He also won five Gold Gloves, had two top-three MVP finishes and ended his career with 200 home runs, when that meant something as a catcher. He made eight straight All-Star games and received MVP votes in each of those years. From 1984 to 1989 "Donnie Baseball" was the most prolific hitter in baseball. He received more votes than six eventual Hall of Famers. This is the first story in a three-part series about . He finished fourth in the MVP voting in 1977 and 1978 and received MVP votes in five other seasons. Hes never been close to being considered a bona fide Hall of Fame candidate, though. His 11 Gold Gloves are more than any first basemen in MLBhistory. He finished with just 275 career homers and a .260 batting average. He ended with 2,712 hits, 1,493 RBI and a .290 average. With another 2-3 seasons, he wouldve reached the magic 3,000 number that wouldve almost assuredly ensured his induction. Reynolds made five All-Star games and had two top-three MVP finishes. Travis played in just 226 games after returning from the war, though, batting just .241 over that time. He made seven All-Star games during his career. He finished in the top five in Cy Young voting three times, made seven All-Star games and received MVP votes in four seasons. Randolph made the All-Star game as a second baseman for the Yankees five times during his careerno small feat while playing in the same league as Lou Whitaker, Frank White and Bobby Grich. He had a WHIP under 1.200 an incredible 12 times during his career. Mullane won 30 games five times. O'Doul is in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and is credited with helping to popularize the sport in Japan in the 1930s. He made a fool of himself in front of Congress, was named in the Mitchell Report and Jose Canseco's book Juiced, and was implicated in Jason Grimsley's affidavit about amphetamine use in the major leagues. Not only was he able to go far to his left and right, but he charged the bunt as well as anyone and had range back into foul territory. Whitaker was a solid all-around player for the Tigers, but never really excelled in any one area on an elite level. He finished first or second in fielding percentage for 13 of his 19 major league seasons. He ranks higher than pitchers like Catfish Hunter, Don Drysdale and Jim Bunning in that category. He hit 136 homers over his final five seasons after hitting just 159 the previous 10 seasons. The star of the 1931 World Series, Martin was a four-time All-Star and twice was a top-10 MVP player. He was the Cy Young award runner-up twice and had two other top-eight finishes. Hes basically a forgotten star at this point. Marty Dobrow | Special to MassLive. career 300 hitters not in hall of fame. Baseball statistics List of lifetime MLB hit leaders through history List of Major League Baseball players with 4,000 Total bases List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles List of Major League . Hodges' case for the Hall of Fame is interesting because he is a player whose value went beyond the numbers he put up. Joe Morgan, Frankie Frisch, Eddie Collins, Roberto Alomar and Craig Biggio have led the way. When he was good, he was excellent, but in the end Tiant was too inconsistent to merit serious Hall of Fame consideration. Despite his 119-121 record, Vander Meer consistently received over 20 percent of the votes in Hall of Fame balloting throughout hiseligibility. Schuerholz also scored . Reynolds got a late start to his MLB career and pitched in only 12 full seasons. . No advertising or spamming is permitted. He batted over .300 seven times and was known for having fantastic range at shortstop. Bartell didn't have the hitting prowess of Cobb, but he did have a fine career nevertheless. He finished with 254 career wins, finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times and won 20 games three times. He has just two years left on the ballot but figures to have a tough time cracking through against stiff competition the next two seasons. Travis was a popular shortstop and third baseman for the Washington Senators who missed four seasons of action when he was shipped off to fight in World War II just as he was reaching the prime of his career. Richardson played just 12 years in the major leagues, appearing in the World Series in seven of them. Bonds wouldve reached the 3,000 hit mark had a club offered him a contract for the 2008 season or if he hadnt walked a MLB-record 2,558 times. Ichiro is only renting space on this list. Smith had a long, productive career and while he was never great, he was often very good. Sain received support for the Hall of Fame in 1975 when he received 123 votes in his final year on the ballot. He led the American League in at-bats seven times and took advantage to pile up over 2,700 hits only 37 of which were home runs. Miguel Cabrera leads a group comfortably over .300 That being said, here are the top 100 eligible players not in the MLB Hall of Fame. The three-time All-Star went 217-191 for his career. However, once Hershiser reached the age of 30, health issues set in and curtailed what could have been a Hall of Fame career. Bold denotes active player Stats through end of the 2008 season. Out of all eligible players, only Vada Pinson and Harold Baines have had more and not been voted into the Hall of Fame. Sign up for the List Wire newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. His 385 career home runs are the 10th-highest total for any American League right-handed batter. Not for me. In fact, his highest single-season average was just .267, and he once hit .159 in nearly 