Travis, John, Maris, Kaat, Minoso Fell Through the Hall of Fame Cracks

This year curve baller Bert Blyleven was fortunate, he pitched 22 years, won 287 games, waited five years to be eligible for the Hall of Fame elections and then was finally voted in after 14 years of disappointments. He barely got the 75 percent of the votes needed. Others were not that lucky.

For example, Cecil Travis played shortstop and third base for the Washington Senators during the 1930s and batted over .300 nine of 10 seasons. In 1941, his last season before going into the armed services, he batted .359 and led the American League with 218 hits. That was the year of DiMaggio's 56 game streak and Williams batting .406.

During WWll, Travis was in the Battle of the Bulge and had his feet severely frostbitten and when he returned to baseball briefly for 1945, but he was not the same player. He claimed his timing was gone.

Cecil Travis ended in his playing career in 1947 after having, for him, a second subpar season. Travis's career batting average was .314, but before he entered the war it was .327. He was certainly on a par with Phil Rizzuto and Ozzie Smith.

And then there is former Dodger, Yankee, and Angels pitcher Tommy John winner of 288 games over 26 seasons. He won one more than Blyleven and many more than Dizzy Dean, Sandy Koufax, Bruce Suter, Goose Gossage, or Hoyt Wilhelm. He pitched in the playoffs for the Dodgers, Yankees, and Angels and appeared in the World Series for the Dodgers and Yankees.  

Overall in postseason play, John was 6-3 including winning a World Series game for both the Dodgers and later the Yankees. Tommy John's name is mentioned many times each season because he donated his elbow to surgical science and had a ligament removed from his forearm which was used to reconstruct his left elbow. 

Eighty-five percent of the pitchers who have "Tommy John" surgery go on with their career after a year of rehabilitation.  John missed the1975 season but he won 124 games before the surgery and 164 afterward. Tommy John has a career ERA of 3.34 and pitched 4708 innings. 

 

 

Roger Maris had the audacity in 1961 to hit 61 home runs  to break Babe Ruth's 34-year record of 60 home runs.  The Maris record lasted 37 years until the "Steroid Boys" Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa and later Barry Bonds muscled up. During 1961 Maris was hounded by the press corps, booed by fans, and at the end of the season asterisked by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn because Maris didn't complete his feat in 154 games like Ruth.  

Pete Rose never received a asterisk and it took him many more games to break Ty Cobb's hit record.  Roger won consecutive Most Valuable Player awards in 1960 and 1961. He played on seven pennant winners with the Yankees and Cardinals in his 12-year career.  But it remains, Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record and instead of the baseball world celebrating, it turned Roger into some kind of villain.

And there are others who need a second look like pitcher Jim Kaat winner of 283 games, Minnie Minoso who made the White Sox competitive during the 1950s, Ron Santo who spent and lost his life with the Cubs, Carl Furillo the Reading Rifle, maybe finally Pete Rose, and even Shoeless Joe Jackson.  

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/927275-travis-john-maris-kaat-minoso-fell-through-the-hall-of-fame-cracks

Andrew McDonald Matt Martin Frans Nielsen Dwayne Roloson Jon Sim Jason Arnott