Ranking Every Pittsburgh Pirates Hall Of Famer Player

The Pittsburgh Pirates have 12 players in the National Baseball Hall Of Fame, but how do they rank when compared to each other?

The newest Hall of Fame class was announced Tuesday evening, including Joe Mauer, Todd Helton, and Adrian Beltre. The Veterans Committee voted legendary Pittsburgh Pirates manager Jim Leyland into the Hall this year. The Pirates have a long franchise history with a handful of players in the Hall of Fame.

What I want to do is rank the Pirates’ Hall of Fame players. So, while a handful of coaches and executives were part of the Pirates in the Hall, I am only looking at players. I am also exclusively looking at players who have a Pittsburgh Pirates’ (or Pirates-related team) ball cap on their plaque. So, for example, while both Rich Gossage and Bert Blyleven had stints with the Pirates, they are wearing a New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins cap on their plaques, respectively. In total, there are a dozen Pirates players in the Hall.

I am taking everything I possibly can into account. bWAR isn’t the be-all and end-all, but career numbers, including counting numbers, as well as other rate statistics, will play a role in my decisions. Accolades, such as All-Star games, MVPs, Gold Gloves, and Silver Sluggers, will take more of a back seat as, for many, some of these awards did not exist when they played.

Number Eleven
Lloyd Waner (1967)

It was hard deciding whether or not to put Bill Mazeroski or Lloyd Waner last. I ultimately ended up putting Maz before Waner for reasons I will get into. “Little Poison” Waner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in parts of 17 different seasons and played alongside his brother, Paul “Big Poison” Waner, for a portion of his career. His first stint in Pittsburgh was from 1927 to 1941. Then, he returned to the Bucs in 1944 and played his last year in Black and Gold the following year.

Waner was a solid batter throughout his career, slashing .316/.353/.393 with a 99 OPS+. What sold me on Waner over Mazeroski was the total hits. Waner had nearly 2500 total hits, sitting at 2459. He also received MVP votes in five different seasons. There are no good defensive statistics dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, but based on what we do have, Waner was a great defender who would have won some Gold Gloves if they existed then.

Waner had a career .983 fielding percentage when the league average during his years in the Majors was .974. His +2.76 range factor per game was significantly better than the average of +2.43. He made more than ten errors just three times in 18 seasons.

Waner ended his career with +28.9 career bWAR, which is the second lowest of any Hall of Fame position player. Like Mazeroski, Waner was also elected via the VC. But because he racked up 2459 hits, had an OPS+ 15% better than Mazeroski, despite having fewer career plate appearances, I gave Waner the slight edge, coming in 11th place.

Number Ten
Pie Traynor (1948)

Next on our list is the third baseman, Pie Traynor. The Pirates selected Traynor’s contract out of the Virginia League in September of 1920. By 1922, Traynor was the team’s regular third baseman and would play there up through his age-35 season in 1934. Taynor would then become a player-coach in 1935 before playing his final game in 1937.

For Traynor’s career, the third baseman was a .320/.362/.435 batter with a 107 OPS+. He racked up a total of 2416 hits while also having 371 doubles. Traynor is just one of 32 third basemen of all-time with at least 370 two-baggers. However, he is the all-time leader in triples among his peers at his position. He had some underrated speed, swiping double-digit bags in seven different seasons.

Traynor was a good defensive third baseman for his time. His average range factor per game was +3.18, with the league average throughout his years being +2.96. His fielding percentage of .947 was league average for third basemen, but third base typically has the lowest league-wide fielding percentage.

Traynor ended his career at +38.7 bWAR, placing him slightly above Mazeroski. He may have had fewer total hits than Waner, but he also had a ton more extra-base hits. After all, he is the all-time 3B triple leader. Traynor made it to Cooperstown with 76.9% of the votes in 1948.

Number Nine
Max Carey (1961)

Max Carey was an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates from his debut in 1910 through the 1926 season. He was signed in August of 1910 out of the Central League. Carey isn’t just one of the best outfielders in Pirates history, but he is also one of the best base stealers in the history of all of Major League Baseball.

