Hall of Stats

Graham Womack of Baseball Past and Present is running his fifth annual Hall of Fame project. This time, it has a new home—The Sporting News. All readers are invited to vote for the top 25 players outside of the Hall of Fame. The ballot is linked from the article.

This is the first year where Graham has asked us to vote for 25 rather than 50 players. This made it a lot more difficult, since I can easily come up with at least 50 players I’d induct in a heartbeat. 25 requires a lot more thought—and also requires me to cut many players I feel are quite Hall-worthy.

But when Graham asks me to vote on something, I vote on it. Here are my choices (in alphabetical order):

1. 1B Dick Allen (116)
2. 1B Jeff Bagwell (165)
3. 2B Ross Barnes (83)
4. LF Barry Bonds (364)
5. 3B Ken Boyer (117)
6. P Kevin Brown (137)
7. P Roger Clemens (292)
8. SS Bill Dahlen (145)
9. P Wes Ferrell (110)
10. SS Jack Glasscock (132)
11. 2B Bobby Grich (141)
12. CF Ken Griffey Jr. (174)
13. LF Shoeless Joe Jackson (129)
14. CF Kenny Lofton (134)
15. DH Edgar Martinez (136)
16. LF Minnie Miñoso (111)
17. P Mike Mussina (164)
18. C Mike Piazza (148)
19. LF Tim Raines (129)
20. P Rick Reuschel (136)
21. LF Pete Rose (150)
22. P Curt Schilling (172)
23. SS Alan Trammell (144)
24. RF Larry Walker (152)
25. 2B Lou Whitaker (145)

There were some very difficult omissions. Here are six that gave me fits:

• P David Cone (128)
• RF Dwight Evans (125)
• 1B Mark McGwire (125)
• 3B Graig Nettles (127)
• P Urban Shocker (109)
• C Ted Simmons (113)

If you ask me for a list tomorrow, my votes may change. This was very difficult. Who did you vote for? Let me know in the comments.