MLB: The one-and-done All-Star team of Baseball Hall of Fame rejects

One and done: Jorge Posada

The case for Jorge Posada’s enshrinement is only partly about his individual accomplishments, which were significant. His contributions to team success were at least as substantial, and possibly more so.

Posada was a member of the famed Yankee “core four” — Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Bernie Williams being the others — who were regulars on five World Series winners from 1996 through 2009. Across 17 seasons, he played 1,574 games behind the plate, all of them for New York. The list of catchers with more appearances behind the plate for one team is a short and exclusive one: Yadier Molina, Gabby Hartnett, Johnny Bench, Ray Schalk, Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, and Bill Freehan.

He is 16th all-time in putouts by a catcher.

Posada was a career .273 hitter with a lifetime .848 OPS. That’s a big number for a guy who played an up-the-middle defensive position. He hit 275 home runs and topped 1,000 RBI, again solid benchmarks for a defensive-first guy, and totaled 42.7 career WAR.

Jay Jaffe rates his production as just under the Hall standard, which for catchers is a 53.7 career WAR. The Bill James Hall of Fame monitor scores him at 98 with 100 equaling fitness for induction.

Defense may have been what held him back among voters. Baseball-Reference puts Posada at -49 career Defensive Runs Saved.

Whatever the reason, when Posada gained ballot access in the 2017 election, voters were not impressed. Of 442 ballots, he was named on just 17, amounting to only 3.8 percent.

It may not have helped Posada’s candidacy that Ivan Rodriguez won first-ballot election (with 336 votes) that year.

One and done: Paul Konerko

There’s a long list of first ballot rejections at first base. Kent Hrbek, Prince Fielder, Derrek Lee, Carlos Delgado, Mark Grace, and John Olerud all had solid careers but failed to make it to a second year of Hall consideration.

But for pure head-scratchery, Paul Konerko’s resume beats them all.

Across an 18-year career, almost all of it with the Chicago White Sox, Konerko batted .279 with 439 home runs and an .847 OPS. He was a leader of the 2005 World Series winners. He was a six-time All-Star selectee.

His five closest career comps include two Hall of Famers — Orlando Cepeda and Willie Stargell.

Konerko presumably gets dinged because some of his secondary stats come up unimpressive. Jaffe says his 28.1 career WAR is not up to Hall standards, at least for his offensive-oriented position, and James’ Hall of Fame Monitor puts him at 80, again with 100 being the standard.

When Konerko hit the ballot in 2020, voters ignored him. He got 10 votes, just 2.5 percent, on a ballot that also included Todd Helton, Jason Giambi, and Carlos Pena.

It’s certainly possible to argue that the long-time White Sox star is not Hall-worthy. But 10 votes? Suely Konerko deserved more of a look than that.

One and done: Lou Whitaker

There are those who believe the voting slight delivered to Whitaker is among the most egregious in Hall history.

We’re talking here about a 19-year one-teamer who would vie with Charlie Gehringer for status as the best second baseman in franchise history.

Whitaker was a lifetime .276 batter at a middle defense position. A five-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner, he was the 1978 Rookie of the Year. In that election, he beat out two future Hall of Famers, Paul Molitor and Alan Trammell, his lifetime teammate in Detroit.

Since Trammell is in the Hall, the comparison is interesting. At .285, Trammell had slightly the better batting average. But Whitaker came out ahead in on base average (.363 to .352), slugging average (.426 to .415), and WAR (75.1 to 70.7.

James’ Hall of Fame monitor grades Whitaker at 93, making him a close call for enshrinement. Jaffe notes that Whitaker’s career 75.1 WAR exceeds the average 69.7 career WAR of 20 enshrined second basemen.

But all of that counted for nothing when Hall voters got the chance to consider Whitaker’s credentials in 2001. They offered a resounding “no,” giving him just 2.9 percent of the vote in the 2001 election. It was not as though Whitaker was hurt by an abundance of choices that year. After all, he was the only second baseman on the 2001 Hall ballot.

