[DrMitchJ]

In no particular order of preference, but I strongly feel these players should be in the HOF (and I know I'm missing some):

1 - Roger Maris
2 - Jim Kaat
3 - Tony Oliva
4 - Fred McGriff
5 - Don Mattingly
6 - Pete Rose

I know I'm forgetting some but these are just off the top of my head.

No arguments from me. All great choices and mostly more worthy than some that have their plaques already in the Hall. (Kaat is just shy of 300 wins, right?)

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I agree with the McGriff argument.

Gil Hodges always comes to mind for me, an 8 time all-star who was in the middle of all of those great Brooklyn teams. He won three gold gloves at the end of his career and would probably have won a lot more had the award existed earlier. If I'm not mistaken at the time of his retirement he had more homeruns than any other right handed National League batter in history. 30 or more homeruns 6 times, 100 or more rbi's 7 times and managed one of the most historic world series teams in the 69 Mets. He statistically falls short of a lot of modern players but still a good candidate in my opinion.

I vote no on Pete Rose. It's not like he's been removed from history or the record books. Baseball isn't asking him to return the fortune he accumulated by playing baseball. He's enjoyed plenty of fame and will always be considered one of the best to ever play the game. No one is denying him that. When your actions call into question the integrity of the entire league and you basically give baseball the middle finger for your own personal gain you don't deserve to be honored as one of the greatest contributors to the sport. He knew what he was doing and MLB called his bluff.

Great thread Doc!

Thanks Jason (after 5000+ posts, it's about to happen eventually )

Valid points about Rose, but after seeing him during the post season, I just fell in love with the guy. He's just a big, goofy baseball fan with a gambling addiction. We were able to forgive and forget worse things ... I can honestly say, he never played without giving 110% ... I want to see his induction speech. It'll will probably be unique.

I really like your Gil Hodges plea. He was such a pivotal player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Had he lived longer, I'm sure he'd have at least made it into the Hall as a Manager. He died relatively young ... Too young to put up Tony LaRussa / Joe Torre numbers!