[dougnash]

Over the past 60 or so years of baseball, there have been a few transition periods where a substantial group of FHOF players retired, started their careers, or both: the early 50s welcomed Mantle, Mays, Aaron and crew; the late 60s and early 70s witnessed their retirement and the ascension of Ryan, Seaver, Jackson, and Schmidt; the 80s had 2 transitions, with the first half bringing in Henderson, Ripken, Boggs, Gwynn, etc, and the 2nd half waving goodbye to the 70s crew and saying hello to Clemens, Bonds, Griffey, Johnson, Maddux, Glavine and others.

The past 5 years saw the retirement of the late 80s and 90s crew, and if you look at the next 5 years of true HOF eligibles it's staggering. We've had (I think) a lack of such a group lately. True, Jeter, and Arod are about to transition out, and Pujols, Cabrera, Fielder, Verlander, and a couple others will step in as the established FHOF crew, but the number of real superstar players is pretty small in comparison to history.

I told you that story so I could finally make my point, which is that we are potentially seeing the next wave of new FHOF players enter the league in the form of Trout, Harper, Stanton, and others. It could be the type of era that lets you tell your future kids/grandkids "I saw so and so when he was just starting out". I'm excited about this possibility and just wanted to share my thoughts and welcome other opinions.

[nyyankeesfan28]

I think you're right.

[ellis2211]

I am always cautious about the "future HOFers" conversations. I suppose it is fun to project, but I guess I tend to be more of a realist when it comes to HOF talk. I bet nobody thought Fred Lynn would only have 1 HOF worthy season after he was 23 years old. The following players had monster HOF worthy stats until they were late 20's or very early 30's. Check out some of their numbers- I remember the HOF chatter about all of them: Albert Belle, Juan Gonzalez, Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, Alfonso Soriano, Dale Murphy, Don Mattingly, Pedro Guerrero, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, and Will Clark. I think regardless of how they finish their career's I will still enjoy telling my kids about the awesomeness of watching Eric Davis, Mattingly, Bo Jackson, and countless others who were fun to watch and talented players who brought HOF level joy to my baseball experience.

[dougnash]

I am always cautious about the "future HOFers" conversations. I suppose it is fun to project, but I guess I tend to be more of a realist when it comes to HOF talk. I bet nobody thought Fred Lynn would only have 1 HOF worthy season after he was 23 years old. The following players had monster HOF worthy stats until they were late 20's or very early 30's. Check out some of their numbers- I remember the HOF chatter about all of them: Albert Belle, Juan Gonzalez, Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, Alfonso Soriano, Dale Murphy, Don Mattingly, Pedro Guerrero, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, and Will Clark. I think regardless of how they finish their career's I will still enjoy telling my kids about the awesomeness of watching Eric Davis, Mattingly, Bo Jackson, and countless others who were fun to watch and talented players who brought HOF level joy to my baseball experience.

I completely agree; my point is more that relative to other eras there has been a lack of star power in baseball lately, and the young players that are showing promise could potentially be the next wave that's been missing.

[zeprock]

I agree with ellis2211. I collect Hall of Famers and have concentrated my collection on them since the mid-80s and have missed the boat on many. It is so hard to tell. I have extensive collections of Belle, Delgado, Gonzalez, Soriano, Murphy, Mattingly, Strawberry, Gooden and Clark as well as many others who appeared to be on track only to get derailed. I've also missed the boat on many others that I didn't think would go to the Hall and have since changed my mind on such as Thome, Biggio, Glavine and Rivera who I didn't think would go earlier in their careers but seem to be headed there now. I have huge collections of many of the steroid guys such as McGwire, Palmeiro, Sosa and Manny who have also had their careers derailed.

The new crop? I am collecting Ryan Howard, Longoria, Pedroia and Verlander and may soon start collecting Cabrera and Posey and I will hit on some and miss on others. It is so hard to tell.

[nyyankeesfan28]

Yeah, I agree with zeprock and ellis2211. I was agreeing with dougnash that we may be seeing a new generation.

[Haze28]

I think there are far more potential HOF'rs in the pitching realm right now than there are in the position players. Guys like Verlander, Price, Strasburg(I know it's still early), Jered Weaver, Matt Cain, Cliff Lee and so on. I know some of these guys will drop off and some won't but I like their potential better than new guys like Harper, Trout, and Stanton.

If Buster Posey can be productive at Catcher for the next 8 years he should be a shoe in.