HOF 2011: The Guys You Can't Even Vote For

By Bill

Here's something I'd never really thought about before this year.

We know, right, that the only real qualification for appearing on the MLB Hall of Fame ballot are that you (a) played in at least ten seasons, and (b) haven't played in at least the last five seasons.  But of course (and here's the part I hadn't given any thought to), that doesn't mean that every player who played a full decade and retired five years ago gets on the ballot.  Ten years is a long time in professional sports, but not that long. Every year, a bunch of guys retire who managed to play in parts of ten or more seasons; if they just slapped everybody up there, the ballot would be impossibly crowded and a voter's eye might skip right over a totally obvious first ballot candidate (like, say, Jeff Bagwell).

So they have what's called (by Wikipedia, anyway) a screening committee, which decides which names go on and which stay off.  And, well, I get that, but it's also sad.  If you've managed to play at the highest level for (at least parts of) at least ten seasons, you ought to be recognized somehow.

So let's do it here. Here, in alphabetical order, is what I believe to be every player (41 of them, give or take) who this year would be eligible for the ballot, but who is not on the ballot (for just the stats, see the hitters here and the pitchers here, though there are a few on those lists whose careers spanned ten-plus years but who didn't actually play in each of ten seasons), and something in honor of the memory of each (disclaimer: there are a ton of journeyman middle relievers and backup catchers below, but, I think, some really interesting guys too):