Players who just missed

Baseball_Hall_of_Fame

by Ron Shandler

When you use strict, objective criteria to identify members of a group, you always run the risk of players missing out by the smallest of margins. Our Rotisserie Hall of Fame also has its share of “just misses.” However, it is useful to identify them and see where they fell short.

These players had a handful of terrific seasons — four times ranked in the Top 15 — but it was not nearly enough to boost their peak or career value:

PLAYER #Yrs Avg$ Peak$ Top15
Nomar Garciaparra 14 $17 $23 4
Mike Scott 12 $12 $19 4
Javier Vazquez 14 $14 $18 4

These players had an excellent 10-year stretch, but the rest of their careers were sub-par, dragging down their eligibility. These are the players who missed out by the smallest margin:

PLAYER #Yrs Avg$ Peak$ Top15
Darryl Strawberry 17 $18 $29 3
Jim Thome 22 $19 $27 1
Bobby Bonilla 16 $18 $27 1
Matt Williams 17 $18 $26 2
Andruw Jones 17 $17 $26 2
Ron Gant 16 $18 $25 3
Ray Lankford 14 $19 $25 1
Willie Wilson 15 $19 $25 1
Barry Larkin 19 $19 $25 2
Marquis Grissom 17 $19 $25 2
Edgar Martinez 18 $18 $25 1
Julio Franco 22 $16 $25 1

The following are the pitchers who missed out by the smallest margins:

PITCHERS #Yrs Avg$ Peak$ Top15
Dwight Gooden 16 $13 $23 3
Rod Beck 13 $13 $22 2
Dave Stieb 15 $12 $21 3
Jose Rijo 14 $10 $21 3
Doug Drabek 13 $13 $20 3
Kevin Appier 16 $11 $20 3
Dennis Martinez 19 $10 $20 3
Tom Henke 14 $14 $19 2
Derek Lowe 14 $14 $19 2
Mark Langston 16 $10 $19 3
Bob Welch 15 $13 $18 3
Carlos Zambrano 10 $13 $18 3
Chris Carpenter 15 $10 $18 3

These players had excellent careers but missed by just a little bit more:

PLAYER #Yrs Avg$ Peak$ Top15
Lloyd Moseby 12 $21 $24 3
Steve Sax 14 $19 $24 2
Moises Alou 17 $19 $24 2
Derrek Lee 15 $19 $24 1
Jim Edmonds 17 $18 $24 1
Brian Giles 15 $18 $24 1
Luis Gonzalez 19 $18 $24 1
Tim Salmon 14 $18 $23 1
Paul Konerko 18 $18 $23 1
Brady Anderson 15 $17 $23 2
Ivan Rodriguez 21 $16 $23 1
Juan Samuel 16 $16 $23 3
Von Hayes 12 $20 $22 3
Kevin McReynolds 12 $19 $22 1
Ellis Burks 18 $19 $22 1
Cecil Fielder 13 $18 $22 2
Howard Johnson 14 $17 $22 3
Tino Martinez 16 $17 $22 1
Gary Gaetti 19 $17 $22 1

Finally, these players had solid careers but were never able to crack the Top 15 in any season, not even once:

PLAYER #Yrs Avg$ Peak$ Top15
Bernie Williams 16 $21 $27 0
Kent Hrbek 14 $21 $26 0
Brett Butler 17 $20 $26 0
Paul O’Neill 16 $20 $25 0
Chili Davis 19 $20 $24 0
Wade Boggs 18 $19 $24 0
Harold Baines 22 $19 $24 0
Andy Van Slyke 13 $20 $23 0
Carney Lansford 13 $20 $23 0
Lou Whitaker 16 $20 $23 0
Steve Finley 19 $18 $23 0
Scott Rolen 17 $17 $23 0
Devon White 17 $17 $23 0
Keith Hernandez 11 $20 $22 0
Jack Clark 13 $20 $22 0
David Justice 14 $19 $22 0
Danny Tartabull 13 $18 $22 0
Adam Dunn 14 $18 $22 0
Wally Joyner 16 $17 $22 0
Garret Anderson 17 $17 $22 0
Greg Vaughn 15 $17 $22 0
Tom Brunansky 14 $17 $21 0
Gary Carter 13 $17 $21 0
John Olerud 17 $16 $21 0
Lance Parrish 16 $15 $21 0

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