Most Overlooked HOF Candidates 2012-2013

Here are the top candidates who I'd like to see get in the HOF in the next two years. whose accomplishments have been the most overlooked by their respective sport's Hall Of Fames. This list has a decidedly Philadelphia bent, as 3 of the 4 selections played for Philly teams.Basketall - Chet "The Jet" Walker: If Walker hadn't retired relatively earlt at 35 and hung around two or three more years to pad his stats,he'd have been in the Hall a long time ago. (Walker still scored 20 points per game from his Small Forward position in his final NBA year. As it was, in his 13 seasons Walker was a 7-Time All-Star and retired as the #10 all-time scorer to that point. That's 10th in scoring for all the players who played in the NBA's first 30 seasons (1946-1976). He was A chief cog in the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers team that ended the Boston Celtics run of eight consecutive NBA titles, a 76ers team that is widely considered the best of all-time. Retired since the mid-1970s - Make him a Senior Candidate Class Of 2013, if they haven't already designated him such for 2012. Career: Syracuse Nats 1962-63; Phila. 76ers 1963-69; Chicago Bulls 1969-75.Football - Maxie Baughan - One of the toughest linebackers ever - He made the Pro Bowl 9 times, including every year in the 1960s except 1962, even making it as a rookie in '60. Make him a Senior Candidate for the Class Of 2013 election. Had about 35 lifetime Interceptions also, so he was fast enough to cover backs coming out of the backfield and disrupt the opposition's short passing game. Phila. Eagles 1960-65, LA Rams 1966-71, Washington Redskins player-coach 1974. Baseball - The Veterans Committee portion of the Class Of 2013 will consist of players from MLB's earliest 19th Century origins all the way through 1946 and the start of Post-World War Two and Post-Integration baseball.My candidate: Lave Cross- Multipositional player - primarily a third baseman, but also with several hundred games as a catcher and outfielder. Hit .292 with 2645 base hits and over 300 stolen bases. 14 of his 21 years were with the Phillies, Phila. Athletics, and various other early Philadelphia teams. MLB career: 1887-1907.Hockey -The Hockey HOF no longer has Senior or Veterans Committee candidates. One of the best recent retirees, however, who hasn't gotten his HOF due yet is center Adam Oates. He was a solid goal scorer, but it was for his passing that he was best known. Led the league in Assists or finished in the top 3 many times. He could put a puck on the shooter's stick to set up a clutch goal blindfolded. He had a number of great years with the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins among others.

Oates will get in. It's just a log jam right now. The Seniors have so many qualified candidates to look at. Baughan certainly is among them. Chet Walker is someone I'd really like to see make it. As for Lave Cross, I'd endorse him, but it's also a log jam from that era.

RE: Oates: I agree: He should get in, and it is a logjam. Four players max per year, and with the upcoming eligibles (Sakic, Shanahan, Sundin, et al) it'll be lively the next few years. But Oates is 16th lifetime in total points, 6th in lifetime assists--he's got the resume. (I'm still waiting for Andreychuk's turn, though.)RE: Cross: Dead-ball era players are dicey. My vote is for Bill Dahlen. Cross hit 20 points higher, but Dahlen hit with more power--their slugging averages are almost identical. Dahlen also walked a lot more--his on-base percentage is nearly 30 points higher--but on-base appreciation is a modern custom--Cross's higher batting average probably looks more attractive for the era.Dahlen was a shortstop, though, giving him the positional-scarcity nod over Cross's primary position at third. Qualitatively, Cross's OPS+ is squarely league-average, 100, while Dahlen's is 109. In WAR, though, Dahlen is more than 30 wins more valuable than Cross: 75.9 to 44.8 using Baseball Reference; FanGraphs has an even wider gap: 80.0 to 44.5. (As far as shortstops go, why Dahlen isn't in the Hall and Rabbit Maranville is remains a mystery at least to me.)

Bad Bill tops my list for most deserving players left out. But he's popular among the arguments about most deserving players not in by the "educated" (SABR and not SABR) folks. Maybe not to Blyleven/Santo levels, but there is plenty of talk. When there are glaring omissions like that, plenty of opther deserving players do tend to suffer in the discussion. I think Cross falls under that category.

DDT wrote:RE: Oates: I agree: He should get in, and it is a logjam. Four players max per year, and with the upcoming eligibles (Sakic, Shanahan, Sundin, et al) it'll be lively the next few years. But Oates is 16th lifetime in total points, 6th in lifetime assists--he's got the resume. (I'm still waiting for Andreychuk's turn, though.)RE: Cross: Dead-ball era players are dicey. My vote is for Bill Dahlen. Cross hit 20 points higher, but Dahlen hit with more power--their slugging averages are almost identical. Dahlen also walked a lot more--his on-base percentage is nearly 30 points higher--but on-base appreciation is a modern custom--Cross's higher batting average probably looks more attractive for the era.Dahlen was a shortstop, though, giving him the positional-scarcity nod over Cross's primary position at third. Qualitatively, Cross's OPS+ is squarely league-average, 100, while Dahlen's is 109. In WAR, though, Dahlen is more than 30 wins more valuable than Cross: 75.9 to 44.8 using Baseball Reference; FanGraphs has an even wider gap: 80.0 to 44.5. (As far as shortstops go, why Dahlen isn't in the Hall and Rabbit Maranville is remains a mystery at least to me.)

There's no reason that Dahlen and Cross can't both be nominated and elected for the Class Of 2013..That said, it's a mystery how the Hall Of Fame is going to handle the 1871-1946 election since it's the first time candidates will be nominated and voted upon in this new format for this era. It's a vast territory and timespan they are trying to cover. Will it be a represntative ballot from all decades of the timeperiod under consideration or will the more recent players from the 1920s to 1940s dominate the ballot over the 1900-1919 and 19th century era players? Will lthe committee charged with making the nominations really do their homework and select the best 10 or 12 or 15 candidates available? It will be interesting to see how the nomination phase and the election eventually plays out this coming November and December..

I'm 1 for 1. In the first election since Ii wrote the first post in this discussion, Chet Walker was elected to the Basketball Hall Of Fame, today, February 24, 2012. He was elected as a Veterans Committee candidate..