Carey was a career .285/.361/.386 batter, making him slightly above average in the eyes of OPS+, clocking in at 108. Carey played in parts of 20 MLB seasons, helping him rack up 2665 total hits. He is also just one of 122 players all-time with over 1000 walks as he drew 1040 base on balls, leading the league twice.

But Carey was a menace on the basepaths. He led the league in stolen bases in half of his MLB seasons. He finished up his career with 738 total steals. That is the ninth most stolen bases of all time and makes him one of ten players in the 700 stolen base club. Carey used that speed to cover a ton of ground in the outfield. He had a career +2.77 range factor, significantly higher than the average of +2.30 throughout his career.

Carey had a lot of hits, even more stolen bases, and was a great defender. But overall, as a batter, he was only slightly above average. He clocked in at +55.6 bWAR to end his career. That makes him a productive member of baseball history. Carey was elected via the VC in 1961.

Number Eight
Ralph Kiner (1975)

Ralph Kiner was signed by the Pirates prior to 1941. But his dominant career was short-lived because of back issues in his early 30s. Had he not suffered these back injuries, Kiner could have had a good chance of going down in baseball history as one of the greatest power hitters in his career.

For the first seven years of Kiner’s career, he led the league in home runs. In that stretch, he went yard a total of 294 times, had a 159 OPS+, and over +40 bWAR. Kiner ended his MLB career with a .279/.398/.548 triple-slash, 149 OPS+, and 369 home runs in only 6256 career plate appearances.

Kiner, however, was never a good fielder. His career +2.14 range factor fell well short of the league average of +2.37. Total zone runs were created in his third to last season in Major League Baseball, and he had -29. Even though back problems started to settle in, Kiner was never considered a good fielder, even at his peak.

He was only 32 when he retired. But he had a chance of going down in history as the best power hitter ever. Kiner had 329 home runs through his age-30 season. He had more home runs through at age 31 than Babe Ruth did. Ruth did play his first handful of seasons as a pitcher, but he was only one year older than Kiner was in his rookie season when he started to play the field regularly instead of pitching.

Kiner still ended his career with an impressive 369 home runs. Only 23 players have hit 360+ dingers with a career OPS+ of 140 or greater. Unfortunately, because of his short career span, I have to knock him down a peg on today’s list.

Number Seven
Jake Beckley (1971)

Jake Beckley is the earliest Hall of Famer from the Pirates. Purchased from the Western Association in 1888, Beckley played with the Pirates before they were the Pirates. He was around when they were still the Alleghenys and the Burghers. Beckley played eight of his 20 MLB seasons in Pittsburgh but also saw a handful of seasons with the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals.

For his career, Beckley batted .308/.361/.436, leading to an OPS+ of 125. Beckley fell just shy of the 3000 hit club. He ended his career with 2938 total hits. I think that if 3,000 hits had been such an important milestone then like it is today, he definitely would have come back and played another year. When Beckley retired, there was only one member of the 3000 hit club, Cap Anson.

Beckley was a first baseman with a range factor per game of +10.52 when the league average was +10.45. He also stole 315 bases. Beckley, George Sisler, and Frank Chance are the only players ever to have played first base in over all of their games played with an OPS+ of 120 or greater and at least 300 stolen bases. Beckley ended up having a +61.3 bWAR for his career. Beckley was elected into the Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee in 1971.

Number Six
Arky Vaughan (1985)

Arky Vaughan is one of the best shortstops in Pirates history. Acquired from the Western League Tulsa Oilers, who were considered a minor league affiliate at the time for the Pirates in 1931, Vaughan staked his claim for the starting shortstop role in 1932. He was their primary middle infielder until 1941, when they traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers that off-season for four players. Vaughan would play the next five years and four seasons for the Dodgers before retiring after 1948.

Vaughan hit .318/.406/.453 with a 136 OPS+. Vaughan achieved over 2000 hits with 2103. His 1935 season is one of the best seasons ever for a shortstop. That year, he batted .385/.491/.607 with a 190 OPS+. That season is still the second-highest single-season OPS+ any shortstop has put up (min. 600 plate appearances).

Vaughan graded out with +12 defensive WAR, leading the league once in 1938. His career fielding percentage of .951 was also better than the average of .948. However, his range factor per game was +5.24, which was slightly worse than the average of +5.38.

