The two League Championship Series are almost set now. The Brewers and Dodgers both won low-scoring games on Wednesday, and they will face each other in the NLCS, starting on Sunday. The Yankees lost another dispiriting game to Tampa Bay — this one featuring another fan-interference play — and the Rays now wait for the White Sox and Guardians to settle things. Cleveland showed actual signs of life on Wednesday. We’ll see what happens there tonight and, possibly, Saturday.
In the meantime, there’s another bit of baseball news that came across the wires on Wednesday, and it got me thinking about the greatest players who are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame … because of their flaws as human beings.
We write a lot about the Baseball Hall of Fame here, of course. We try to keep it at least a little bit fresh by writing about candidates who don’t get all the attention. Dwight Evans should be in the Hall of Fame, just as an example. Lou Whitaker. I’d love to see Kenny Lofton be reconsidered. And so on.
But there’s a hard reality when you write about the Hall of Fame: There are, I think, a dozen players who are not in the Hall of Fame because of something they did that won’t show up on the backs of their baseball card.*
*I saw on the socials yesterday that NFL Network host (and host of his own outstanding sports radio show) Rich Eisen is getting a Topps Allen and Ginter baseball card in 2026:
And, I mean, I’m happy for Rich — seems like a good guy, good interviewer, all that, been doing this for a long time. But, I mean, listen, Allen, and you too, Ginter — this all is beginning to feel a bit personal. Are you really going to keep spanning the globe to give cards to non-baseball folks to avoid giving one to Mike Schur and me?
Here are the Dirty Dozen:
Barry Bonds. Obviously. By his play, he has an argument as the greatest baseball player ever. But it’s widely presumed he used performance-enhancing drugs. He broke several cherished records which, in the minds of many, besmirched the record books and severed the connection to baseball’s past.
Roger Clemens. By his play, he has an argument as the greatest pitcher ever. But it’s widely presumed he used performance-enhancing drugs. There are also allegations about the personal relationship he had with country singer Mindy McCready beginning when she was 15, allegations Clemens has strongly denied (“Nothing could be further from the truth”).
Pete Rose. He is the all-time hits leader. But he was banned from baseball for gambling on the game, something he strongly denied, then partially admitted, then more fully admitted, though he always insisted that he never bet on his team to lose and never threw a game. Also, when he sued investigator John Dowd for defamation, a woman came forward and stated she and Rose began having sexual relations before she turned 16.
Shoeless Joe Jackson. He was a lifetime .356 hitter — Ty Cobb said he used to watch Shoeless Joe to see what a great hitter really looked like. But he was banned from baseball after he took $5,000 from gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series.
Alex Rodriguez. Three-time MVP who hit 696 home runs in his career and has an argument as the greatest shortstop in baseball history, depending on how you rank Honus Wagner and how you feel about his voluntary move to third base to accommodate Derek Jeter. But he admitted to using PEDs in the early part of his career, then was suspended for a full season after being charged with buying and using PEDs later in his career. A-Rod himself has said he’s made peace with never being elected to the Hall of Fame.
