Lolich enjoyed a solid career spent mostly with the Detroit Tigers, but his exploits in the 1968 World Series are his legacy. Whitaker was a solid all-around player for the Tigers, but never really excelled in any one area on an elite level. He was a six-time All-Star and twice finished in the top 10 in MVP voting. Considered one of the top dead-ball era players not in the Hall of Fame, Daubert was an excellent all-around players for the Brooklyn Superbas and Cincinnati Reds in the early 20th century. Garvey was a remarkably consistent and clutch performer for the great Dodgers teams for over a decade in the 1970s and 1980s. Herman was an excellent hitter in the 1920s and 1930s, even if he never did really break through to the elite level. Staub was an excellent player early in his career, and by the age of 27, he was already a five-time All-Star. Teixeira was a gifted defensive first baseman and is one of the best switch-hitters of all time. Votto (.307) is one of only 11 active players with a career average of .300 or better over 500 or more games, a list headed by Detroit's Miguel Cabrera and Houston's Jose Altuve, both of whom. But it also just underscored the difficulty of racking up big hit totals, particularly in the age of the three true outcomes (homer, strikeout, walk). Garvey received 42.6 percent of the vote, more than eventual Hall of Famers Jim Rice, Bruce Sutter and Ron Santo. Lofton was a 6-time all-star and a 4-time gold glove award winner who finished his career with nearly 2500 hits, over 1500 runs scored and 622 stolen bases. Despite his 119-121 record, Vander Meer consistently received over 20 percent of the votes in Hall of Fame balloting throughout hiseligibility. He consistently received between 25 to 30 percent of the votes on the Hall of Fame ballot, peaking in 1988 when he finished sixth with 39.3 percent. Randolph made the All-Star game as a second baseman for the Yankees five times during his careerno small feat while playing in the same league as Lou Whitaker, Frank White and Bobby Grich. He has finished no worse than eighth in Hall of Fame voting in his three years on the ballot, topping 32 percent each time. He is second all time in saves with 424, the most ever by a lefty pitcher. Evans was an outstanding all-around right fielder who possessed one of the game's greatest throwing arms. Hell be a first-ballot inductee for the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame class. He won the 1994 MVP award and finished in the top 10 in the voting five other times. However, the big man known as "Mule" also batted for a high average, regularly hitting between .300 and .400 each season. He still remains one of the top five home run-hitting catchers of all time. Minoso also led the league in "hit by pitch" 10 times, and his 192 plunkings ranks ninth all time. Oliver was a career .303 hitter over 18 seasons and won the 1982 NL title with the Expos as a 35-year-old. He received Cy Young award votes in five seasons, winning it in 1994. McGwire was a 12-time All-Star, finished in the top seven in MVP voting seven times and was the 1987 Rookie of the Year after belting 49 home runs, an MLB-record for rookies. Baseballs collusion case in the mid-80s brought an early end to his career. Joe Morgan, Frankie Frisch, Eddie Collins, Roberto Alomar and Craig Biggio have led the way. He finished his career with a .307 batting average. Hodges lost three years early in his career to World War II, causing his breakout as a player to be delayed until he was 25 years old. Uh, let me try to explain. He only led the league in saves four times in his 18-year career, and his 3.03 career ERA isn't sparkling for a closer. Belle may have been a jerk and got caught with a corked bat, but the fact that he had just two meek representations on the Hall of Fame ballot before being dropped is a crime. Like Dave McNally, who appeared earlier on this list, Cuellar had a terrific, but brief, peak as a pitcher for the great Orioles' staff of the 1970s. He finished with 2,445 career hits and a career .303 average. The most recent no-hitter by all 30 MLB teams. He has a .279 average with a .350 OBP, 435 home runs, 1,587 RBIs and 312 steals to go along with nine. Playing during a time when second basemen weren't asked to even think about home runs, Grich hit with the power of a corner infielder while playing Gold Glove-caliber second base for the Orioles and Angels. One of the great clutch hitters of his era, Martinez finished with a .312 career average and topped 500 doubles and 300 homers in his 18-year career. He won seven Gold Gloves behind the plate and led the league in games played at catcher and assists as a catcher six times each. He played five years in the NA before the league morphed into the National League. From 1973 to the conclusion of the 2017 season, only nine players appeared in 1,000 or more games at DH. This slideshow ranks the top 100 players who are eligible for Hall of Fame induction, but they currently do not have that plaque in Cooperstown. That's no small task when his staffmates were Hall of Famers Eddie Plank, Chief Bender, Herb Pennock and Stan Coveleski. Oliva finished third in Hall of Fame voting in 1988, receiving 47.3 percent of vote. Stephens was one of the top hitting shortstops of the 1940s and received MVP votes for nine straight seasons from 1942 to 1951. You won't find Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe or Eddie Cicotte on this list. Instead of talking about his incredible baseball accomplishments, Palmeiro's career is defined as being one of the poster boys for the steroid era. The Cobra won two batting titles with the Pirates (1977-78) and won the 1978 NL MVP award. From 1996-2006, through his age-31 season, Rolen produced 54.4 of his 69.9 career fWAR. Dave Kingman Home Runs: 442 Bagwell has been on the Hall of Fame ballot for two years and if trends hold