One and done: Miguel Tejada

Tejada played 16 seasons for a half-dozen teams, spending the bulk of his career as a shortstop for the Oakland Athletics from 1997 through 2003.

For a shortstop, the guy could hit. He batted .270 with 2,307 home runs, and, in 2004, drove in a league-leading 150 for the Baltimore Orioles. He had a lifetime .791 OPS.

In 2002, American League voters decided that Tejada deserved the MVP award. Playing every game that year — one of five seasons he did so — Tejada batted .308 with 34 home runs and made the All-Star team for the first of a half-dozen times.

The Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor quantifies Tejada as a strong Hall of Famer. It scores him at 149 on a scale where 100 equals electability. Baseball-Reference lists five Hall of Famers — Ryne Sandberg, Ted Simmons, Alan Trammell, Carlton Fisk, and Yogi Berra — among his closest comps.

Tell it to Hall voters. In the 2019 election, only five of 425 voters included him among their 10. That left Tejada at a paltry 1.2 percent, consigned to wait consideration by some special committee at some future date.

To the extent that players are hurt by their lack of attachment to one team, that may have hurt Tejada. After taking free agency following the 2003 season, Tejada became a highly skilled journeyman. He played five seasons in Baltimore, then two in Houston, followed by one each in Baltimore, San Diego, San Francisco, and Kansas City.

His postseason record also did him no favors. He played in four postseasons, all with the A’s between 2000 and 2003. Tejada batted .212 with one home run.

One and done: Robin Ventura

He may have been the best third baseman in White Sox history, holding down the job from his debut late in 1989 through 1998. Ventura played 1,220 games at third on the South Side, then put in three more solid seasons with the Mets.

Over a 16-season career, he also played for the Yankees and Dodgers.

His lifetime .267 average sounds fairly ordinary for a power position, a fact that doubtless hurt Ventura with voters. But he did produce eight 20-home run seasons, and his career .806 OPS represents well.

His WAR numbers provide a graphic assessment of Ventura’s value. Four times surpassing 5.0 in a single season, they peaked at 6.7 in 1999 when Ventura played an important role in the Mets’ postseason drive.

Still, Ventura’s postseason record probably held him back with some voters. He appeared in five of them — 1993 with the White Sox, 1999 and 2000 with the Mets, 2002 with the Yankees, and 2004 with the Dodgers. The results: a disappointing .177 average.

In his only World Series appearance, with the 2000 Mets, Ventura batted .150 in 21 plate appearances.

James doesn’t like him, rating Ventura as only a 34 on his Monitor. He fares better with Jaffe, who compares his 56.1 career WAR with the 68.4 average of 15 Hall of Famers at the position.

His name came to the Hall of Fame ballot in 2010. It was not an especially strong class of candidates — Andre Dawson was the only electee — but even so voters managed to ignore Ventura.

He got seven votes, just 1.3 percent of the total number cast.

One and done: Luis Gonzalez

Gonzalez’ career began slowly. Through 1997 — seven seasons into a 19-season career — he was on nobody’s Hall of Fame watch list.

But when the Detroit Tigers made Gonzalez a free agent signee prior to the 1998 season, things took off. He hit a career-high 23 home runs, and bettered that in each of the three succeeding seasons, peaking at 57 with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001.

You remember 2001, right. The Diamondbacks won the World Series with Gonzalez, their leader in most offensive categories, delivering the winning hit off Mariano Rivera in Game 7.

He hit .325 that season, one of four times he topped .300 between 1999 and 2003. Gonzalez had a career .845 OPS with 354 home runs and 1,439 RBI.

He is top 70 all-time in that category, one spot ahead of Yogi Berra.

Gonzalez made five All-Star teams, all of them between 1999 and 2005.

James rates Gonzalez at 103, on the good side of his personal Hall of Fame cutoff point. Jaffe Is not as generous, assessing his 51.6 career WAR to be low by comparison with the 65.2 average of 21 enshrined left fielders.

Voters evidently agreed with Jaffe. Up for consideration in 2014, he finished dead last among the 25 candidates who got at least one vote. Gonzalez only got five.

