Two weeks ago we uploaded the 2014 Hockey Future List. You didn’t think we were done there did you? We are now unveiling our 2015 list of eligible players for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015. As you can see, it is a much smaller group as we only have Alex Kovalev, Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstrom as candidates.
You know what to do!
Check them out and give your opinions and cast a vote!
Now if we are going to spend some time seeing of the Cy Young Award equates to the Hall of Fame; should we not do the same for the MVP Award? Damn right we should!
First off, we would like to congratulate Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey for their MVP Award wins. Both stars are under the age of 30, and could very well be on their way to Hall of Fame careers. However as we learned with the Cy Young, it is does not give you an automatic pass to Cooperstown. We will begin our look from 1931, which is the accepted year of the modern MVP Award. The following are those who qualify for the Hall of Fame, but did not get enshrined.
Bucky Walters: 1939, NL, Cincinnati Highest HOF Vote was 23.8% in 1968; on the ballot for fifteen years; #74 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Frank McCormick: 1940, NL, Cincinnati Highest HOF Vote was 3.0% in 1964; on the ballot for four years.
Dolph Camilli: 1941, NL, Brooklyn Highest HOF Vote was 1.5% in 1958; on the ballot for four years
Mort Cooper: 1942, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 1958; on the ballot for four years
Spud Chandler: 1943, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 3.0% in 1964; on the ballot for five years
Marty Marion: 1944, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 40% in 1970; on the ballot for 13 years; #86 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Phil Cavarretta: 1945, NL, Chicago Highest HOF Vote was 35.6% in 1975; on the ballot for 12 years.
Bob Elliott: 1947, NL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 2.0% in 1964; on the ballot for three years; #92 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Jim Konstanty: 1950, NL, Philadelphia ZERO HOF Votes.
Bobby Shantz: 1952, AL, Philadelphia Highest HOF Vote was 2.3% in 1970 & 1972; on the ballot for five years.
Hank Sauer: 1952, NL, Chicago Highest HOF Vote was 1.3% in 1966; lone year on the ballot.
Al Rosen: 1953, AL, Cleveland ZERO HOF Votes
Don Newcombe: 1956, NL, Brooklyn Highest HOF Vote was 15.3% in 1980; on the ballot for fourteen years.
Jackie Jensen: 1958, AL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 1968; on the ballot for six years.
Roger Maris: 1960 & 1961, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 43.1% in 1988; on the ballot for fifteen years; #99 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Dick Groat: 1960, NL, Pittsburgh Highest HOF Vote was 1.8% in 1973 & 1976; on the ballot for six years.
Maury Wills: 1962, NL, Los Angeles Highest HOF Vote was 40.6% on 1981; on the ballot for fifteen years; #52 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List
Elston Howard: 1963, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 20.7% in 1981; on the ballot for fifteen years
Ken Boyer: 1964, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 25.5% in 1988; on the ballot for fifteen years; #60 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Zolio Versalles: 1965, AL, Minnesota ZERO HOF Votes
Denny McLain: 1968, AL, Detroit Highest HOF Vote was 0.7% in 1979; on the ballot for three years.
Boog Powell: 1970, AL, Baltimore Highest HOF Vote was 1.3% in 1983; lone year on the ballot.
Vida Blue: 1971, AL, Oakland Highest HOF Vote was 8.7% in 1993; four years on the ballot.
Joe Torre: 1971, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 22.2% in 1997; fifteen years on the ballot; #35 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Dick Allen: 1972, AL, Chicago Highest HOF Vote was 18.9% in 1996; fourteen years on the ballot; #18 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List
Pete Rose: 1973, NL, Cincinnati Declared Ineligible; #1A on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Jeff Burroughs: 1974, AL, Texas Highest HOF Vote was 0.2% in 1991; lone year on the ballot.
Steve Garvey: 1974, NL, Los Angeles Highest HOF Vote was 41.6% in 1993; fifteen years on the ballot; #42 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Fred Lynn: 1975, AL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 5.5% in 1996; two years on the ballot.
