The 'What If?' Hall of Fame

daltex

ESPN has an article which purports to show if five players missed Cooperstown by "a simple twist of fate". https://espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/32088194/the-hall-fame-how-simple-twist-fate-sent-five-players-cooperstown (article is behind paywall.)

Hypotheses are:

1. Dave Kingman had played his entire career with the Red Sox.
2. WAR had been available throughout Dwight Evans entire career.
3. Jim Wynn hadn't been exposed to the 1962 equivalent to the Rule 5 Draft.
4. Tommy John surgery hadn't been invented for Tommy John.
5. Don Mattingly had missed the team bus on June 4, 1987.

That last requires a bit more explanation. The author hypothesizes that missing that bus would have prevented his back injury.

Thoughts?

perkdog

Very interesting topic!

2dueces

Bo Jackson hadn’t blown out his hip.

perkdog

Sterling Sharpe didn’t get hurt

craig44

I love these type of topics. so many what ifs in sports history.

I wonder about Koufax's elbow, Gooden and Strawberries drug problems,

I also wonder about players hurt by strikes: the 1994/5 baseball (Mcgriff, Gwynn, Maddux)
the 1987 NFL (Rice TD receptions, Reggie White Sack total)

JoeBanzai

Tony Oliva hadn't injured his knee.

craig44

kirby puckett didnt get beaned in the eye

JoeBanzai

@craig44 said:
kirby puckett didnt get beaned in the eye

The reports in Minnesota were that he was hitting the ball as well or better than ever when he was hit and still when he was diagnosed with glaucoma.

craig44

@JoeBanzai said:

@craig44 said:
kirby puckett didnt get beaned in the eye

The reports in Minnesota were that he was hitting the ball as well or better than ever when he was hit and still when he was diagnosed with glaucoma.

I always thought it was such a shame, what happened to Kirby. always loved watching him play. I think his career stat line would have been fantastic had it not been for the premature retirement. 3000 hits easily.

I know that after retirement he sort of hit rock bottom. I am not entirely sure what happened with Kirby, but I loved him and his attitude as a player.

jay0791

Mickey Mantle and the center field mishap

Bobby Orr had 2 good knees

Super Mario was always healthy

Greatest generation boys didn't lose all those years

2dueces

Namath with the knees he had at Bama.

doubledragon

I've always wondered what if Charlie Ward had chosen football over basketball, how would his NFL career have played out.

LandrysFedora

If Rico Petrocelli didn't get beaned.

LandrysFedora

If Lyman Bostock wasn't murdered.

LandrysFedora

If JR Richard didn't have a stroke at the peak of his brilliance.

daltex

@LandrysFedora said:
If Rico Petrocelli didn't get beaned.

Tony Conigliaro??

daltex

I'm a bit confused. None of the above prevented Koufax, Puckett, Gwynn, Maddux, or Mantle from making the HoF.

craig44

@daltex said:
I'm a bit confused. None of the above prevented Koufax, Puckett, Gwynn, Maddux, or Mantle from making the HoF.

correct, but injury or circumstance kept them from achieving either their potential or having even better careers.

Gwynn lost the chance at .400, Maddux may have had the two greatest pitching seasons ever had he not been forced to miss time in both 94 and 95, puckett and mantle could have had better career statistics had it not been for injuries.

Ken Griffey Jr falls into the same sphere. could he have hit 800 home runs had it not been for his injury-plagued 2nd half of his career?

JoeBanzai

@daltex said:
I'm a bit confused. None of the above prevented Koufax, Puckett, Gwynn, Maddux, or Mantle from making the HoF.

I was going to point out that many of the posts had nothing to do with the subject of the post.

I'll add Dick Allen if he would have cared about baseball as much as horses.

JoeBanzai

@craig44 said:

@daltex said:
I'm a bit confused. None of the above prevented Koufax, Puckett, Gwynn, Maddux, or Mantle from making the HoF.

correct, but injury or circumstance kept them from achieving either their potential or having even better careers.

Gwynn lost the chance at .400, Maddux may have had the two greatest pitching seasons ever had he not been forced to miss time in both 94 and 95, puckett and mantle could have had better career statistics had it not been for injuries.

Ken Griffey Jr falls into the same sphere. could he have hit 800 home runs had it not been for his injury-plagued 2nd half of his career?

And if Killebrew had signed with the Red Sox when they offered him a contract he would have had about 1,000 home runs playing in Fenway!

;-)

craig44

@JoeBanzai said:

@craig44 said:

@daltex said:
I'm a bit confused. None of the above prevented Koufax, Puckett, Gwynn, Maddux, or Mantle from making the HoF.

correct, but injury or circumstance kept them from achieving either their potential or having even better careers.

Gwynn lost the chance at .400, Maddux may have had the two greatest pitching seasons ever had he not been forced to miss time in both 94 and 95, puckett and mantle could have had better career statistics had it not been for injuries.

Ken Griffey Jr falls into the same sphere. could he have hit 800 home runs had it not been for his injury-plagued 2nd half of his career?

And if Killebrew had signed with the Red Sox when they offered him a contract he would have had about 1,000 home runs playing in Fenway!

;-)

Wow! I never knew that Killer was offered a contract by the Red Sox. can you imagine him in the same lineup as Williams and then later on Yaz? I think that could have changed the course of red sox history.

I think you may be a little conservative on the 1000 homers. I think that Killebrew might have hit 10,000 over the monster!!!

perkdog

I had no idea about Killebrew potentially in a Sox uniform

JoeBanzai

@craig44 said:

@JoeBanzai said:

@craig44 said:

@daltex said:
I'm a bit confused. None of the above prevented Koufax, Puckett, Gwynn, Maddux, or Mantle from making the HoF.

correct, but injury or circumstance kept them from achieving either their potential or having even better careers.

Gwynn lost the chance at .400, Maddux may have had the two greatest pitching seasons ever had he not been forced to miss time in both 94 and 95, puckett and mantle could have had better career statistics had it not been for injuries.

Ken Griffey Jr falls into the same sphere. could he have hit 800 home runs had it not been for his injury-plagued 2nd half of his career?

And if Killebrew had signed with the Red Sox when they offered him a contract he would have had about 1,000 home runs playing in Fenway!

;-)

Wow! I never knew that Killer was offered a contract by the Red Sox. can you imagine him in the same lineup as Williams and then later on Yaz? I think that could have changed the course of red sox history.

I think you may be a little conservative on the 1000 homers. I think that Killebrew might have hit 10,000 over the monster!!!

When the Senators representative visited the Killebrew residence, he noticed a few Ted Williams model bats.

Boston had offered Killebrew a contract and he declined, as he had a scholarship to play football at the University of Oregon (Harmon was a HS All-American) but said he would give the Sox a chance to match any offer he got.

When Washington made their bid, Harmon called Boston and they wouldn't pay what the Senators were offering. They actually had TWO chances to sign him!

Killebrew's swing was perfect for Fenway and he hit more HR there than any other ballpark, other than Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota, of course.

50 a year for 20 years does seem conservative, Harm hit almost 50 a year during the 1960's playing in Minnesota!

edited to add; Killebrew slugged .619 in the games he played in Fenway during his career with an OPS of 1.038!

JoeBanzai

@daltex said:
I'm a bit confused. None of the above prevented Koufax, Puckett, Gwynn, Maddux, or Mantle from making the HoF.

Sorry, I can't resist talking about Killebrew.

LandrysFedora

@daltex said:

@LandrysFedora said:
If Rico Petrocelli didn't get beaned.

Tony Conigliaro??

My mistake. Wrong Boston Red Sox player. Sorry.