One and done: Jim Edmonds

Hall voters are a churlish lot when it comes to assessing center fielders. In recent years alone, they have refused to warm up to Andruw Jones, Bernie Williams, or Torii Hunter, and have summarily dismissed the idea of honoring Shane Victorino, Johnny Damon, Darin Erstad, Steve Finley, or Kenny Lofton.

But the case of Edmonds is the most obvious of all middle outfielders. A career .284 hitter with a solid .903 OPS, he helped the Cardinals, Cubs, and Reds all to divisional titles. In 2006, Edmonds was a cornerstone of St. Louis’ run to the World Series victory over Detroit.

Could Edmonds play defense? Eight Gold Gloves says yes, he could.

Could he hit? In four different seasons — 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2004 — Edmonds topped 100 RBI.

Jaffe and James are both leery of Edmonds’ actual suitability for election. Jaffe says his career 60.4 WAR is a bit light by comparison with the 71.6 average for Hall of Famers. On the other hand, the roster of Hall of Fame center fielders drives that average skyward. It includes Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Ken Griffey Jr., Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Tris Speaker, and Duke Snider.

Standing a bit below the average for that crowd is not exactly a criticism of one’s Hall of Fame credentials.

Except, possibly, with voters. Given the chance in 2016 to recognize Edmonds, voters took a hard pass. Only 11 picked him, dropping him off the ballot with just 2.5 percent of the total vote. They seemed more enamored with the Griffey fellow, who got all but three votes in his ballot debut that season.

One and done: Darryl Strawberry

Through most of the 1980s, the mere idea that Darryl Strawberry would not be an easy first ballot Hall of Famer would have seemed laughable. If Strawberry wasn’t the game’s most feared slugger, he was on the short list.

The Mets right fielder hit 39 home runs in 1987, repeated in 1988, and had 335 for his career, with 1,000 RBI. That 1988 season was memorable: Strawberry led in homers (39), slugging (.545), and OPS (.911.)

He could also run. Strawberry stole 20 bases or more for five straight seasons between 1984 and 1988. He was the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year.

What happened? At or close to the peak of his performance, Strawberry fell victim to a couple of the most common curses of American life: drugs and/or alcohol. Although still just 30, by 1992 his demons largely reduced Strawberry to the status of part-time player, first with the Dodgers, then the Giants, and finally the Yankees.

The impact was obvious. For the first nine seasons of his 17-season career, Strawberry had a .358 on base average and .516 slugging average in 4,408 official at-bats. For the final seven seasons of that career, he got only 1,010 at-bats and his slugging average evaporated, all the way down to .335.

So we are talking here about a peak Hall candidate. In fairness to Strawberry, there have been some superb peak candidates, the prototype of which is Sandy Koufax. It’s also likely that some voters were turned off by all the off-field, self-destructive drama.

Fair enough. Maybe Strawberry isn’t a Hall of Famer. But certainly his resume is worth more than the half-dozen votes he got when his name hit the ballot in 2005.

One and done: Lance Berkman

We’re looking here at a career .293 hitter with 366 home runs, 1,234 RBI, a .943 OPS, and a half-dozen All-Star Game appearances.

Berkman played 15 seasons, most of them for the Astros, although toward the end of his career he also suited up for the Yankees, Cardinals, and Rangers. He had positional versatility, starting more than 300 games at first base, left field, and right field.

In his prime, Berkman was one of the National League’s most feared hitters. He had a league-leading 128 RBI in 2002, one of his six 100-plus RBI seasons between 2001 and 2008. He hit .331 in 2001, one of his five plus-.300 seasons.

In 2001, again in 2004, and for the third time in 2006, his OPS surpassed 1.000.

Berkman was particularly effective in October. He carried a .317 average through 52 postseason games, hitting .385 in the 2005 World Series and .423 in the Cardinals’ 2011 World Series championship run.

None of that lifted Berkman out of the realm of run-of-the-mill talent when his name debuted on the 2019 ballot. He got five votes.