Thurman Munson: 1976, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 15.5% in 1981; fifteen years on the ballot; #78 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List
George Foster: 1977, NL, Cincinnati Highest HOF Vote was 6.9% in 1993; four years on the ballot.
Dave Parker: 1978, NL, Pittsburgh Highest HOF Vote was 24.5% in 1998; fifteen years on the ballot; #22 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Don Baylor: 1979, AL, California Highest HOF Vote was 2.6% in 1994 & 1995; two years on the ballot.
Keith Hernandez: 1979, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 10.8% in 1998; nine years on the ballot; #67 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Dale Murphy: 1982 & 1983, NL, Atlanta Highest HOF Vote was 23.2% in 2000; fourteen years on the ballot; #48 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Willie Hernandez: 1984, AL, Detroit Highest HOF Vote was 0.4% in 1995; lone year on the ballot.
Don Mattingly: 1985, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 28.2% in 2001; twelve years on the ballot; #64 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Willie McGee: 1985, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 5.0% in 2005; two years on the ballot.
George Bell: 1987, AL, Toronto Highest HOF Vote was 1.2% in 1999; lone year on the ballot.
Jose Canseco: 1988, AL, Oakland Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 2007; lone year on the ballot.
Kirk Gibson: 1988, NL, Los Angeles Highest HOF Vote was 2.5% in 2001; lone year on the ballot
Kevin Mitchell: 1989, NL, San Francisco Highest HOF Vote was 0.4% in 2004; lone year on the ballot.
Terry Pendleton: 1991, NL, Atlanta Highest HOF Vote was 0.2% in 2004; lone year on the ballot.
Jeff Bagwell: 1994, NL, Houston Highest HOF Vote was 56.0% in 2012; two years on the ballot; #3 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Mo Vaughn: 1995, AL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 2009; lone year on the ballot.
Juan Gonzalez: 1996 & 1998, AL, Texas Highest HOF Vote was 5.2% in 2011; two years on the ballot.
Ken Caminiti: 1997, NL, San Diego Highest HOF Vote was 0.4%; lone year on the ballot.
Larry Walker: 1998, NL, Colorado Highest HOF Vote was 22.9%; two years on the ballot. #11 on the Notinhalloffame.com Baseball list.
Note that this group does not include former MVPs, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, who are now eligible. All are not expected to get indicted due to past PED use, thus their vote totals are likely to be tarnished based on their actual on field performance. Although Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti and Juan Gonzalez may not have had the career numbers to get in, their low tallies were certainly not aided by steroids.
Jeff Bagwell is likely to get in, and although Larry Walker has not broken 25%, his chances are still decent.
Of course there is still a handful whose Hall of Fame support was anemic, and like the Cy Young Award, the “no vote club” still exists here. This dubious group includes Jim Konstanty had one very good season, one average season, and mediocrity everywhere else. The ‘53 AL MVP, Al Rosen was actually a four time All Star, but did not meet the career length requirement. Does anybody outside sixty year old Twins fans even know who Zolio Versalles is? And who is the writer who voted for Jeff Burroughs in 1991? He had to be from Texas. Maybe he and a friend were still on the ballot when they wanted to hear an induction speech by Kevin Mitchell. Actually, that might have been compelling television.
What does this mean for Posey and Cabrera? Time will tell whether they are the next Ted Williams or Zolio Versalles. Actually, I think I want to figure out how to make “Versalles” a verb.
First off, we would like to congratulate both R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets and David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays. Both captured their first ever Cy Young Awards for being the best Pitcher in their respective Leagues. This got us thinking……does the Cy Young Award equal a future Hall of Fame induction? Actually we were quite amazed how many winners of the prestigious award were not even fringe candidates for Cooperstown.
From 1956 to 1966 there was only one trophy awarded to the best pitcher overall. In that time span, seven of ten winners were enshrined. This includes Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, Whitey Ford, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax; who won three times. The other three include Don Newcombe, who we have in our 100 for consideration, but two others who are never thought of at all. In 1958, Bob Turley won of the New York Yankees after posting the best season of his career. He never ever came close to that again and never received a single vote for the Hall. Vern Law won in 1960, and realistically only had two other seasons (other than his Cy Young winner) that was worthwhile. Unlike Turley, Law at least received some support from the Baseball writers, but never got more than three percent.
