF pitchers, he’s last in WHIP, tied for seventh-worst in adjusted ERA, and 11^th-worst in FIP.

 

202. Heinie Manush, LF, 1923-1939

Stats: .330/.377/.479, 110 HR, 1,183 RBI, 121 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 45.8 WAR, 15.5 WAA, 39.9 JAWS, 3.70 WAR/162

Only 22 Hall of Famers have a higher batting average than Heinie Manush’s .330 mark, a number greater than all-timers Honus Wagner, Joe DiMaggio, and Wade Boggs. That being said, Manush still had subpar plate discipline and mediocre power, so he falls to just 63^rd among HOFers in career OPS and 99^th in batting runs added above average (237).

Manush once went 6-for-9 in a doubleheader on the final day of the 1926 season to steal the batting title from Babe Ruth and keep him from winning a Triple Crown. Manush never got any real consideration for the Hall via the BBWAA but made it in his first year of eligibility via the Veterans Committee.

 

201. Ted Simmons, C, 1968-1988

Stats: .285/.348/.437, 248 HR, 1,389 RBI, 118 OPS+

Sabermetrics: 50.3 WAR, 19.0 WAA, 42.6 JAWS, 3.32 WAR/162

Ted Simmons’ 50.3 WAR and 42.6 JAWS both rank below the traditional thresholds for Hall of Fame catchers (52.4 and 43.1), but he was the best non-enshrined catcher until his induction last year.

Simmons has an impressive resume for a catcher, suiting up for nearly 2,500 games (72.1 percent of which came behind the plate). He was a solid contact hitter, batting .300 seven times, hitting 248 home runs, and putting up an impressive 118 OPS+.

What likely kept him out of the Hall for so many years was his defense. By Baseball Reference’s metrics, Simmons cost his team 34 runs in the field. Three times Simmons led all catchers in passed balls and six times in stolen bases allowed.

 

 

 

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