The Hall of Fame. Six pitchers, mostly relievers, have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, and Trevor Hoffman were the first to be elected in 1985, followed by Hoyt Wilhelm. Eckersley was the first closer inducted during the one-inning save era. All six now stand together on the Frick Museum's Wall of Honor.
In addition to the six pitchers, two umpires and a player agent also received votes this year. Joe DiMaggio and Paul Waner were selected on their first ballots. Bill Klem was chosen on his second ballot after not receiving any votes in 1986. Klem worked more than 2,000 games over 22 seasons (1946-67), finishing with a career batting average of.272. His 1,944 hits include five seasons with 100 or more hits. Klem managed only 87 runs scored but he had four years when he drove in 100 or more runs.
Fred Clarke was selected on his third ballot after appearing on the BBWAA voting list for the first time this year. He worked more than 1,500 games over 22 seasons (1937-58), finishing with a career batting average of.275. Fred Clarke has the most seasons with 200 or more hits (12). He also had three years with 300 or more hits.
Harry Davis was picked up by the writers this year on his first try at election.
Waite Hoyt is the only member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame who played in both the American League and the National League before reaching the voting age. Do you know who the switch-hitter with the highest lifetime batting average in the National Baseball Hall of Fame is? Frankie Frisch has a.316 lifetime batting average. He was a great hitter for all five of the years he was in the Major Leagues.
The first two years of his career were spent with the New York Highlanders, and from then on he played for every team he's listed on here. His best season was 1936 when he led the league with a.443 average. That same year he hit over.400 six times and had more than 100 RBI seven times. In 1957, his last season, he finished with a.300 average.
During World War II, he served in the military police at Fort Riley. When he returned to baseball, he managed the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, and Detroit Tigers between 1949 and 1959. Then in 1964, the National Baseball Hall of Fame voted him in as a player. He died at the age of 93 in 2004.
So, among switch-hitters, Waite Hoyt has the highest career batting average. From 1903 to 1960, there were only three other players who had more hits as a left-handed batter than as a right-handed batter: Joe DiMaggio, Paul Waner, and Bob Lemon.
Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Dennis Eckersly, Eric Gagne, and Trevor Hoffman are some of the finest closers of all time. All of these pitchers, as well as many others, were critical to their teams' success. They all had different styles that usually put them in a lot of trouble early in games but then finished off their opponents once they got out of trouble.
Each pitcher has his/her own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Eckersley was very slow by pitch-tracking data since he only pitched half of his innings inside the strike zone! However, everyone knows about his good feelings so this probably didn't affect his performance much. On the other hand, Fingers was very aggressive - he used up a lot of pitches early in games which often led to him being pulled early from contests.
Some pitchers have been known to get into trouble early in games then finish off their opponents later on. Examples include Greg Maddux, Tom Cheney, and John Franco. Others prefer to stay in close games until the end, such as David Condon or Kameron Loe. Still others may appear to lose control of a game early on but then recover later on; examples include Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, and Brandon Morrow.
In conclusion, there are many great pitchers who have been famous for their closings abilities.
Roger Clemens is the only pitcher with 300 or more victories who has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Officially, baseball statistics are only kept for the National League and the American League. However, since there was no official league championship series until 1957 in the American League and 1966 in the National League, all regular season awards (including the MVP) are given equal weight in each league.
Clemens' career ERA of 2.54 is the lowest among active pitchers not in the Hall of Fame. He is also first in wins with 216 and strikeouts with 7,039. Currently third on the all-time list behind Greg Maddux and Tom Seaver, Clemens could pass both of them if he continues to pitch well into his forties like other greats of the past have done.
Besides Clemens, two other pitchers have won 300 games but are not in the Hall of Fame: Warren Spahn and Randy Johnson. Spahn died at the age of 70 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years. Johnson is one of only three lefties not in the Hall of Fame along with Jim Bunning and John Smoltz.
Bunning and Smoltz had very good careers, winning 300 games each.
The select, the exceptional, the inducted members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown are listed here, along with information about their Hall of Fame Plaque. Please keep in mind that some members wore more than one number and played for more than one team during their careers.
A total of 544 players have been enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Here is a list of them, with their years in baseball and the various teams they played for:
Babe Ruth - New York Yankees - 1955
Lou Gehrig - New York Yankees - 1939
Robin Roberts - Chicago White Sox - 1970
Joe DiMaggio - New York Yankees - 1946
Jimmie Foxx - Philadelphia Phillies - 1947
George S. Kelly - Cincinnati Reds - 1969
Sam Thompson - St. Louis Browns - 1938
Ozzie Virgil - Los Angeles Dodgers - 1972
Willie Mays - San Francisco Giants - 1973
Roberto Clemente - Pittsburgh Pirates - 1971
Billy Williams - Chicago Cubs - 1989
Broderick Tyler - Washington Senators - 1968
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