5 Players that Shouldn't Be in the Baseball Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame are where legends of the game are celebrated, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams and many others. I always believed that only the greats of the game should be enshrined, yet I come across players with numbers that just don't equal Hall of Famer, in my mind. Here is a list of five that just should have never of been enshrined.

Eppa Rixey: Rixey was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds from 1912-1933. His career record of 266-251 is not impressive. He had a career earned run average of 3.15, but part of his career was in the dead ball era so even that becomes less impressive. In his 21 seasons he only collected 1,350 strikeouts, so he wasn't dominant by any stretch. In his career he allowed more than a hit per inning. Rixey had a good career, but I just don't know how he got into the hall.

Johnny Evers: The second baseman in the famed Chicago Cubs double play combination of Tinkers to Evers to Chance, Johnny Evers was enshrined in the Hall of fame in 1946. Evers played parts of 18 seasons in the majors yet collected less than 1,700 hits. Evers managed to win the 1914 National League Most Valuable Players Award, with a .279 batting average, 40 runs batted in, and 81 runs scored. He beat out Sherry Magee who had 103 runs batted in with a .314 batting average and, an impressive at the time, 15 home runs. Evers wasn't the greatest fielder, he led N.L. second basemen in errors twice. I think Evers is in the hall because of Franklin Pierce Adams and his poem Baseball's Sad Lexicon. Without that poem Evers is just a decent player on the outside looking in.

Bill Mazeroski: Even though he hit one of baseball's biggest home runs, clinching a Pittsburgh Pirates title in 1960 with a game seven shot, Mazeroski doesn't belong in Cooperstown. Mazeroski's career batting average is just .260 and his on base percentage is a horrible .299. It wasn't like he was a power hitter driving in runs either averaging just 64 runs per season. He spent 17 seasons at second base for the Pirates and was very good defensively, winning eight Gold Glove Awards. Still to me that isn't enough to make him a Hall of Famer.

Phil Rizzuto: Rizzuto played 13 seasons at shortstop for the New York Yankees. In that time he helped the Yankees win 7 championships. While that is impressive he still only averaged 55 runs batted in a season and had just 1,588 career hits. He batted over .300 in just two seasons. He was a good defender, but he never won a Gold Glove. Scooter, as Rizzuto was known, was a nice guy and a popular broadcaster, but he really isn't a Hall of Famer.

Gary Carter: I always thought that Gary Carter was a no-brainer Hall of Famer, but then I looked at the numbers. A .262 career batting average is fair. 2,092 career hits in 19 seasons, again fair. Carter's biggest asset was his smile and good nature with the press. Carter's stats are quite similar to another catcher of the same era, Ted Simmons. When was the last time you heard someone calling for Simmons to be in the Hall of Fame. Carter made the most of playing in New York and snookered Hall of Fame voters into thinking he was worthy.

Sources:

All stats from baseball-reference.com