In 1967, two Cy Young Awards were given out in each league. There is a staggering amount of hurlers who won the award and did not get inducted (and is of course Hall of Fame eligible:
Mike McCormick (1967, NL, San Francisco) Zero HOF votes
Jim Lonborg (1967, AL, Boston) 0.8% vote in 1985
Denny McLain (1968 & 1969, AL, Detroit) 0.7% vote in 1979
Mike Cuellar (1969, AL, Detroit) Zero HOF votes
Jim Perry (1970, AL, Minnesota) 1.9% in 1983
Vida Blue (1971, AL, Oakland) 8.7% in 1993; on the ballot for four years
Mike Marshall (1974, NL, Los Angeles) 1.5% HOF vote in 1987
Randy Jones (1976, NL, San Diego) Zero HOF votes
Sparky Lyle (1977, AL, New York) 13.1% in 1988; on the ballot for four years
Ron Guidry (1978, AL, New York) 8.8% in 2000; on the ballot for nine years
Mike Flanagan (1979, AL, Baltimore) 0.4% HOF vote in in 1998
Steve Stone (1980, AL, Baltimore) Zero HOF votes
Fernando Valenzuela (1981, NL, Los Angeles) 6.3% HOF vote in 2003, off the ballot the following year.
Pete Vuckovich (1982, AL, Milwaukee) Zero HOF votes
John Denny (1983, NL, Philadelphia) Zero HOF votes
Lamarr Hoyt (1983, AL, Chicago) Zero HOF votes
Rick Sutcliffe (1984, NL, Chicago) 1.8% HOF vote in 2000
Willie Hernandez (1984, AL, Detroit) 0.4% HOF vote in 1995
Dwight Gooden (1985, NL, New York) 3.3% HOF vote in 2006
Bret Saberhagen (1985 & 1989, AL, Kansas City) 1.3% HOF vote in 2007
Mike Scott (1986, NL, Houston) 0.4% HOF vote in 1997
Steve Bedrosian (1987, NL, Philadelphia) 0.2% HOF vote in 2001
Orel Hershiser (1988, NL, Los Angeles) 11.2% HOF vote in 2006, off the ballot the following year
Frank Viola (1988, AL, Minnesota) 0.4% HOF vote in 2002
Mark Davis (1989, NL, San Diego) 0.2% HOF vote in 2003
Doug Drabek (1990, NL, Pittsburgh) 0.4% HOF vote in 2004
Bob Welch (1990, AL, Oakland) 0.2% HOF vote in 2000
Jack McDowell (1993, AL, Chicago) 0.8% HOF vote in 2005
David Cone (1994, AL, Kansas City) 3.9% HOF vote in 2009
Pat Hentgen (1996, AL, Toronto) 0.2% HOF vote in 2010
Wow….a lot of ZERO votes in there, not to mention sub 1%ers in there. We hate to say it, but in his late thirties, you can add R.A. Dickey to this list. At this stage the knuckleballer has a long way to go just to get to 100 wins and the odds are string that this amazing season will not be duplicated.
At the age of 26, David Price already has as many wins as Dickey (61). He is already a three time All Star, and could very well be on a Cooperstown career. OF course, at the age of 26, who knows!
Regardless, winning the Cy Young is an amazing accomplishment and though that does not translate to immortality, it should be respected and praised.
With it being the Hall of Fame weekend in Hockey (though there is no actual hockey being played in regards to the biggest league of the game), it seemed like a perfect time for us to look forward. As you have noticed, we have diligently worked on futures for the Baseball section. We are doing same for Hockey.
We have isolated ten players who we think may be worthy of some consideration for the greatest post career prize.
They are:
Brian Rafalski
Chris Osgood
Dominik Hasek
Doug Weight
Mark Recchi
Mike Modano
Owen Nolan
Pavol Demitra
Peter Forsberg
Sandis Ozolinsh
You know what to do! Check them out and cast a vote and give your opinion!