When the once-niche statistic of WAR (Wins Above Replacement) slowly became the most important way teams and fans evaluated players over the course of this century, it also revealed players who were overlooked in their heydays, especially by Hall of Fame voters.
While some of the best players in baseball history, like Alex Rodriguez, remain outside of Cooperstown due to their association with the sport’s steroid scandal (or because of gambling, like Pete Rose), these ten players were clean — and deserve their Cooperstown spots.
Curt Schilling (79.5 WAR)
Perhaps the only player in baseball history whose retirement exploits seem to have cost him his place in the Hall of Fame, hurler Curt Schilling didn’t become a full-time starting pitcher until age 25. Nevertheless, Schilling racked up 216 career wins, over 3,000 strikeouts and was an absolute beast in the postseason, starring for three world championship-winning teams (including the 2004 Boston Red Sox club that broke the “Curse of the Bambino”) and posting a 2.23 ERA in 19 playoff starts. Schilling’s “inflammatory, intolerant and conspiratorial statements” unfortunately overshadowed his playing career and his status as a “top-20 or top-30 pitcher of all time,” said Ben Lindbergh at The Ringer.
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Lou Whitaker (75.1 WAR)
On-Base Percentage (OBP) was one of the statistics that was traditionally undervalued, until Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane (of “Moneyball” fame) led a perception revolution. Second baseman “Sweet Lou” Whitaker, who played his whole career with the Detroit Tigers, is someone whose value would have had a better chance of being elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America if OBP had been properly appreciated.
Whitaker slowed down as he aged, but he got even better at getting on base, putting up a 6.8 WAR season in 1991 at age 34 on the strength of a .391 OBP. While he may never have been the best player in the league, “he was always really good, always played at an All-Star level, and when you play 15 years at an All-Star level you are a Hall of Famer in my view,” said Joe Posnanski at The Athletic.
Bobby Grich (71.1 WAR)
Grich, a second baseman, spent most of his career with the California (now Los Angeles) Angels, who made only three postseason appearances in his ten years there. But while his counting stats look like they fall short, including just 1,833 hits and 1,033 runs, he was a gifted defender who won four gold gloves and made enormous contributions to his teams’ run prevention efforts.
His WAR totals put him ahead of the best second basemen of the subsequent era, including Craig Biggio and Ryne Sandberg, both players who are in the Hall. Grich was “one of the most underrated players of the last 40 years,” said Bruce Markusen at The Hardball Times.
Rick Reuschel (69.5 WAR)
Like Kevin Brown, the burly Reuschel was largely unappreciated during his time. A pitcher who lacked overpowering velocity and extended his career by refining pinpoint precision, Reuschel pitched in parts of 19 seasons for the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees and was often “treated as a curiosity rather than a talent,” said Tim Castelli at The Society For American Baseball Research.
That was before the analytic revolution of the early 2000s prompted a “reevaluation of Reuschel’s career and his place in baseball history.” A reserved person who didn’t enjoy spending time with the press, he won 214 games pitching for mostly terrible teams and garnered less than 1% of the vote in his one year on the Hall of Fame ballot.
Kenny Lofton (68.4 WAR)
A slick-fielding, base-stealing center-fielder, Lofton holds the distinction of being the player with the most postseason at bats in baseball history without playing on a championship winner. Mostly a leadoff hitter, Lofton posted OBPs over .400 in four separate full seasons, and served as the offensive sparkplug for the powerhouse Cleveland Indians teams of the 1990s.
Even past his peak, though, Lofton was a valuable player and a deserved fan favorite who ranks seventh in stolen bases among players in the post-WWII era. He was “overshadowed since he played in the steroid era” and remains “one of the most egregious exemptions from the Hall of Fame,” said Drew Thirion at Deadspin.
Kevin Brown (67.8 WAR)
Possibly the most notable instance of a player falling off the ballot after a single year, pitcher Kevin Brown seemingly had it all — several top five Cy Young Award finishes, 211 career wins, a championship with the 1997 Florida Marlins and two years leading the league in WAR for pitchers.
He’s a surefire Hall of Famer, and it’s “not unreasonable to argue that he’s one of the 50 greatest pitchers of all-time,” said Dayn Perry at Fangraphs. Brown being generally regarded as unfriendly by reporters (who are tasked with the Hall of Fame voting for the Baseball Writers Association of America) probably did not help his case.
Dwight Evans (67.2 WAR)
Evans spent all but his final season with the then-luckless Boston Red Sox, racking up 385 home runs, 2,446 hits and nearly 1,500 runs scored and finishing his career with an elite .370 OBP. He also has a good case as the rightful winner of the 1981 American League MVP Award and led all of baseball in extra-base hits during the 1980s.
In addition to his offensive exploits and status as one of the most feared hitters of the era, he starred on defense, winning eight Gold Glove Awards. Evans “wasn’t just a good outfielder, he was great, playing in a Fenway Park right field that might have been the toughest in the sport,” said Peter Gammons at The Athletic.
Luis Tiant (66.1 WAR)
The Cuba-born Tiant had his best season in 1968, a year that was so bad for offense that it prompted baseball to lower the height of pitching mounds. His struggle with Cooperstown voting is often attributed to him sharing the limelight with too many slam-dunk Hall of Fame pitchers of his era, like Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver. The “winningest Cuban-born pitcher in major league history” was also a beloved, “larger-than-life character, so inseparable from his trademark cigars that he chomped them even in postgame showers,” said Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs.
Tommy John (61.9 WAR)
John won 288 games and has the seventh highest WAR total of any pitcher not in the Hall. But John’s name is also indelibly associated with the modern sport.
In 1974, John was in the midst of his 12th season when he blew out his pitching elbow and elected to undergo the then-experimental ligament-replacement surgery that still bears his name. After missing the 1975 season, John returned to play 14 more seasons, winning 20 games three times — all after the surgery. This surgical miracle’s place in the game’s lore alone should make him a Hall of Famer. “Tommy John isn’t famous because of the surgery that bears his name. Instead, the surgery is famous because of John’s performance afterward,” said Mark Bennett at Yahoo Sports.