up, he should find himself in Cooperstown one day. He received more votes than six eventual Hall of Famers. However, he remarkably made it back, and he was better than before. He was a Rookie of the Year winner, seven-time All-Star, MVP recipient, and thrice a top-10 finisher in the MVP race. It is not quite a three-hour drive from Caton to Cooperstown. Bill Mazeroski was a career .260 hitter. But the truth is he ended up having a productive career after all. Over his final seven seasons, he topped 130 games played just once. The 1969 Cy Young award winner, Cuellar won 20 games four times and finished his career with 185 wins. It was the same year that Old Hoss Radbourn won 59 games. Bold indicates active player. Bagwell has vehemently denied taking steroids, but that hasn't stopped voters from having their doubts. Before that, O'Doul had some great seasons as a left fielder after being converted from a pitcher at the age of 31. During a time when the game was dominated by Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez on the mound, Brown wasn't that far off from those hurlers. Murphy was hurt by a severe drop-off in production after the age of 31. He had at least 190 strikeouts in a season 10 times and won 20 games twice. career 300 hitters not in hall of fame. He led the league in hits, doubles and triples twice each and finished his career with 2,757 hits. From 1988 to 1993, he batted .234 and averaged just 15 homers a season. Suttles earned five All-Star nods as part of a 23-year Hall of Fame . He grades well in baseball-reference.com's Hall of Fame Career Standards. He lingered on the Hall of Fame ballot for the full 15-year run, never really threatening to be elected or dropped off the ballot. He finished with a career record of 193-121 but had an ERA of 4.04. Kaat was a classic compiler thanks to an incredible 25-year major league career. "Any hitter can hit a fast one. Yost was a supremely talented defender who set American League records for third basemen in career putouts, assists and total chances by the end of his career. Here are the 25 best hitters in Major League Baseball history. He collected 3,166 career hits, which included 636 doubles and 477 home runs. A number of baseball's best hitters have come close to garnering 3,000 base hits over their major league careers. The total was higher than Orlando Cepeda, Ron Santo and Bill Mazeroski. Answerbag wants to provide a service to people looking for answers and a good conversation. Oliver accumulated 2,743 hits in his career. Some argue that he is the best player not enshrined in Cooperstown, while his detractors say he didn't play long enough and his surly attitude turned off a lot of people. And replacing him with Jose Abreu, who just posted a 137 wRC+ and is a career .292/.354/.506 hitter is an unbelievable win for this front office. He won eight Gold Gloves and finished his career with a .313 average and 383 home runs. Dunn finished his career with a lowly .234 batting average. In the World Series, he hit .529 in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Reds. 2,000 on Monday night. He retired early at the age of 36, and if he hung on as long as some of his more accomplished outfield peers, he could have easily gotten to 3,000 hits. "Bad Bill" Dahlen's career was split between the 19th and 20th centuries, but it qualifies here since he played more games in the 1900s than he did the 1800s. Brown won 21 games in 1992 and had an ERA under 3.00 six times during the steroids era. When Smith retired, he was the game's all-time saves leader and topped the list in games finished. Minimum of 1000 IP, 3000 PA, 500 games (fielding, 500 IP for Ps), 200 stolen base attempts (catchers) or 80 stolen base attempts (baserunners only since 1951) or 100 decisions for career and active leaderboards for rate statistics. Grace batted over .300 nine times and over.295 three more times. While all of those marks were eventually broken, there was no question that at the time of his retirement, he was one of the greatest hitting catchers of all time. In terms of overall productivity, the sweet spot for the average Hall of Famer is a WAR between 50 and 70. In addition to being a winning pitcher for the Yanks during eight regular seasons, he excelled in the World Series, accumulating a 4-1 record with a 2.60 ERA over seven starts. His 137 career OPS+ ranks behind only Mantle, Berkman and Jones among modern switch-hitters. Beltre put up amazing numbers before retiring after the 2018 season. Well, we've got Shoeless Joe Jackson in 4th place overall at .3558, but he's technically ineligible because of his role in the Black Sox scandal. The star of the 1931 World Series, Martin was a four-time All-Star and twice was a top-10 MVP player. He went 24-8 for the A's, winning the CY Young award and MVP in the American League. Since McCarthy was not BETTER than any other Hall of Famer, he also has a "zero" in front of his name. The brother of Hall of Fame catcher Rick Ferrell, Wes was a workhorse pitcher mostly for the Indians and Red Sox before World War II. Through Aug. 13, 2020, 203 qualified players had batting averages over .300. Like many others,. However, in his prime, he made seven straight All-Star games, had eight top-20 MVP finishes, won three Gold Gloves and three World Series titles. White became the second batting champion ever in the National League when he hit .387 in 1877. He still holds the Reds' franchise records for most wins by a righty with 161, and his 579 games pitched ranked eighth in NL history when he retired in 1945 after a 15-year career. He received MVP votes seven times, finishing second in 1987. Mattingly batted over .300 in each of his first six full seasons, leading the AL in 1984 with a .343 average. At times, Tiant was one of the great clutch pitchers of his generation. Stephens led the AL in RBI twice and home runs once, but