MLB History: Five Hall of Famers Who Took Unexpected Detours
By Tim Haberin
Hall of Famers are enshrined with one team’s insignia on their caps, but playing for just a single franchise in a career has become rare. These five MLB greats may be more well-known for their time with other clubs, but they each made a surprising stop along the way.
Every professional sport has its iconic players, and more often than not, each of those players is associated with one team in particular. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers. Time has a way of pulling us in strange directions, however, and even star athletes are not immune. Fans know that Montana later suited up for the Kansas City Chiefs, and that MJ came out of retirement (a second time) to play for the Washington Wizards.
In a game as fixated on the notion of “legacy” as baseball, we tend to put players who spend their entire careers with one team on a pedestal. There are plenty of them who fit the bill: Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and many more. With the advent of free agency in 1975, it became increasingly rare for a player to never relocate. Even Hall of Fame inductees these days typically plied their trade for at least a couple teams.
It can be jarring to see a great player who became synonymous with a particular team put on another hat, but it happens. Financial concerns, a desire to keep playing in spite of declining skills and other factors can contribute to an unexpected detour during a player’s journey. As the years pass, it can become easy for all but the most diehard of fans to forget that a former star even played for that seemingly random team.
Even if a player’s tenure with a certain club is brief and appears insignificant in the entire scope of their career, the manner in which they arrived and their time there usually contain a interesting story or two. Let’s take a look back at five Hall of Famers who built their legacies elsewhere but still made an unanticipated stop with another franchise.
Additional Mentions: Yogi Berra – New York Mets (1965), Tom Seaver – Boston Red Sox (1986), Ken Griffey Jr. – Chicago White Sox (2008), Pedro Martinez – Philadelphia Phillies (2009)
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