A Minors Hall of Fame?
Jonathan Mayo makes a case for a minor league hall of fame:
Sure, players — especially in today’s game — don’t want to be known as career Minor Leaguers. But I think if you ask those who have experienced that fate, they look back at their careers with joy and pride. I would think that most of them, particularly the old-timers, would be thrilled to be enshrined in a Minor League Baseball Hall of Fame.
There are certainly plenty of variables to consider. Who gets in? What are the criteria for entrance? Do players with Major League experience qualify? What about those enshrined in Cooperstown who did something noteworthy while in the Minors?
All of those things can be ironed out if this conversation were to continue. For now, though, I think I’ll stick to guys who spent all or most of their careers in the Minors and can be found on the leaderboards. I’ll include some executives and make one large exception to the "Major League" rule I just set. After discussing it with my MiLB.com colleagues (a special shout out goes to Jason Ratliff and our resident historian Kevin Czerwinski. If you haven’t been reading his Cracked Bats series, you’re missing out), here’s a worthy inaugural class for the Minor League Baseball Hall of Fame:
[…]
Jigger Statz: Playing his entire career for the Los Angeles Angels, one of the best Minor League teams of all-time, Statz holds Pacific Coast League records for games (2,790), hits (3,356), doubles (595), triples (137) and runs (1996). He finished his career with a .315 batting average over 18 seasons and won league MVP honors in 1932. The 1934 Angels were voted the best Minor League squad of all time, with Statz as their center fielder.
Personally, I really like the idea. Maybe change the name from hall of fame to something a little different to get all the traditionalists of your back, but in itself, remembering those who played (mostly) for the love of the game instead of the big bucks has a nice touch to it.