4 Players Who Should Be in Baseball's Hall of Fame

It is the ultimate culmination of any baseball player's career, hearing that they will be entering the Hall of Fame. Then there are some players that wait by the phone and never hear it ring. Here are four players who need to be called by Cooperstown.

Joe Jackson: Jackson's entry into the Hall of Fame has never been about numbers. Instead it is that nasty little lifetime ban that was handed down in 1920 for being a part of throwing the 1919 World Series. Here are the numbers anyway a .356 career batting average, 168 triples in 13 seasons, and four times finishing in the top ten in Most Valuable Player Award voting. It all comes down to whether you believe a man that hit .375 in the World Series in question was throwing the game. I personally believe that Jackson wasn't part of the conspiracy and was just chewed up by some who were overzealous in their efforts to clean up the game.

Lee Smith: Smith was one of the most feared pitchers in his day, coming in to close out games for 18 seasons with his trademark glare. Smith racked up 478 saves and averaged nearly a a strikeout per inning pitched for his career. One of the drawbacks for Smith is that he pitched for eight different teams. If he had spent most of his career with one team he probably would have already be inducted.

Ron Santo: Playing 15 seasons in Chicago, 14 seasons with the Cubs and 1 with the White Sox, Santo left the game known as one of the best all around third basemen the sport has ever seen. He retired in 1974 as a nine time all star. Santo had a decent .277 career batting average, but his on base percentage is more impressive at .362. His power numbers are decent with 342 career home runs and 1,331 runs batted in. His offensive numbers compare quite well to Brooks Robinson, who is in the hall. Now Robinson was better with the glove, but not that much better.

Roberto Alomar: There is just one reason why Roberto Alomar was not elected to Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility, and that is he spit on an umpire back in 1996. When it happened I thought is was disgusting and a complete lack of respect, but time moved on and so did Alomar and the umpire he spat upon, John Hirschbeck. The only ones who didn't move on were the voters for the Hall of fame. What other reason could there be for denying a career.300 hitter, who was known as a great defender, and had speed as well as some power. He was a 12 time all star and finished in the top five in MVP voting five times. There is no other reason and to me the voters are just being petty. The incident was indeed nasty, but there is no need to keep punishing the man over a decade later.

Sources:

All stats from baseball-reference.com

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