It is easy to imagine that the greatest players of all time all plied their trade in Major League Baseball. However, several great players never had that opportunity.
Typically, one thinks of Major League Baseball as having the highest level of competition in the world. The greatest of the great come to the majors, with a minuscule percentage of those players being considered Hall of Fame worthy. It is an exclusive fraternity with only a small percentage of the world’s population belonging.
And yet, some of the greatest players in the history of the game never played in the majors. In some cases, it was due to racism, where they were excluded from Major League Baseball due to the color of their skin. In other cases, it was because they played in another country, and were unable to take the trip to the States. Or, in the case of Jim Creighton, Major League Baseball just did not exist in his lifetime.
That should not take away from their accomplishments. Instead, one has to wonder what if they had the chance to be a part of the highest level of play. Would they still have found success? Given their stature amongst the greats of their time and leagues, chances are they would have.
Let us go through the annuls of baseball history, and look back at the ten greatest players to never appear in the majors.