General Forum

I'm starting a project to collect Topps base cards of future baseball hall of famers.

Who do you think will make the Baseball Hall of Fame between now and 2040? Let me know who you think will be elected at any time in the future. There's the obvious choices: Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. There's the hopefuly obvious choices: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, etc. There's the "I hope so" choices: Todd Helton, Ichiro, etc. Then there are the "TBD" choices: Mookie Betts, Jose Altuve.

These online articles got me started.
https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/01/27/baseball-hall-fame-edgar-martinez-barry-bonds-roger-clemens-derek-jeter-roy-halladay
http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/77378/predicting-every-hall-of-fame-class-through-2045

Respond with your choices and let's see where this conversation leads us.
I will combine all the responses in a few weeks and see what we all come up with.

Thanks,
Jay
 

I know I'm a homer but how about Jimmy Rollins? He has more hits than over 1/2 the people in the Hall Of Fame and was an excellent fielder. Maybe not the first year but not too long after that.

Adrian Beltre is a no-brainer inner circle guy.  Mke Trout has nearly got a HOF resume at 26.  Pujols is in.  Kershaw should be in.  Those are some easy ones.

Obvious choices if they stay healthy that I don't think I need to mention Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. Albert Pujols would seem a lock. Adrian Beltre should get in based on the fact that he has eclipsed 3000 hits. Young guys are tough to project because a series of injuies can derail a career fast. Miguel Cabrera seems like he should make it in. Robinson Cano could reach 3000 hits being about 600 away and 35 years old.

Guys farter out to look at a bit (I am just going off the leaders among active players in hits. Here are the few names under 30 that appear in the top 60. Elvis Andrus is #32 in hits with 1488 and is 29 years old. Starlin Castro is #43 in hits with 1382 and is 28 years old. Jose Altuv is #45 in hits with 1366 and is 28 years old. Manny Machado would be a good speculative guess at 25 years old and 963 hits.

Those are some guys from the hitting side.

So looking at the obvious wins category for P some of the names that stand out are: Clayton Kershaw (146 wins, 30 years old), Rick Porcello (128 wins, 29 years old), Chris Sale (99 wins, 29 years old), Madison Bumgarner (105 wins, 28 years old) and Stephen Strasburg (90 wins and 29 years old). Interesting that not many guys under 30 are up in the wins rankings. Bartolo Colon has the most wins among active picthers with 245 and CC Sabathia has 243 wins. CC could hang up about 275 wins which is a pretty high total in today's game but it looks like we may be a long ways from seeing a 300 game winner if anyone gets there again.

Several pretty young saves guys out there right now. Craig Kimbrell is 30 and has 317 saves, Kenley Jansen is 30 and has 253 saves, Aroldis Chapman is also 30 and has 228 saves. Cody Allen is 29 with 140 saves. Jeurys Familia is 28 and has 122 saves. And how about Roberto Osuna who is only 23 and has 104 saves? Edwin Diaz is 24 with 86 saves. Kimbrell seems to be running away with the high saves race here. These are some closers to look at.

Some already retired players that I think are likely to get in in the next couple decades: Edgar Martinez, Lou Whitaker, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Larry Walker.

And how about Roberto Osuna who is only 23 and has 104 saves?

Not often you find someone who has completely ruined their chance at ever making the Hall of Fame when they're only 23 years old. 

If Lou Whitaker didn’t get in I’m not sure Rollins would either. It will be interesting to see how starting and relief pitchers are looked at in the future with all of today’s late inning specialists.  Two former Tigers starters should have a good case when their careers come to an end. Never thought about Porcello but that is possible too.

I don't follow teams outside my Brewers closely so I knew nothing about him until I read your post and then seasrched. Ugh. He has certainly derailed a great promising start with issues.