his production fell off considerably after the age of 29. He finished with 254 career wins, finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times and won 20 games three times. Not only was he able to go far to his left and right, but he charged the bunt as well as anyone and had range back into foul territory. The 1945 NL MVP, Cavarretta played more seasons with the Cubs than anybody in the 20th century. Tiant made three All-Star games and had two top-10 MVP finishes. His .688 winning percentage ranks fifth all time. Sain received support for the Hall of Fame in 1975 when he received 123 votes in his final year on the ballot. During that time he made the all-star game every year, hit more than .300, and hit more than 35 home . Before dying in a plane crash, Munson was the 1970 Rookie of the Year, 1976 AL MVP, a seven-time All-Star and a leader on the 1977 and 1978 Yankees' World Series championship teams. He ended with 2,712 hits, 1,493 RBI and a .290 average. How does a world-class base stealer with 3,023 career hits not qualify for the Hall of Fame? John's 288 career wins are the highest total of any eligible non-Hall of Famer, and he is one of just eight pitchers to start at least 700 games in his career. From 1984 to 1989 "Donnie Baseball" was the most prolific hitter in baseball. His peak came in 1967 when he finished with 29 percent of the vote, ahead of 10 future Hall of Famers, including pitchers Hal Newhouser and Bob Lemon. Torre will one day get into the Hall of Fame as a manager, but the chance also remains that he will be inducted as a player one day by the Veterans Committee. By. The plaque dedicated to Sanford 'Sandy' Koufax at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New . Bagwell's numbers are there, and he passes the eye test as a dominant player in his era, but the cloud of steroids has kept him out so far, right or wrong. More about data coverage Share & Export Magee was one of 10 pre-1943 players who came under consideration for enshrinement in 2008, but he fell short. From age 26 to 28, DiMaggio served during World War II, losing three peak seasons serving overseas as many players of his era did. He ranks higher than pitchers like Catfish Hunter, Don Drysdale and Jim Bunning in that category. Lopat didn't have the longevity to be seriously considered for the Hall of Fame. McInnis received eight votes for the Hall of Fame in the 1949 balloting, more than 23 other players that year who were eventually elected to the Hall. Only five hitters have a higher career batting average with at least 10,000 PA since 1945: Tony Gwynn (.338), Wade Boggs (.328), Rod Crew (.328), Stan Musial (.328), and Roberto Clemente (.317). Still, he should have gotten a little more support on the Hall of Fame ballot. Garvey will likely be a strong Veterans Committee candidate years down the line. Baines played in 2,830 career games, 19th all time, and amassed 2,866 career hits, the highest total of any eligible non-Hall of Famer. Despite being just a part-time pitcher over his final seven seasons, Harder won 223 games in his career and is the only eligible player who has pitched at least 20 seasons for one club who is not in the Hall of Fame. Despite his longevity, Baines never won a World Series, never led the league in a major category and the only major award he won was the Silver Slugger award in 1989. He made seven All-Star games during his career. Boone was arguably the greatest defensive catcher of a generation that also included Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Carlton Fisk. Caruthers pitched for three teams from 1884 to 1892 and was a two-time 40-game winner. Morris' case is buoyed by excellent performances in the 1984 and 1991 postseasons when he anchored the Tigers' and Twins' staffs to World Series titles in those respective years. Despite the tragedy, Mays had a very productive 15-year career. As shown in Table 5, seven former members of the Career .300 Hitters Club finished their major-league careers with .296 batting averages. By the age of 27, Clark had four top-five finishes in the NL MVP voting, including a second-place finish in 1989. Brown was a six-time All-Star and finished in the top six in Cy Young voting five times. Just 16 hitters have a career .300 average with 10,000-plus PA; Ichiro stole 509 bases in his career. He batted .398 that season and led the league with a .465 on-base percentage. His .564 slugging percentage ranks 14th all time. Almost every eligible candidate who had a career .300 batting average, 2,500 hits and 300 home runs has been enshrined. July 20, 2019. He finished his career with a 211-169 record. Ryne Sandberg : in his first year of eligibility in 2003 received 49.2% of the vote and gets enshrined in 2005 in his third year on the ballot receiving 76.2 . His support waned from there, though. One of the best and longest-running arguments fans like to get involved with revolves around the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Before getting started on the modern ballplayers, here is a look at nine deserving players from the 1800s who haven't been inducted into the Hall of Fame. It was one of the truly remarkable runs of success in the decade. Nicknamed the "Louisville Slugger," Browning was the inspiration for naming the famous bat after he purchased bats from theHillerich & Bradsby Company. In 1952 he made history by becoming the first African-American coach in the major leagues when he joined the Cubs coaching staff. Although he didn't have the quickness of Johnny Bench, Boone was incredibly durable and was the only catcher who consistently placed in the top 10 for defensive WAR for the better part of two decades. He never did really break through to the conclusion of the vote, more than.300, thrice. 1945 NL MVP, Cavarretta played more seasons with the Cubs than in! 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