Baseball has a Hall of Fame to celebrate it’s best players. Unfortunately there are some real stinkers in the group. We recently gave you our list of 10 guys who deserve to be inducted in Cooperstown, so we thought the logical follow up would be to show you the guys who aren’t necessarily worth our celebration. Some guys have facial hair worth celebrating, but if wacky hairdos were worthy of Cooperstown, then a bunch of scumbags from the Eighties would be in already. Here are The 11 Worst Players In The Baseball Hall Of Fame. Where was Jose Canseco to ruin their attempts when we needed him?
11. Rick Ferrell
Elected in 1984, Ferrell’s claim to fame was that he caught the most games in baseball history until Carlton Fisk broke his record in 1988. Also, Keith Olbermann recently said about his Cooperstown selection, “If Rick Ferrell is in, put ‘em all in.” He has pretty unremarkable stats, including only 28 career home runs and 734 RBI in 18 seasons. That’s 40 ribbies a year. What are you doing? We’re guessing the number of people who get their photo taken in front of Ferrell’s plaque every year at Cooperstown is in the zero range. Plus or minus people with the last name Ferrell.
10. Roger Bresnahan
Bresnahan’s claim to fame is that he introduced the shin guard into play for catchers. Also, he wore the first batters helmet. Sweet, he’s a fashionista. Bill James has publicly said he doesn’t think Bresnahan deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He got elected the year after he died of a heart attack (1945). Great career move, but no protective gear for that.
9. George Kelly
There is nothing remarkable about Kelly. Nothing. His Cooperstown plaque hails him as a power hitter, all while only hitting 148 home runs. We don’t even want to write anything about him because he was so mediocre. He was elected in 1973. It was a mistake.
8. Johnny Evers
Evers was part of the “Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance” combination that won the last two World Series ever for the Cubs. But he also weighed under 100 pounds. That led to him only hitting 12 home runs and only getting 538 RBI in his 18-year career. In a distant time before steroids, when the Cubs could win it all, skeletons could also get into the Hall of Fame simply because they were in a famous poem.
7. Phil Rizzuto
Rizzuto hit only 38 home runs and 563 RBIs in his career, while posting an unimpressive .273 average. Rizzuto benefited from playing on a dynasty and announcing for the Yankees for 40 years. Holy cow! He could go in as an announcer but he also had (Holy Cow!) weak hitting. Nobody would have ever heard of Rizzuto had he played on like, the St. Louis Browns. Sorry. Holy cow.
6. Rollie Fingers
Relief pitchers are guys who couldn’t hack it as a starter. Fingers has a losing career record (114-118). Plus, guys like Randy Myers, Jeff Reardon, Lee Smith and John Franco have more saves than him. Don’t get us wrong – he had a sweet mustache. We’re not impressed with much else. It’s the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Rad Mustaches. Now that we think about it, they should totally make one.
5. Goose Gossage
Besides the guys we mentioned in the list of people with more saves than fingers, add Tom Henke, Robb Nen, Rick Aguilera, Todd Jones, Jose Mesa, Roberto Hernandez and John Wettland to the list of guys with more saves than Gossage. They even have an award for relief pitchers he only one won time. You can’t just get into the Hall of Fame for being an mediocre relief pitcher with a cool nickname. And it would be better if he went by Goose Goose, like that dude Bruce Bruce from BET.
4. Bruce Sutter
You can also add Jeff Montgomery and Doug Jones to the people with more saves than Sutter. He has even less than Fingers and Gossage. Sutter doesn’t even have a cool mustache or nickname. What gives? He also has a losing record. And he looked like he was in the Taliban.
3. Joe Tinker
We already mentioned how unimpressed we were with Johnny Evers. Joe Tinker was worse. His career average was .262. Even his complimentary Wikipedia page says, “Tinker was an average hitter… but a speedy runner.” Okay. He twice finished 6th in the N.L. in stolen bases, but that’s the best he ever did. He also lucked out by having his name mentioned in that famous poem. But at least he looked like he weighed more than 100 pounds, unlike Evers.
2. Bill Mazeroski
Mazeroski is known for his defense and his 1960 walk-off home run in the World Series. But that was one game. Maz hit .260 for his career. During his 2001 induction speech, he apologized to everyone who “had to come all the way up here to hear this crap!” Defensive second basemen with .260 averages make us yawn.
1. Ray Schalk
Schalk is another guy hailed for his defense. He has to be. The guy hit .253 for his career. Yuck. Although he did go 1-for-1 in 1928 to post a 1.000 batting average for the season. Schalk only hit 11 home runs in his 18-year career, only collected 594 RBI and never led the league in any offensive category. Did he have damning evidence against the Veterans Committee? Because we have no other idea how this guy got voted in. Ray Schalk has our dubious distinction of Worst Hall of Famer.
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