Vaughan gets a knockdown because he only played 14 MLB seasons. But only 11 of those years saw him have at least 500 plate appearances. Still, +77.9 bWAR is impressive for less than 2000 MLB games. This was an era when the MLB season was only 156 games long. Vaughan averaged +6.0 bWAR per 140 games played. Vaughan had a very good career, just not a long one.

Number Five
Willie Stargell (1988)

Willie Stargell is the best power hitter in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ history. Pops spent his entire 21-season career with the Bucs, from 1962 through 1982. The Pirates signed Stargell in August of 1958. After a few years in the minor leagues, he secured a regular role in 1963 and didn’t let go of it until 1979.

Stargell batted .282/.360/.529 with a 147 OPS+ throughout his career. Stargell was known for his big power, as he hit 30+ home runs six different times, including leading the league twice. With 475 career home runs, he leads Ralph Kiner by 174. Brian Giles, Kiner, and Honus Wagner are the only other Pirates batters to have a higher OPS+ as well (min. 2000 plate appearances). Though he leads Wagner in RBI at 1540.

Stargell was a big-time hitter but was never a great fielder. He played most of his career in left field, where he had -27 total zone runs and a range factor per game of just +1.59 (league average was +1.81). He moved to first base late into his career and was an even worse defender with -44 TZR with a +9.05 RF/G (+9.92 RF/G average).

His poor defense brought his bWAR down to a still impressive +57.6. I almost put Vaughn ahead of Stargell. But Stargell was a much better batter, had nearly 1000 more total bases than Vaughan, and still played in over 543 games with 1304 more plate appearances. Because of that, Stargell sneaks past Vaughn for a top-five spot. In 1988, Stargell made it to the Hall on his first ballot, receiving 82.4% of the votes.

Number Four
Fred Clarke (1945)

Fred Clarke is if Max Carey was a better hitter but slightly less aggressive on the basepaths. Clarke was acquired by the Pirates via trade from the Louisville Colonels via a trade that involved 16 different players. Four of the players involved are now in the Hall of Fame. One of them will reappear in this list later. Clarke would become a staple in the Pirates’ outfield from 1900 through 1911, then transition to a player-coach role in 1913 through 1915.

As a batter, Clarke hit .312/.386/.429 with an OPS+ of 133, making him 33% better than the league average batter. Clarke played in 21 different MLB seasons, albeit only 19 of them were as a regular player and not as a player-coach. Playing for so long, plus hitting over .300, helped him collect 2665 total hits.

While Clarke never led the league in stolen bases, he was a threat to run at all times. He took an extra 509 bases, placing him just inside the 500 stolen base club. He just edges out Paul Molitor and Luis Aparicio and is tied with Ichiro for the 35th most of all time. From the stats we have, Clarke was a good defensive outfielder with a +2.30 range factor per game compared to the average of +2.07.

A couple of things sell me on Clarke over Stargell. First is the defense. Then there’s the base running. Finally, there’s the hit total. Because of that, I put Clarke just ahead of Stargell in today’s rankings. Clarke made it to Cooperstown through the Old Timers committee in 1945.

Number Three
Paul Waner (1952)

Both Waner brothers are in the Hall of Fame, but Paul “Big Poison” Waner was by far the better of the two. Waner was acquired by the Pirates from the Pacific Coast League in October of 1925. From 1926 through 1940, Waner established himself as one of the best Pirates ever. He would end his career playing the last five seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves, and New York Yankees, but he is best known for his 15 seasons in Pittsburgh.

Waner ended his MLB career batting .333/.404/.473 with an OPS+ of 134. Waner was just a really good hitter. He led the league in batting average three times, had 30+ doubles in ten different seasons, and won the first MVP award in Pirates franchise history, taking home the award in 1927.

Waner is part of the all-elite 3000 hit club. He also drove in over 1300 runs at 1309 (to be exact). Only 25 of the 33 members of the 3K hit club have that many runs batted in. Waner was primarily a right fielder, where he was a solid defender with a +2.12 range factor per game compared to the league average of +2.03. He also had a handful of games played at first base, left field, and center field, none of which he graded out as a positive defender. Granted, his games played at other positions other than right field make up less than 5% of his total appearances.

