Zebediah "Yahoo!" Williams, SS, Washington Bobwhites
Let's start off with a controversial one right out of the gate. Now, Williams may be the worst hitter to go into the Hall since Willie Mays Hayes, but....
1) He's the MBBA's ALL-TIME LEADER in Stolen Bases.
2) He's got a shitload of Honus Wagner Gloves hanging in his trophy room.
At the end of the day the voters will have to decide if they can put a speed/defense player in the Hall without "tasty counting stats". He's deserving of a spot.
Ken Howell, SP, Washington Bobwhites
Here's a stat for you. No pitcher with 200 wins or more is NOT in the MBBA Hall of Fame. Howell needs 10 more to break that magic number. Even without that he's got a good shot at making it.
Gary Barr, OF, Valencia Stars
Barr was the player that inspired me to write this feature. I was looking through Valencia tonight and noticed Barr...I'd forgotten about him. Teams that aren't written about a lot do a real disservice to a player like Barr, who's now 37 years old but still a top talent. Here's a guy with 430 career HR's and 2943 hits going into the year. He's going to be 450/300 by the end of this year, and how many of you have ever heard of him? First ballot Hall of Famer.
David "Big Papi" Smurf, 1B, Hawaii Tropics
Smurf, 35 years old, will have his entire case riding on a counting stat. No matter how much I hate it, in his case it's probably for the best. See, Smurf is a borderline HOF'er in my eyes, but if he can find a way to jack 60 more dingers before hanging it up to make the magic 500 HR club, he's in. Probably not on the first ballot, but eventually.
John Ross Riles, Jr., SP, Hackensack Bulls
Now at 37 years old, his career is coming to a close. He's a no brainer. With some kind of unexpected resurgence, he has a minor shot at an amazing 300 wins. Still, 269 is a pretty big number as pitchers not named Steve Nebraska go. He's the gold standard of MBBA pitchers (non-robot category).
Shamus "Perfecto" Perfetto, SP, Atlantic City Gamblers
Shamus is kind of a borderline case at this point. If he gets to 200 wins, he'll have a pretty good chance. If not, he'll be in the "Hall of Very Great".
Dave Manzanillo, 1B/IF, Marquette Suns
Dave, despite his 420 career homers, has several things going against his case...
1) People now remember him as a first basemen, though in his day he played a wicked third base (and some second base too).
2) He hasn't even made the 2000 hit club and his chances look pretty bleak right now.
Gabriel "Pretty Boy: Steel, 3B/SS, Marquette Suns
He's an under the radar candidate. How many of you realized that Steel is coming up on 2600 career hits? Probably not many. He's been a plus defender his whole career, plus giving about 20 homers every year to go with his usual .290-ish average. A very good player. If he could get a starting job for a few more years here (which he should be doing), and get to 3000 hits he's a shoo-in. Even so, I'd vote for him as is. Right now. But then again I had the pleasure of having him play for my team, so I can appreciate this particular player more than those who haven't experienced it. In recent years, I can't remember being more shaken up about losing a player than losing Steel to fricking Austin, of all places.
Hayden "Sidd" Finch, SP, Birmingham Bandits
Strange player. On one side, 1.03 career WHIP, 181 wins, good bet for 4000 career strikeouts.
On the other side....532 HOME RUNS ALLOWED. Let that sink in for a second....
WOW.
Donnie Rotten, SS, Seattle Storm
In his day he was one of the best in the business. However, he faded right away upon the restart and thus the meat of his career is in very few voters minds. Stack him up against Steel for a minute. Rotten pales in comparison. His chances don't look great to me.
