Surprising HOF ballot 1-and-done hitters

So many great hitters appear on the Hall of Fame ballot after their MLB careers are over. Too many of them also fall off the ballot too soon.

Since 1979, in one form or another, the 5% rule has applied for potential Cooperstown inductees: if you get at least 5% of the Baseball Writers Association of America's votes, you stay on the ballot for another year; if you fall short of that mark, you fall off future ballots. (The number of votes needed for election to the Hall of Fame is 75%.)

Plenty of stars have dropped off the ballot after only a year. In 2024, that list included stars such as Matt Holliday, Adrián González and José Bautista.

Some one-and-dones have been more surprising than others. Here are six of the best hitters who missed the 5% cutoff in their first year of eligibility -- despite comparing favorably to other Hall of Famers -- and never got a second shot at election.

Jim Edmonds, CF, 1993-2010
Career stats: .284/.376/.527, 1,949 H, 393 HR, 1,199 RBIs, 1,251 R, 60.4 WAR (Baseball Reference)
Hall of Fame voting: 2.5% of ballots in 2016

Edmonds could have been a borderline Hall of Fame candidate. Instead, the Angels and Cardinals' star center fielder found himself off the ballot after his first year. Edmonds' counting stats might come up a little short compared to some Hall of Famers, but he accumulated more than 60 career Wins Above Replacement and played elite defense at a premium position. In his career, Edmonds made four All-Star teams, won eight Gold Glove Awards (including six straight) and one Silver Slugger Award and placed in the MVP voting six times. At his peak, a five-season stretch from 2000-04 bookended by top-five MVP finishes, Edmonds averaged more than six WAR per year and helped the Cardinals to four playoff appearances.

Compares favorably to: Jim Rice. Edmonds has a higher career WAR than many Hall of Fame outfielders, with Rice a more recently elected example from the BBWAA ballot. Edmonds played fewer career games than Rice, but his 60.3 WAR is well more than Rice's 47.7. Rice's best season, his MVP year in 1978, slightly edges Edmonds' best in 2004 (7.6 WAR to 7.2), but Edmonds' peak five years (32.1 WAR) beat Rice's best five (30.5). Edmonds also had more career home runs and an OPS almost 50 points higher than Rice.

Carlos Delgado, 1B, 1993-2009
Stats: .280/.383/.546, 2,038 H, 473 HR, 1,512 RBIs, 1,241 R, 44.4 WAR
HOF voting: 3.8% in 2015

Delgado was one of the premier power hitters in baseball for the duration of his career, but he was overshadowed playing in the heart of the steroid era -- Delgado has not been linked to performance-enhancing drugs -- and overlooked as he spent his prime years playing for Blue Jays teams that never made the playoffs. Still, Delgado was one of the best players in Blue Jays history, mashing nearly 500 homers and driving in more than 1,500 runs. Delgado won three Silver Slugger Awards and placed in the MVP voting seven times, including four top-10 finishes and a runner-up in 2003. His best season came in 2000, when he hit .344/.470/.664 with 41 home runs, 137 RBIs and an American League-best 57 doubles.

Compares favorably to: Gil Hodges. Delgado has the WAR edge over Hodges, who just got in via the Golden Days Era Committee (44.4 to 43.9), and significantly better offensive numbers. They played close to the same number of games, but Delgado outhomered Hodges 473 to 370, including three 40-homer seasons to Hodges' two and 11 30-homer seasons to Hodges' six, and collected 1,512 RBIs to Hodges' 1,274, with nine 100-RBI seasons to Hodges' seven. Delgado was better in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging, posting a .929 career OPS to Hodges' .846 and a 138 OPS+ that was well better than Hodges' 120.

Kenny Lofton, CF, 1991-2007
Stats: .299/.372/.423, 2,428 H, 130 HR, 781 RBIs, 1,528 R, 622 SB, 68.4 WAR
HOF voting: 3.2% in 2013

By the numbers, Lofton has a real Hall of Fame case, but he might have been hurt by being a contact hitter and speedster in a power-hitting age. His 622 stolen bases rank 15th all-time, and he led the AL in steals five straight seasons from 1992-96 while leading the Majors three of those years. Lofton made six straight All-Star teams from '94-99 and placed in the MVP voting four times, finishing as high as fourth. He was an excellent defender, winning four straight Gold Glove Awards in center field from 1993-96. Lofton's 68.4 career WAR ranks ninth all-time among center fielders. He's one of only nine players with 600 career steals and 600 extra-base hits; he's the only one not in the Hall of Fame.

Compares favorably to: Lou Brock. Lofton produced much more value over his career than his fellow speedy outfielder -- Lofton's 68.4 WAR dwarfs Brock's 45.3. Lofton's best season (7.6 WAR in 1993) is nearly two wins better than Brock's (5.8 in '64 and '68), and his peak run was better as well (33 WAR in his best five seasons compared to Brock's 25).

Ted Simmons, C, 1968-88 and Bill Freehan, C, 1961-76
Simmons' stats: .285/.348/.437, 2,472 H, 248 HR, 1,389 RBIs, 1,074 R, 50.3 WAR
Freehan's stats: .262/.340/.412, 1,591 H, 200 HR, 758 RBIs, 706 R, 44.8 WAR
HOF voting: Simmons -- 3.7% in 1994; Freehan -- 0.5% in 1982

Luckily, Simmons is now a member of the Hall of Fame. He finally got in in 2020 via the Veteran's Committee. That reversed his quick drop-off from the BBWAA ballot.

Simmons and Freehan were two of the better catchers of their eras. Simmons, an eight-time All-Star with three top-10 National League MVP finishes, has the 10th-highest career WAR of any catcher. Freehan made 11 All-Star teams (10 straight from 1964-73), won five straight Gold Glove Awards from '65-69 and finished in the top three of AL MVP voting in '67 and '68 -- when he won his only World Series and hit an RBI double off Bob Gibson in Game 7. But when Simmons and Freehan got onto the Hall of Fame ballot, neither received enough votes to stay there for a second year.

Compare favorably to: Ernie Lombardi. Simmons had better total production than Lombardi, a Hall of Famer who caught for the Reds and Giants in the 1930s and '40s, while Freehan had a better peak. Simmons' 50.3 WAR beats Lombardi's 37.9, while Freehan's best six seasons were each better than each of Lombardi's best six.

Al Oliver, OF/1B, 1968-85
Stats: .303/.344/.451, 2,743 H, 219 HR, 1,326 RBIs, 1,189 R, 43.6 WAR
HOF voting: 4.3% in 1991

Oliver's consistent hitting over 18 Major League seasons gave him some career totals that are nothing to sneeze at. Oliver maintained better than a .300 lifetime batting average even while amassing nearly 10,000 plate appearances. Only 31 players in modern AL/NL history have retired as a .300 hitter over as many plate appearances as Oliver (9,778); nearly all are in the Hall of Fame. But Oliver's 2,743 hits still weren't enough for him to generate the 5% of votes necessary to stay on the Hall of Fame ballot past his first year.

Compares favorably to: Bill Mazeroski. A fellow Pirate and Oliver's teammate for several seasons, Mazeroski played Gold Glove defense at second base and hit the legendary walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, but Oliver's career numbers might be better thanks to his hitting. Oliver has the edge in some key advanced stats (43.6 WAR to 36.4, 5.2 to 4.9 in their best individual season) and counting stats (.303 batting average to .260, 2,743 hits to 2,016, 219 homers to 138).