This material is adapted from the book, BASEBALL’S BEST: The TRUE Hall of Famers by Michael Hoban, Ph.D. (booklocker.com, June 2007).

Appendix A

The 20^th Century Position Players with Hall of Fame Numbers

All numbers include the 2006 season.

Bold = Hall of Famer

Italic = Active Player in 2006

CWS = Career Win Shares

CV = Core Value (sum of win shares for 10 best seasons)

NEWS = Career Value (Non-traditional Evaluative Win Shares)

= CV + .25(CWS – CV)

There are a total of ninety-one (91) position players who have Hall of Fame numbers according to the NEWS HOF Monitor. These players are divided into two groups.

Group 1 - NEWS score of 280 or better = 82 players

CWS CV NEWS

1. Babe Ruth RF 756 460 534

2. Ty Cobb CF 722 419 495

3. Barry Bonds LF 686 427 492

4. Honus Wagner SS 655 422 480

5. Willie Mays CF 642 389 452

6. Tris Speaker CF 630 388 449

7. Mickey Mantle CF 565 399 441

8. Stan Musial LF 604 378 435

9. Ted Williams LF 555 394 434

10. Hank Aaron RF 643 356 428

11. Eddie Collins 2B 574 376 426

12. Rogers Hornsby 2B 502 381 411

13. Lou Gehrig 1B 489 384 410

14. Joe Morgan 2B 512 341 384

15. Mel Ott RF 528 335 383

16. Nap Lajoie 2B 496 334 375

17. Mike Schmidt 3B 467 338 370

18. Frank Robinson RF 519 316 367

19. Pete Rose LF 547 307 367

20. Rickey Henderson LF 535 308 365

21. Eddie Mathews 3B 450 333 362

22. Jimmie Foxx 1B 435 325 353

23. Joe DiMaggio CF 387 325 341

24. Sam Crawford RF 446 303 339

25. Carl Yastrzemski LF 488 286 337

26. Paul Waner RF 423 304 334

27. Reggie Jackson RF 444 296 333

28. George Brett 3B 432 296 330

29. Gary Sheffield LF 402 305 329

30. Craig Biggio 2B 422 294 326

31. Alex Rodriguez SS 340 317 323

32. Frank Thomas 1B 383 301 322

33. Arky Vaughan SS 356 308 320

34. Wade Boggs 3B 394 291 317

35. Willie McCovey 1B 408 285 316

36. Dick Allen 1B 342 304 314

37. Eddie Murray 1B 437 273 314

38. Cal Ripken Jr SS 427 276 314

39. Robin Yount SS 423 278 314

40. Jeff Bagwell 1B 388 287 312

41. Al Kaline RF 443 268 312

42. Johnny Mize 1B 339 296 307

43. Charlie Gehringer 2B 383 280 306

44. Paul Molitor DH 414 270 306

45. Fred Clarke LF 400 273 305

46. Duke Snider CF 352 289 305

47. Tim Raines LF 390 275 304

48. Harmon Killebrew 1B 374 279 303

49. Billy Williams LF 374 279 303

50. Roberto Alomar 2B 375 278 302

51. Luke Appling SS 378 275 301

52. Yogi Berra C 375 276 301

53. Al Simmons LF 375 276 301

54. Ken Griffey Jr CF 367 278 300

55. Mark McGwire 1B 342 283 298

56. Dave Winfield RF 415 259 298

57. Johnny Bench C 356 277 297

58. Roberto Clemente RF 377 269 296

59. Manny Ramirez LF 334 282 295

60. Ryne Sandberg 2B 346 278 295

61. Tony Gwynn RF 398 269 294

62. Sherry Magee LF 354 272 293

63. Zack Wheat LF 380 264 293

64. George Davis SS 398 255 291

65. Joe Jackson LF 294 290 291

66. Joe Cronin SS 333 275 290

67. Rafael Palmeiro 1B 387 257 290

68. Willie Stargell RF 370 263 290

69. Rod Carew 2B 384 257 289

70. Harry Heilmann RF 356 267 289

71. Ron Santo 3B 324 275 287

72. Bill Dahlen SS 394 250 286

73. Goose Goslin LF 355 263 286

74. Frank Baker 3B 301 280 285

75. Lou Brock LF 348 264 285

76. Will Clark 1B 331 269 285

77. Mike Piazza C 320 273 285

78. Frankie Frisch 2B 366 256 284

79. Elmer Flick RF 291 280 283

80. Gary Carter C 337 263 282

81. Darrell Evans 3B 363 253 281

82. Barry Larkin SS 347 258 280

Group 2 - A Short and Great Career (NEWS score of 255 with less than 1800 games played) = Nine Players (all in the Hall of Fame)

Games CWS CV NEWS

Earl Averill 1668 CF 280 268 271

Hank Greenberg 1394 1B 267 262 263

Lou Boudreau 1646 SS 277 255 261

Bill Terry 1721 1B 278 255 261

Larry Doby 1533 CF 268 257 260

Jackie Robinson 1382 2B 257 257 257

Mickey Cochrane 1482 C 275 250 256

Kirby Puckett 1783 CF 281 247 256

Bill Dickey 1789 C 314 235 255

Sixty-eight (68) of these ninety-one (91) players are in the Hall of Fame (bold print).

Thirty-seven (37) or 41% of these outstanding players played the bulk of their careers during the first half of the century (1901-1950). Fifty-four (54) or 59% played during the second half (1951-2006).

Eight (8) were still active in 2006 – Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Craig Biggio, Alex Rodriguez, Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey Jr., Manny Ramirez and Mike Piazza.

Seven (7) are retired and still eligible to be elected by the BBWAA – Rickey Henderson, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Roberto Alomar, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Barry Larkin.

Six (6) can be elected only by the Veteran’s Committee – Dick Allen, Sherry Magee, Ron Santo, Bill Dahlen, Will Clark and Darrell Evans.

Two (2) are banned from consideration for the Hall - Pete Rose and Joe Jackson.

The Breakdown by Position of the True Hall of Famers

First Base - 14

Second Base - 11

Third Base - 7

Shortstop - 11

Left Field - 17

Center Field - 10

Right Field - 14

Catcher - 6

Designated - 1

Hitter

Aside from the designated hitter, third base and catcher appear to be the positions with the fewest true Hall of Famers.

Michael Hoban, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus (mathematics) of the City University of New York. Professor Hoban has been a baseball fan for over 60 years and a serious baseball analyst for the past ten years (he is a member of SABR - Society for American Baseball Research). He has previously written two books devoted to the task of ranking players.

1. Baseball’s Complete Players (McFarland: 2000) was an attempt to put the numbers together (both offensive and defensive) to see who were baseball’s best all-around players at each position.

2. Fielder’s Choice: Baseball’s Best Shortstops (Booklocker: 2003) was an attempt to rank the shortstops by defensive skills and then by overall excellence.

Also Read:

Eric Gartman (baseball business) - Rating the Top Baseball Players of all Time: The Extrapolation Method (updated to include 2006 season)

Bruce Baskin (Latin Baseball) - Maestros of Mexico: Hector Espino and others

Craig Tomarkin (the Guru) - Baseball's Thrity Greatest Foreign Players (who never played in the MLB)

The Case for Sadaharu Oh and the Hall of Fame

John B. Holway (esteemed and widely published Negro Leagues expert) - My Hall of Fame Ballot

Japanese in Cooperstown?