SLOP Hall of Fame
 

After 17 years, I went back to see if anyone merited consideration for the Hall of Fame in SLOP. There are some quality guys who have certainly had impact careers in SLOP.

What I think we'll do is revisit the initial list and I'll induct guys based on those who meet a pretty stringent bar. From there, individual owners can propose guys as a sort of "veterans committee" and then we can all vote on those guys as a group and it'll just take 60% of the votes to get them in.

With that, here goes.

KELVIN BOYD, RF, 1838-1850
 

COLUMBUS N.L. (1838-1840), BROOKLYN N.L. (1841-1846), WINNEMUCCA A.L. (1847-1848) CHICAGO N.L. (1849-1850)

Two-time MVP, 8-time All-Star, Ended career with .341 batting average, highest VORP & WAR of any current retiree in SLOP history. Won '48 Sunset Series with Winnemucca.

For years, everyone wanted Kelvin Boyd on their team. He's another one of those guys that suffered from being in the wrong place at the wrong time for entirely too long. Columbus and Brooklyn are the same franchise fwiw. But unlike Rio Grande, they didn't move so much that it made it silly to bother trying to document that on a plaque. Unlike the guy beneath him here, at least he managed to end his career on a good team, won a title before it was all said and done. Still, there's no question you can't have a Hall of Fame without Boyd in it. Most certainly one of the first stars of our fledgling league.

KEVIN SMITH, 3B, 1838-1852
 

TORONTO A.L. (1838) ROUGH RIDERS N.L. (1839-1851) CAROLINA N.L. (1852)

12-time all-star. Retired 6th all-time in home runs, 3rd in hits. Won '39 N.L. Most Valuable Player award.

He's one of those guys that suffered from playing on a bad team forever. A ton of strikeouts he had, so I was sorta thinking he's one of those "second ballot" types, but..it's hard to argue with the career he had considering he was a consistent hitter for one of the worst teams in the league for almost his entire career, that he'd won an MVP and was an All-Star game mainstay for pretty much all of his years.

That put him over the top for me.

Bobby Carter, P, 1838-1853
 

SAN MATEO N.L. 1838, ROUGH RIDERS N.L. 1839-1840, PHILADELPHIA A.L. 1841-1842, 1844-46, LOS ANGELES N.L. 1842-1843, WINNEMUCCA A.L. 1847-1850, SYRACUSE A.L. 1851-1853

A five-time all-star who managed to have a successful career as both a starter and reliever. Only player in SLOP history to end career Top 20 in both wins & saves.

This guy was just so dominant and able to do either thing from pretty much the start to the end of his career. Which is especially unique in this league. If he'd been a consistent starter, you'd have to think he could've broken records and if he'd been a consistent closer, he'd easily have even more stats. So to have been dominant at both, you have to give him his due. You could have put him in the Hall as a Quaker, given the same amount of time was spent there as well as Winnemucca, but he won a title in Winnemucca and if he hadn't been a starter for them and been as good as he was for that period of time, he wouldn't have been a first-ballot guy in my mind.

PATRICK DILLARD, P, 1838-1853
 

SAN DIEGO A.L. 1838-40, PHOENIX N.L. 1841-43, CAROLINA N.L. 1844-52, RIO GRANDE N.L., 1853

One of the best pure closers in the game. Retired 2nd all-time in saves. 13-time all-star. Led Carolina to two Sunset Series titles.

In contrast to say, Danny Curtis who surpassed him for the all-time saves lead (415 and counting) he was always dominant. Curtis has longevity on his side and while Dillard obviously contributed to a really good Carolina team for years, his K/9 ratio is crazy and there's never been any doubt that he arguably the best reliever in the game -- as evidenced by all of those all-star appearances. Had 85 career wins, a winning record to end his career too.

So I see him as SLOP's Trevor Hoffman with Curtis as Lee Smith.

The best guys still have yet to retire, so we'll have some pretty epic classes coming down the pipe over the next 4-6 years I imagine.

Will Allen, P, 1838-1855
 

SAN DIEGO N.L. (1838-39), MEMPHIS A.L. (1840-44), CAROLINA N.L. (1845-50) WINNEMUCCA A.L. (1851-54), WICHITA FALLS N.L. (1855)

1839 AL Pitcher of the Year. 13-time all-star. Led Memphis to the '43 Series title. Retired 3rd all-time in career wins with 243 and 7th in strikeouts with 2953.