500 plate appearances. Walker was a phenomenal all-around player, and for a five-year period during the peak of the steroid era, Walker had some of the best seasons the game had seen. Almost every eligible candidate who had a career .300 batting average, 2,500 hits and 300 home runs has been enshrined. Like Dale Murphy, he consistently gets dinged for having too short of a peak. Good ole Donnie Baseball Don Mattingly hit .307 and is not in the Hall of Fame. Lofton was a 6-time all-star and a 4-time gold glove award winner who finished his career with nearly 2500 hits, over 1500 runs scored and 622 stolen bases. Still, he finished his career with a .303 average and six All-Star games. He won the batting title in 1913 and 1914 while also displaying average power and speed and playing excellent defense. Hall of Fame Voting: Lou Whitaker : in his first year of eligibility in 2001 received a mind-boggling 2.9% vote, falling short of the minimum 5% vote, thus eliminating him from the ballot. He finished with a career record of 193-121 but had an ERA of 4.04. Despite being just a part-time player over his final five seasons, Staub amassed 2,716 career hits, falling 184 short of 3,000 and a probable place in Cooperstown. With Ron Santo's election to the Hall of Fame, many now feel that Boyer is the best third baseman not enshrined in Cooperstown. Lolich won three games in the series, out-dueling Bob Gibson during his signature season in Game 7 to win the series for the Tigers. When the Cubs legend retired in 1947, he was arguably the best National League third baseman outside of Pie Traynor. Claim to fame: One of the first longtime designated hitters to build some support for Cooperstown, Baines hit .289 lifetime with 2,866 hits and 384 home runs. Parker was not only a feared hitter who won two batting titles, but he was also one of the top defensive outfielders in the game. Shocker was a workhorse for the Browns and Yankees from 1916 to 1928. He collected 3,166 career hits, which included 636 doubles and 477 home runs. Top 3 Seaons. Batting average: .440, Hugh Duffy, 1894 . He finished with 283 wins, the second-highest total of any modern pitcher not elected to the Hall of Fame who is eligible. Ryan racked up over 2,500 hits playing mostly for the Chicago Colts as the 19th century came to a close. At the time of his retirement, only Harmon Killebrew and Jimmie Foxx had more home runs in the American League by a right-handed hitter. His .688 winning percentage ranks fifth all time. Beltre put up amazing numbers before retiring after the 2018 season. Sain was robbed of three prime years when he served in World War II, contributing to a short peak as a star pitcher. Root's best year came in 1927 when he led the NL with 27 wins. During his time with the White Sox, Minoso was a seven-time All-Star who finished fourth in the MVP voting on four different occasions. From age 26 to 28, DiMaggio served during World War II, losing three peak seasons serving overseas as many players of his era did. Simmons was an eight-time All-Star despite playing his career in the National League alongside Carter and Johnny Bench. He also was one of the first power-hitting leadoff hitters, setting a MLB record with 35 career leadoff homers, a record that has since been broken. He was the 1972 MVP and a seven-time All-Star. He won seven Gold Gloves behind the plate and led the league in games played at catcher and assists as a catcher six times each. Guidry turned in one of the great pitching seasons of all time when he went 25-3 in 1978 with a 1.78 ERA. However, as we'll see, he was an underrated performer as an offensive player. Belle may have been a jerk and got caught with a corked bat, but the fact that he had just two meek representations on the Hall of Fame ballot before being dropped is a crime. He won eight Gold Gloves and finished his career with a .313 average and 383 home runs. Pujols will obviously make the Hall of Fame one day, but right now the biggest question is if he reached the top 10 for most hits ever. While his career .263 average is not too impressive, the .394 OBP and .588 slugging percentage more than make up for it, especially when we add his 584 career homers. Gonzalez was suspected of steroid abuse and was named in Jose Canseco's book Juiced. He won three batting titles, led the AL in hits five times and had two runner-up finishes in MVP voting. He was the 1978 NL MVP, won two World Series titles and received MVP votes in nine seasons, finishing in the top five of the voting five times. Buffinton authored one of the most incomprehensible statistical seasons in baseball history in 1884. But it also just underscored the difficulty of racking up big hit totals, particularly in the age of the three true outcomes (homer, strikeout, walk). He consistently received between 25 to 30 percent of the votes on the Hall of Fame ballot, peaking in 1988 when he finished sixth with 39.3 percent. He was also the premier first baseman in his league (the National League) while he was playing. It was the same year that Old Hoss Radbourn won 59 games. Yet while Rice and Dawson were elected to the Hall of Fame, Parker only received 24.5 percent of the vote in his second year on the ballot and went down from there. career 300 hitters not in hall of fame . He also didn't thrive in the postseason, going 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA in four games. a . He batted .300 in six seasons between 1971 and 1980 and was a power threat for a catcher, topping 20 home runs six times as well. 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