A vital part of the Big Red Machine that had the most success of any other team in the National League, George Foster debuted in 1969 (with San Francisco); George Foster broke through in 1975 with a 23-home-run year.  Helping the Reds win the World Series that year, Foster won the RBI Title in 1976 with 29 Home Runs and a .306 Batting Average.  This would usher in the first of five All-Star Games, and four in the next five years.  Foster again helped them win the World Series, and he was second in MVP voting.

The Reds did not win the World Series again in the 1970s, but Foster would have better years ahead.  In 1977, he would smack 52 Home Runs, an incredible tally for the 1970s.  Foster also led the National League in Runs Batted In (149), Runs Scored (124), Slugging Percentage (.631), and OPS (1.013).  To the surprise of nobody, he won the MVP.  Foster won his second Home Run Title (40) and third RBI Title (120) in 1978, and in 1981, he was third in MVP voting with 22 Home Runs and a .519 Slugging Percentage in that strike-shortened year.  That was his last season on the Ohio River, as he was traded to the New York Mets, where he played for four years and had a brief stop with the Chicago White Sox before retiring in 1986.

Foster would smack 348 Home Runs, 1,239 Runs Batted In with a .480 Slugging Percentage.  He remained on the ballot for four years (1992-95).  Had he been better defensively and had a better on-base percentage, he would have been much higher on this list.

The Hall of Fame victim most often cited in the Black Sox Scandal is "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, but Pitcher Eddie Cicotte might also have cost a Cooperstown plaque.

After a brief stint with the Detroit Tigers in 1905, he went back to the minors, only to return three years later with the Boston Red Sox.  Cicotte did better there, good enough to stay on the roster but far from a star.  That changed when he was traded to the Chicago White Sox during the 1912 season.

With Chicago, he had his breakout season in 1913, when he went 18-11 with a 1.58 ERA, and a monster season in 1917, when he led the American League in Wins (28), ERA (1.53), and WHIP (0.912).  Cicotte would help Chicago win the 1917 World Series, going 1-1 with a 1.57 ERA.  1919 was just as good as he again led the AL in Wins (29) and had a 1.82 ERA.  Cicotte and the White Sox were heavily favored in the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, but gamblers got into the palms of some White Sox players (allegedly), and Cicotte was one of them (allegedly).  In that World Series, he went 1-2 and looked ineffective (or throwing the game) in his first two starts.  Chicago would lose that series to the Reds.

After going 21-10 in 1920, the suspected White Sox players were brought to trial.  Although the court would find the White Sox players innocent, Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned the eight players from baseball after 1920, ending their careers at age 36.

A two-time World Series Champion with the Detroit Tigers (the only team he ever played for), Tommy Bridges was a major force in that first championship, winning two games in the Fall Classic.  The curveball specialist led the AL in Strikeouts twice and won twenty games three years in a row (1934, 1935 & 1936).  Bridges was also a six-time All-Star.  Overall, Bridges would have a record of 194-138 with 1,674 Strikeouts.

Vida Blue debuted in 1969, and over his 12 Games in Oakland, he was ineffective, posting a 6.64 ERA.  His 1970 callup was different, with a 2-0 record over six starts and a pair of Shutouts.  1971 was one of the best seasons ever for an Oakland A’s Pitcher.

1971 was the year he went 24-8 with 301 Strikeouts and led the American League in ERA (1.82), FIP (2.20), and WHIP (0.952).  Blue won both the MVP and the Cy Young, and he was part of what became an elite franchise in the AL.  While Blue would have ups and downs afterward, the ups were very special.  Blue was an anchor on the A's staff, helping them win three straight World Series Rings (1972-74), and while he was with Oakland, he was a three-time All-Star.  In addition to his Cy Young, he had three other top ten Cy Young finishes as an Athletic.

In 1978, Blue crossed the bay and switched leagues to play for San Francisco, where in his first year there, he was an All-Star again and was third in Cy Young voting.  He went to two more All-Star Games with the Giants, and after a stint with Kansas City, he returned to San Francisco, where he played his final two years before retiring in 1986.

Blue left the game with a 209-161 record and 2,175 Strikeouts.