Hypothetical HOF autograph project...only room for 18 more players...who do you cut?

Imagine that you have acquired a ball/flat with room to accomodate 18 HOF signatures. Who would you cut from this list?

Assume that time/cost isn't a factor and that all of these guys will eventually make the Hall if they aren't in already.

1 Andre Dawson
2 Barry Bonds
3 Barry Larkin
4 Bert Blyleven
5 Cal Ripken Jr.
6 Craig Biggio
7 Curt Schilling
8 Eddie Murray
9 Frank Thomas
10 Gary Sheffield
11 Greg Maddux
12 Jim Rice
13 John Smoltz
14 Ken Griffey Jr.
15 Ozzie Smith
16 Paul Molitor
17 Rafael Palmeiro
18 Randy Johnson
19 Rich Gossage
20 Rickey Henderson
21 Roberto Alomar
22 Roger Clemens
23 Ryne Sandberg
24 Sammy Sosa
25 Tom Glavine
26 Tony Gwynn

i get rid of sosa, gossage, palmeiro, sheffield, schilling, rice, larkin. Not that some of these wouldn't be great additions to the collection, but I wouldn't feel like I was missing out if the auto's weren't included.

cjedmonton said:

Imagine that you have acquired a ball/flat with room to accomodate 18 HOF signatures. Who would you cut from this list?

Assume that time/cost isn't a factor and that all of these guys will eventually make the Hall if they aren't in already.

Click to expand...

If you're saying to disregard HOF, then why mention it at all here?

Sounds like you're trying to connect some dots that aren't connected... or stir the pot

-Gossage

2 Barry Bonds
3 Barry Larkin
4 Bert Blyleven
5 Cal Ripken Jr.
6 Craig Biggio
7 Curt Schilling
8 Eddie Murray
9 Frank Thomas
11 Greg Maddux
13 Ken Griffey Jr.
14 Ozzie Smith
15 Paul Molitor
17 Randy Johnson
19 Rickey Henderson
20 Roberto Alomar
21 Roger Clemens
24 Tom Glavine
25 Tony Gwynn

These would be my personal 18:

1 Andre Dawson
3 Barry Larkin
4 Bert Blyleven
5 Cal Ripken Jr.
6 Craig Biggio
8 Eddie Murray
9 Frank Thomas
11 Greg Maddux
12 Jim Rice
13 Ken Griffey Jr.
14 Ozzie Smith
15 Paul Molitor
17 Randy Johnson
19 Rickey Henderson
20 Roberto Alomar
22 Ryne Sandberg
24 Tom Glavine
25 Tony Gwynn

I had a list of 19 that I really liked, but had to eliminate Gossage due to the 18 max. Eliminated the PED guys like Bonds Sosa Clemens etc

I forgot to add Smoltz earlier, but the original list is now complete and limited to only those 26 candidates. Again, there would only be room to add 18 of them.

The only common theme is that they all debuted before 1991.

I think I'd go with this list:

1 Andre Dawson
2 Barry Bonds
3 Barry Larkin
4 Bert Blyleven
5 Cal Ripken Jr.
6 Craig Biggio
7 Curt Schilling
8 Eddie Murray
9 Frank Thomas
10 Gary Sheffield
11 Greg Maddux
12 Jim Rice
13 John Smoltz
14 Ken Griffey Jr.
15 Ozzie Smith
16 Paul Molitor
17 Rafael Palmeiro
18 Randy Johnson
19 Rich Gossage
20 Rickey Henderson
21 Roberto Alomar
22 Roger Clemens
23 Ryne Sandberg
24 Sammy Sosa
25 Tom Glavine
26 Tony Gwynn

Hypothetical HOF autograph project...only room for 18 of these guys...who do you cut?

2 Barry Bonds
4 Bert Blyleven
5 Cal Ripken Jr.
8 Eddie Murray
9 Frank Thomas
10 Gary Sheffield
11 Greg Maddux
13 John Smoltz
14 Ken Griffey Jr.
15 Ozzie Smith
16 Paul Molitor
17 Rafael Palmeiro
18 Randy Johnson
20 Rickey Henderson
21 Roberto Alomar
22 Roger Clemens
23 Ryne Sandberg
26 Tony Gwynn

These would be my 18. Tons of guys I grew up enjoying watching, a few I saw little of and a few I never saw.

Most of the other 8 didn't really belong in the same group as some of these guys.

