Arthur “Candy” Cummings is usually cited as one of the worst choices for the Hall, voted in solely on the legend that he invented the curve ball. However, he actually was a pretty good pitcher in the amateur era and in the professional National Association, which was the major league before the National League began. His lifetime record was actually 145-94, not bad for his day. I do not argue that he was a legitimate Hall of Famer, but he was a bit more than your telling. By the way, that good year he had was 1875, NOT 1865. His 35 wins were third in the league, and Dick McBride was a pretty fair player in his day as well. I would argue that the fact that you personally have not heard of someone from the previous century means little to his worthiness for the Hall of Fame.

And how many “great Turkey Stearnes stories” do you know? You must know a few, as Stearnes played his last two seasons (1939 and ‘40) as a teammate of Buck O’Neil.

The truth is that Stearnes was an odd choice for you to use as an example of your “we don’t have enough information” statement.

Stearnes his .345 for his 18-year Negro Leagues career, among the all-time leaders, along with 183 home runs, an impressive amount given the short seasons of the Negro Leagues and also among the all-time leaders (well, there is that one guy, catcher named Gibson); he led the Negro National League four times in HR and once in BA. His 105 lifetime triples is a fairly impressive number by itself; even ignoring the short seasons, it would put him among major league leaders of the period.

And there really aren’t all that many great stories about Turkey Stearnes. He was a shy, taciturn man who rarely spoke on or off the field; he was better known for talking to his bats and himself than to his teammates.

Negro Leagues researchers are continuing to add to the database of what we know about that time, and are working toward a better understanding of how those numbers translate into a major league equivalency. I think your casual dismissal of the statistical base of knowledge of the Negro Leagues does an injustice to that work.

Should be required reading for every HOF voter.

It’s amzing to me just how ingorant most HOF voters are about the actually membership of the HOF.

How is Bowie Kuhn in the HOF and Alan Trammell, Ron Santo, Tim Raines, Lou Whitaker, Bobby Grich, and Bert Blyleven out??

Kuhn’s biggest accomplishment was the introduction of the “SANS-A-Belt” uniform pant.

mays best ever at single position

ruth best ever…..as everyday player AND ten-year-2.28 era pitcher

(Dihigo stats might have challenged in a more perfect world)

Did the fact that the Pirates were generally not very good (“We finished last with you, we can finish last without you” is one of my favorite baseball quotes) have something to do with it? Was it the short career? Was he a bad fielder? Was he perceived as disagreeable before he became a beloved broadcaster? Because, I mean, I can understand maybe not thinking of him as a first-ballot guy (the AL was a better league during Kiner’s career, winning seven World Series in a row from 1947 to 1953, which coincided exactly with Kiner’s prime, so maybe the league lead in HR didn’t carry much weight, though in six of those seasons he led the majors in HR), but… thirteen years?

Also, Stan Coveleski is ranked in Bill James’ abstract, at 58, which I actually doesn’t do justice to Coveleski. He finished with a 127 ERA+ in just over 3000 IP. He also twice led the league in ERA+, and those weren’t even his peak ERA+ seasons. I’d probably bump him up 15 places.

How about creating a great moments category to the hof. many team hof and collegate hof have the category. therefore great hall of fame moments could be offically recognzed without a player being inducted. ie Larsons perfect game …… joe Carters walk of world series winner………kirk gibson ditto ………….buckner blunder………. bobby thompson shot heard around the world………etc.