Had he not be saddled for some unfortunate years on a few bad teams, he might have won a lot more than he did. But had a consistent ability to win throughout his career and was no doubt one of the Top 5 big game pitchers during his career. AI puts the guy in the cap he spent the longest in, but I decided that it ought to be based on their career and where they played the best. The fact he led Memphis to a title, coupled with his work there put them over the top in my opinion.

Thrilled to see Allen go into the HOF as a Smoker. I always wished I could get him back to Memphis one more time, but every chance I got, I ended up missing out on the money just a bit.

HANK GRIGGS, P (1842-1855)
 

CAROLINA N.L. (1842-1855)
5-time Pitcher of the Year, 2 Best Fielder awards, 11-time all-star.

It's hard to argue with 5 Pitcher of the Year awards and anchoring that rotation for as long as he did, makes him a surefire hall of fame with a career record with of 226-136 and over 3000 career strikeouts.

WINSTON BANCROFT (1838-56)
 

TORONTO A.L. (1838-39), SAN DIEGO A.L. (1840-47), WINNEMUCCA A.L. (1848-49), MEMPHIS A.L. (1850-56)

Bancroft logged over 500 HRs for his career, over 2300 hits and 2 MVPs over the course of his career. A six-time all star and six-time best fielder award and there was no doubt that for years he was one of the best in the game. He had a decline that was sharp, but he was one of the realest in the game and he ends his career 5th all-time in homers.

CHARLIE TAYLOR, P, (1842-1856)
 

PHILADELPHIA (A.L.) 1842-46, WINNEMUCCA (A.L.) 1848-51, MEMPHIS (A.L.) 1847, 1853-56

One of the most versatile and dominant pitchers of his era. 8-time all star and the best of the LEGACY players in the annals of SLOP. Won 20+ games for 3 different franchises and claimed Pitcher of the Year honors when he turned 38. Career leader in complete games. Set the single-season record for wins in a season with 29.

I debated what team to put him into the Hall with. He spent more time in Winnemucca and won a title there. But I feel like those last four years with Memphis is where he essentially established himself as one of the most dominant hurlers in the league. While he cut his teeth in Philly, that time wasn't anything close to the work he did in Memphis at the end of his career, so I went with the Smokers on this one.

HANK GRIGGS, SP, 1842-1855
 

CAROLINA N.L. (1842-1855)

Retired 6th all-time in strikeouts, won over 200 career games and was a 5-time Pitcher of the Year award winner for the Kings during his career. Four 20+ win seasons, retired with highest WAR amongst pitchers in SLOP (94.74) and undeniably the best pitcher for a stretch in the Nationwide League for a portion of his career. A true icon of the game.

JAY-MAN YUN, IF, (1843-1856)
 

LOS ANGELES 1843-46, WINNEMUCCA (A.L.) 1847-54, WICHITA FALLS (N.L.) 1855, BROOKLYN (N.L.) 1856

Retired #2nd in VORP (622.8) ahead of two other Hall of Famers. A versatile infielder who won 4 best fielder awards and was named to 10 all-star games. Retired with a .301 career batting average, led Winnemucca to the '48 Sunset Series title.

I thought he was a fence sitting case, until I looked more closely at the secondary numbers. He was always a solid guy, but the VORP and the .301 career average were the things that put him over the top for me. Not a first-ballot guy, but no doubt a Hall of Famer.

GERALD MASSEY, P, (1843-1857)
 

BROOKLYN (N.L.) 1843-1848, CHICAGO (N.L.) 1849-1857

Retired 6th all-time in wins and 4th all-time in strikeouts, 3-time Pitcher of the Year award winner. Led Chicago to the '49 Series title.

JIM MCLEAN, 1B
 

NEW YORK/WINNEMUCCA A.L. 1843-52, SAN DIEGO A.L. 1853-54, WICHITA FALLS N.L. 1855, GETTYSBURG N.L. 1856-57

Retired with 607 career home runs, 7-time all-star. Won '48 Sunset Series with Winnemucca

FREDDIE HURLEY, 1B
 

PHILADELPHIA 1843-46, SAN DIEGO 1847-56, MILWAUKEE 1857

Two-time AL MVP award winner, ended career with over 500 HRs and .290 career BA. 10-time all-star. 2nd all-time in San Diego history in home runs

Three new HOF inductees
 

Another day, another Carolina Kings player inducted into the HOF:

Ponty Lopez could probably add another 500 hits if he'd be unretired.