James puts Berkman’s monitor number at 98, virtually in line with the 100 average for a “likely” Hall of Famer.

One and done: Kevin Brown

The case for Kevin Brown is substantial.

He had a career 211-144 record, including a league-leading 21 victories for Texas in 1992. In 1996 for Florida and again in 2000 for Los Angeles, he led the National League in ERA, at 1.89 and then 2.58.

Across a 19-season career, Brown started 476 games and completed 3,256 innings. Of pitchers whose careers began since 1989, that innings workload is top 10.

For five seasons in the late 1990s, Brown was in a class with Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens. Between 1996 and 2000, he piled up a 36.7 WAR, averaging 242 innings.

He struck out 2,397 batters and was a six-time All-Star. The ace of the 1997 World Series-winning Florida Marlins, Brown was only an indifferent postseason pitcher, with a 5-5 record and 4.19 ERA in 13 starts.

Brown’s 68.2 career WAR is competitive with Jaffe’s finding that 66 already enshrined starters averaged 73.0 WAR. James’ Hall of Fame monitor gave him a score of 93, a bit below the status of a likely Hall of Famer but certainly in the running.

Nevertheless, Brown’s stay on the Hall ballot was a brief one. He debuted in 2011, but drew support from only a dozen voters, just 2.1 percent of the electorate.

One and done: Johan Santana

Like Strawberry, Santana is a peak candidate. For eight seasons between 2003 and 2010, he may have been the game’s best pitcher. But arm troubles set in, all but ending his career by age 31.

His 139-78 record looks superficially OK but unspectacular. Consider it, however, on a season average basis. For the eight seasons of his prime, he averaged 15.5 wins against just 7.5 losses, won three ERA titles, and rolled up a 2.89 ERA.

In 2006 and again in 2008, he led his league in innings pitched, both times topping 230 innings. He was twice a unanimous Cy Young Award winner for the Twins, at 20-6, 2.61 in 2004 and 19-6, 2.77 in 2006.

You want strikeouts, Santana gave you strikeouts. He totaled 1,988 for his career, including a three-season stretch between 2004 and 2006 when Santana whiffed 748 opponents. He led his league all three of those seasons, and not by small margins. Santana had 38 more than the runner-up in 2004, 27 more in 2005 and 43 more in 2006.

Santana’s Hall case was undermined by a series of physical breakdowns. There were arm injuries, then back problems, then a torn Achilles that finished his 2012 comeback attempt with the Mets.

As a result, his 51.7 career WAR comes up short compared with Hall starters of longer duration. That appears to be how Hall voters saw it, anyway. When Santana came onto the ballot in 2018, voters appeared to consider only his broken down post-career self. Of 422 ballots cast, he got 10 votes.

One and done: Jeff Reardon

Hall voters notoriously underappreciate closers. But even recognizing that trait, Reardon gets little respect. Of the top seven eligible inductees in saves all-time, he is the only one who qualifies as a one-and-done candidate.

If you’re going to consider short-inning guys for enshrinement, then Reardon deserves consideration. He accumulated 367 saves over 16 seasons, topping 30 saves seven times and topping 40 saves three times. That included a league-leading 41 saves with Montreal in 1985.

But Reardon was not purely a short-inning guy. Over the span of his 880 appearances, he piled up 1,132 innings, nine times working 50 games or more. His career 73-77 record is not unusual for closers, and his 3.16 ERA is solid.

Part of Reardon’s problem may flow from his modest postseason resume. He pitched in the 1981,  1987, 1990 and 1992 postseasons, including as closer for the 1987 World Series champion Minnesota Twins.

Reardon’s October record was undistinguished: a 2-3 record, six saves, and a  4.57 ERA across 22 innings of work. That, plus the fact that he lacked the glamour of contemporary closers such as Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, and Lee Smith may have factored into Hall voters sense of ennui concerning Reardon.

He made the ballot in 2000, but fell off when he collected only 24 votes, 4.8 percent. The result must have been gut-wrenching; had one more voter cast a ballot for Reardon, he would at least have surpassed the 5 percent threshold for a second shot at consideration.