Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. Once that is done, we will examine how each team honors its past players, coaches, and executives. As such, it is important to us that the Pittsburgh Pirates have announced three new members to their franchise Hall of Fame.

Kiki Cuyler, Vernon Law and Al Oliver will comprise the Class of 2025, adding to the 26 that have been inducted since the Hall’s inception in 2022.

Cuyler played his first seven years with the Pirates (1921-27), where he helped them win the 1925 World Series.  As a Pirate, the Outfielder twice led the National League in Runs Scored (1925 & 1926), Stolen Bases once (1925), and batted .336 with 680 Hits for the team.  He entered the Baseball Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee in 1968.

Law played all 16 of MLB seasons with the Pirates (1950-51 & 1954-57) and was the top arm and Cy Young winner on the team that won the 1960 World Series.  He had a record of 162-147 with a 3.77 ERA and 1,092 Strikeouts.

Oliver was with Pittsburgh from 1968 to 1977 and helped the team win a World Series in 1971.  He was a three-time All-Star, collected 1,490 Hits with 135 Home Runs with a .296 Batting Average as a Pirate.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the incoming members of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1970s "Lumber Company" in Pittsburgh celebrated its power, but maintaining offensive pressure required precise mechanics. Al Oliver signed in 1964, exemplifying this consistency. The left-handed hitter brought focus and aggression, with a fast swing and high socks, aiming to smash baseballs into the gaps of Three Rivers Stadium. He became a respected hitter of his era.

His debut as a consistent everyday player in 1969 immediately demonstrated his frontline potential, earning him a close second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting. Oliver swiftly made his extra-base hits and run production a regular part of his game. He was a key, high-impact player for the renowned 1971 world championship team, hitting a crucial two-run double off Mike Cuellar in Game 3 of the World Series, which helped spark the Pirates' historic comeback victory over Baltimore.

Oliver largely avoided long slumps, providing a steady and powerful presence in manager Danny Murtaugh’s lineups. He hit at least 11 home runs each season for nine straight years, reaching a career high of 20 in 1973, and established himself as a top run-producer with back-to-back seasons of over 100 RBIs. His outstanding bat control led to a batting average of .300 or higher in four different seasons while playing for Pittsburgh, which earned him three All-Star selections and two notable seventh-place finishes in the National League MVP voting.

By the end of 1977, front-office priorities changed. To overhaul their pitching roster, management carried out a large four-team mega-trade, sending the franchise icon to the Texas Rangers, where he would maintain his elite contact ability for another decade. During his time with the Pirates, Oliver accumulated 1,490 hits, 248 doubles, 135 home runs, and 717 RBIs, boasting a solid .296/.331/452 slash line over 1,280 games.

A two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger with the Texas Rangers, Al Oliver continued his hitting ways at Arlington.  “Scoop” was a .300 hitter in all of his four seasons in Texas smacking 668 Hits over this relatively short time span.

Al Oliver was only with Montreal for two seasons but those were excellent offensive campaigns, which saw him win the National League Batting Title and lead the league in Hits.  Oliver was an All-Star both years and also led the NL in doubles both times.  Had he been a better defensive player (or at least not a liability as he led the NL in errors for a First Basemen both years) he would have been ranked much higher.

Al Oliver came to the league in 1969 as a line-drive hitter and, for eighteen years, consistently smacked the ball for hits.  He had over 2,700 hits in his career, and despite not being a genuine power hitter, he had a plethora of RBI’s.

Oliver’s main gift was hitting for average.  In addition to his 1982 Batting Title, he had ten other seasons where he hit the .300 plateau.  Oliver wasn’t known for hitting home runs (though he did over 200 in his career), but he found the gap often and was perennially among the league leaders in doubles.  As he was a decent clutch hitter and was always in the hunt for Batting Titles, it would have been thought that Al Oliver would have had more support for the Hall of Fame.

That support might have come had Oliver won an MVP (he came close in 1982) or been a better fielder.  He also had a relatively low On Base Percentage, which has been the vogue baseball stat in the past fifteen years.  Regardless, a decade and a half of consistent contact hitting should have been worth more than 4.3 percent in his first year of eligibility.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com thought it would be fun to take a look at the major awards in North American team sports and see how it translates into Hall of Fame potential.

Needless to say, different awards in different sports yield hall of fame potential.  In basketball, the team sport with the least amount of players on a roster, the dividend for greatness much higher.  In baseball, it is not as much as a great individual season does not have the same impact.