Being part of the 3000 hit club puts Waner high up on today’s list. Not to mention he has nearly 75 bWAR, clocking in at 74.8 while batting as good as he did throughout his career makes him the third-best Hall of Fame player from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite being so good throughout his career, it took Waner his sixth ballot to make the Hall in 1952 when he received 83.3% of votes.

Number Two
Roberto Clemente (1973)

We now get to the second-best Hall of Famer in Pittsburgh Pirates’ history, “The Great One,” Roberto Clemente. Clemente is by far the best Rule 5 draft pick of all time, as Branch Rickey stole him from his former team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1954. Clemente played all 19 of his MLB seasons with the Pirates, and not only did he become one of the greatest Pirates players ever, but he went down as one of the best outfielders of all time.

Clemente was a very good hitter, batting .317/.359/.475 with a career OPS+ of 130. Clemente’s very last hit in the Major Leagues was his 3000th. From 1960 through 1971, his last season before his tragic passing, Clemente reached double-digit home runs every season, finishing his career with 240. He also earned MVP votes in 12 seasons. The only year from ‘60 to ‘71 he didn’t get at least one vote was in 1968, but in all honesty, he should have been a finalist as he led all position players in bWAR. He took the award home in 1966.

Clemente is the best defensive right fielder of all time, no question about it. At the very least, he is a top-five defensive outfielder of all time, including center field and left field. He had +205 total zone runs in his career, making him one of just five players to reach that milestone. Clemente was famous for his .50 caliber arm in right field, making some unbelievable throws. He racked up 266 outfield assists, which is only the 17th most of all-time. But if you look at the all-time outfield assist leaderboard on Baseball Reference, he is the only one who doesn’t have a black-and-white photograph. Clemente’s efforts with the glove earned him a dozen Gold Gloves, the most by any National League right fielder.

Clemente could have 100% played into his early 40s. In his final season, he batted .317/.356/.479 with a 138 OPS+; all four stats matched or exceeded his career norms. It’s a tragedy we never go to see a true decline. There’s definitely a chance he would reach 3500 hits, +100 bWAR, get 250+ homers, and 1500 runs batted in had he not passed so early in a plane crash in an attempt to bring supplies to Nicaragua. Because of his tragic passing, Clemente was on the ballot the very next voting season, where he received 92.8% of votes and made it in first try.

Number One
Honus Wagner (1936)

At the number one spot and the best Hall of Fame player who wears a Pittsburgh Pirates cap in Cooperstown is none other than Honus Wagner. Wagner was one of the other players who got traded from Louisville to Pittsburgh alongside Fred Clarke. The Flying Dutchman spent 18 of his 21 MLB seasons in Pittsburgh from 1900 to 1917. Not only did he establish himself as arguably the best Pirate of all time, but the best baseball players of all time as well, regardless of team or position.

Wagner was a career .328/.391/.467 slasher with a 151 wRC+. Wagner saw time all across the field, with the only position he didn’t log one inning at being catcher. Wagner was a great defender wherever he played, but shortstop was by far his best position where he had a +5.63 range factor per game compared to +5.36 throughout the league.

Wagner racked up +21.3 defensive WAR. Only 50 players have reached the +20 milestone, with Wagner ranking 44th. That surpasses some of the best defenders of all time, including Mike Schmidt, Carlton Fisk, and Nellie Fox, as well as modern stars like Nolan Arenado, Kevin Kiermaier, and Brandon Crawford.

Wagner is simply the best-hitting shortstop of all time. Only Derek Jeter has more hits than him among players who played at least half of their games up the middle. He and Willie Wells are the only shortstops to have an OPS+ above 150 through at least 2000 career plate appearances, but Wells played his entire pro career in the Negro Leagues. Wagner also stole 723 bases, which is nearly 100 more than the second most by a SS, Bert Campaneris with 649, and is the 10th most of all-time. He also has the most doubles and triples.

Wagner not only reached the +100 bWAR milestone but shattered it by reaching +131, the tenth most of all time. You could combine Clemente and Maz’s career bWAR and still only match Wagner. I don’t see how you couldn’t put Wagner at the top of this list. Wagner was part of the inaugural Hall of Fame class in 1936, where he, alongside Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson, all got to Cooperstown. Wagner received 95.1% of the votes, the same amount Ruth did.