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Hall of Good

Cliff Lee Had a Hall of Fame Peak, and a 0.5% Ballot Exit
Whether in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Texas or Seattle, Lee was one of baseball's best (and clutchest) pitchers in his prime — even if he didn’t stay long…
 • Neil Paine
Claude Lemieux Was a Good Player Who Turned Great For the Playoffs
His regular-season résumé made him the “other Lemieux.” His playoff résumé made him one of hockey's most unique legends.
 • Neil Paine
Carlos Delgado Wasn't a Hall of Famer — But He Looked Like One
His power, peak and statistical neighbors all seem to point toward Cooperstown, but the Blue Jays slugger landed just on the wrong side of immortality.
 • Neil Paine
J.D. Drew and the Curse of Talent
Drew is a quintessential Hall of Pretty Damn Good Players inductee. Should he have been something more?
 • Neil Paine
Shareef Abdur-Rahim Had Damn Good Stats on Some Bad Damn Teams
'Reef makes the Hall of Pretty Damn Good Players because he just kept putting up numbers — even though the wins never really followed.
 • Neil Paine
Keith Tkachuk Was a Damn Good Power Forward
The 5-time All-Star for the Coyotes and Blues is the father of today's bruising scorers — both figuratively and literally.
 • Neil Paine
Hideo Nomo Paved The Way For A Generation Of Damn Good Japanese Ballplayers
Welcome to a very special installment of our Hall of Pretty Damn Good Players, a series in which we recognize the athletes who won’t make their sports…
 • Neil Paine
Dustin Pedroia Led Some Damn Good Red Sox Teams
It’s time for another installment of the Hall of Pretty Damn Good Players — our tribute to the athletes who won’t be in the Hall of Fame, but who still…
 • Neil Paine
Charles Johnson Was Damn Good Behind (And At) The Plate
Welcome back to our Hall of Pretty Damn Good Players, a celebration of unsung athletes who won’t make their sport’s Hall of Fame but still deserve to be…
 • Neil Paine
Nomar Garciaparra’s Full Career Wasn’t Enough For Cooperstown — But It Was Still Damn Good
If you’d told a Red Sox fan in the summer of 1997 that Boston would win three World Series in the next 16 years — well, first, they’d be beyond…
 • Neil Paine
Bernie Williams Deserves More Credit For Making The Yankees A Dynasty
Any talk of the New York Yankees’ dynasty of the 1990s and early 2000s usually centers on the “Core Four”: shortstop Derek Jeter, closer Mariano Rivera…
 • Neil Paine
Lou Whitaker Turned A Damn Good Double Play
The longtime Tiger was one of the best ever at second base. So why isn’t he in the Hall of Fame?
 • Neil Paine
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