Here's who I'd take-

2 Barry Bonds
5 Cal Ripken Jr.
6 Craig Biggio
8 Eddie Murray
9 Frank Thomas
11 Greg Maddux
13 John Smoltz
14 Ken Griffey Jr.
15 Ozzie Smith
17 Rafael Palmeiro
18 Randy Johnson
20 Rickey Henderson
21 Roberto Alomar
22 Roger Clemens
23 Ryne Sandberg
24 Sammy Sosa
25 Tom Glavine
26 Tony Gwynn

This would be my 18:

1 Andre Dawson
2 Barry Bonds
3 Cal Ripken Jr.
4 Eddie Murray
5 Frank Thomas
6 Greg Maddux
7 John Smoltz
8 Ken Griffey Jr.
9 Ozzie Smith
10 Paul Molitor
11 Randy Johnson
12 Rickey Henderson
13 Roger Clemens
14 Ryne Sandberg
15 Tom Glavine
16 Tony Gwynn
17 Roberto Alomar
18 Gary Sheffield

I cut
Larkin
Blyleven
Biggio
Schilling
Rice
Palmeiro
Gossage
Sosa

I would cut whoever you would be least interested in having. For me, in the order you have them listed, I would cut:

Blyleven
Biggio
Schilling
Sheffield
Rice
Johnson
Gossage
Alomar

fsulevine said:

I would cut whoever you would be least interested in having. For me, in the order you have them listed, I would cut:

Blyleven
Biggio
Schilling
Sheffield
Rice
Johnson
Gossage
Alomar

Click to expand...

Interesting that you would cut Randy Johnson; by most accounts, a first ballot HOFer.

It's not so much as that I'm less interested in having one player than another. It's just a matter of space, that's all.

I'll move this example to the real world in a few days...depending on my success.

cjedmonton said:

Interesting that you would cut Randy Johnson; by most accounts, a first ballot HOFer.

It's not so much as that I'm less interested in having one player than another. It's just a matter of space, that's all.

I'll move this example to the real world in a few days...depending on my success.

Click to expand...

I am a Cubs fan, so no way would I cut Dawson, Sandberg, Maddux, or Palmeiro from that list. It came down to Johnson, Glavine, and Clemens for me on the final one to cut and I guess I just enjoyed watching Glavine and Clemens (despite the steroids) pitch more than Randy Johnson over the years.

Okay, I've got a real world example to share. The march to 100 begins! The only criteria is that they are HOFers and that they were in the majors prior to this reunion. That eliminates Frank Thomas, Ivan Rodriguez, Chipper, Bagwell, Pedro, Piazza, and a number of other early 90's stars.



Key

1 Bruce Sutter
2 Luke Appling
3 Al Barlick
4 Monte Irvin
5 Joe Morgan
6 Al Kaline
7 Sandy Koufax
8 Charlie Gehringer
9 Stan Musial
10 Ralph Kiner
11 Frank Robinson
12 Eddie Mathews
13 Willie McCovey
14 Bob Lemon
15 Jim Palmer
16 Whitey Ford
17 Bob Gibson
18 Hal Newhouser
19 Robin Roberts
20 Juan Marichal
21 Bob Feller
22 Jim Bunning
23 Phil Niekro
24 Orlando Cepeda
25 Nolan Ryan
26 Billy Williams
27 George Brett
28 Dave Winfield
29 Pee Wee Reese
30 Al Lopez
31 Carlton Fisk
32 Bill Mazeroski
33 Billy Herman
34 Sparky Anderson
35 Gaylord Perry
36 Don Sutton
37 Wade Boggs
38 Robin Yount
39 Reggie Jackson
40 Earl Weaver
41 Johnny Bench
42 Phil Rizzuto
43 Steve Carlton
44 Rollie Fingers
45 Rick Farrell
46 Tom Seaver
47 Luis Aparicio
48 Hank Aaron
49 Lou Boudreau
50 Ray Dandridge
51 Tony Perez
52 Catfish Hunter
53 Fergie Jenkins
54 Buck Leonard
55 Gary Carter
56 Rod Carew
57 Kirby Puckett
58 George Kell
59 Hoyt Wilhelm
60 Early Wynn
61 Red Schoendienst
62 Bobby Doerr
63 Warren Spahn
64 Willie Mays
65 Larry Doby
66 Johnny Mize
67 Duke Snider
68 Mickey Mantle
69 Ted Williams
70 Ernie Banks
71 Joe DiMaggio
72 Lou Brock
73 Carl Yastrzemski
74 Mike Schmidt
75 Yogi Berra
76 Don Drysdale
77 Willie Stargell
78 Roy Campanella
79 Brooks Robinson
80 Enos Slaughter
81 Dennis Eckersley
82 Harmon Killebrew
83 Barry Bonds?
84 Bert Blyleven?
85 Cal Ripken Jr.?
86 Craig Biggio?
87 Eddie Murray?
88 Edgar Martinez?
89 Greg Maddux?
90 John Smoltz?
91 Ken Griffey Jr.?
92 Ozzie Smith?
93 Paul Molitor?
94 Randy Johnson?
95 Rickey Henderson?
96 Roberto Alomar?
97 Roger Clemens?
98 Ryne Sandberg?
99 Tom Glavine?
100 Tony Gwynn?

That photo is awesome!

Barry Bonds
Curt Schilling
Gary Sheffield
Jim Rice
Rafael Palmeiro
Rich Gossage
Roger Clemens
Sammy Sosa