The Bizarro Hall of Fame: Introducing the Class of 2004

In the coming weeks, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
Class of 2004
Danny Darwin – Here’s something I did not know Danny Darwin: his brother, Jeff, was a relief pitcher for the Mariners and White Sox for three seasons in the mid-1990s. Somehow, my wife and Baseball Reference knew this, but I somehow missed it. The elder Darwin (Danny is nearly fourteen years older than Jeff) had a lifetime record of 171-182 in 21 major league seasons, but had a perfectly respectable 3.84 ERA (including a National League-leading 2.21 mark in 1990). His best season was with the Red Sox in 1993, when he countered Roger Clemens’ worst season to that point with fifteen wins and a 3.26 ERA.

Bob Tewksbury – I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for Tewksbury since looking at his baseball card as a child and learning he was originally from New Hampshire. He is still active in the area, working as a television analyst for the Red Sox and doing charitable work with the Boys & Girls Clubs of New Hampshire. As a player, he enjoyed his best success in his early thirties, winning 33 games for the Cardinals and finishing third to Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine in the 1992 Cy Young Award voting.

Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 2003.