Years ago - more than a decade, now - I started a series called the Bizarro Hall of Fame on my old blog. The premise was easy: chronicling the men who appeared on a Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, yet received zero votes. Some time ago, I moved the archives here, to this blog, and every year on Hall of Fame announcement day I look forward to adding to my ranks. So here they are: the six newest members of my Bizarro Hall of Fame.
Orlando Hudson – a veteran of six major league teams, Hudson won Gold Gloves for three of them, totaling four in the five-year stretch from 2005-09. He was a roughly average hitter, with four seasons of 10+ home runs and a career OPS+ of 97, though he did hit for the cycle on April 13, 2009, in his first home game as a member of the Dodgers. Hudson’s two-time All-Star career was one of the more unlikely in Bizarro history: he began his professional baseball life as a 43rd round pick in the 1997 draft.
Aubrey Huff – one of the top power hitters in the early years of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Huff had .300-30-100 seasons in 2003 (.311-34-107) and 2008 (.304-32-108) and just missed a third in 2004 (.297-29-104). He finished seventh in the National League MVP voting in 2010, hitting .290-26-86 to lead the San Francisco Giants to their first World Series win since 1954 (he added a second ring two years later, though his contributions to that run were far less).
In early 2017, Huff authored an autobiography, Baseball Junkie, that talked about his struggles with depression, anxiety, and the murder of his father when Aubrey was six years old. Shortly before the publication of the book, Huff was involved in a controversial Twitter exchange stemming from comments he made supporting newly elected President Donald Trump.
Jason Isringhausen – at one time, Isringhausen was supposed to be the Future of the New York Mets, a young gun who would – with fellow phenoms Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson – return the organization to the glory days of Gooden and Strawberry. And for a time, it looked like that would be the case: as a rookie in 1995, Isringhausen went 9-2 with a 2.81 ERA and 144 ERA+, kicking off his career with seven innings of two-hit ball against the Cubs on July 17; the right-hander finished fourth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.
He lost the 1998 season to injury and, almost exactly four years later, on June 19, 1999, Isringhausen made the final start of his major league career, allowing six runs and failing to get out of the third inning against St. Louis. Seventeen days later, his second career began when he emerged from the bullpen to record the first of 300 career saves, a three-inning, three-hit performance against the Montreal Expos (fun fact: his 300th save also came as a member of the Mets, on August 1, 2011).
Isringhausen notched eight more saves in 1999 (all of them after being traded to the Oakland Athletics at the July 31 deadline), then blossomed in 2000, saving 30+ games in seven of the following eight seasons. His best year with the statistic came in 2004, when he had 47 saves for St. Louis en route a World Series loss against Boston
Brad Lidge – Lidge was a beast in 2004 and 2005, posting a 2.07 ERA with 71 saves and a 14.2 K/9 in 150 games for Houston before saving Games Two, Three, and Four of the National League Championship Series against St. Louis. It was Game Five that was credited with destroying his Closer’s Psyche, however; after striking out the first two batters, the next two batters reached to bring up Albert Pujols. On the second pitch, Pujols did something completely indecent to Lidge’s slider, launching it about 900 feet to left field. Though the Astros ultimately defeated St. Louis and advanced to the World Series, Lidge neither saved another game nor pitched particularly well the rest of the postseason.
He struggled in 2006 and 2007, with the difficulties attributed to Pujols, but Lidge proved in 2008 that the moment had not defeated him. Pitching for the Phillies after arriving in a five-player offseason deal, he was again dominant, recording 41 saves and a 1.95 ERA in 72 games. He made his second All-Star appearance, finished fourth in the Cy Young voting, and eighth in the MVP race. Most importantly, he was nails when it counted: in two World Series games, he pitched two innings and recorded two saves. His finest moment came in the same game and inning as his worst: with two outs in the ninth inning of Game Five, he struck out Eric Hinske to clinch Philadelphia’s first baseball championship since 1980.
Kevin Millwood – Millwood spent the first six seasons of his career with the Atlanta Braves, twice winning 18 games and finishing third in the 1999 National League Cy Young voting. He wasn’t really the same following a trade to Philadelphia following the 2002 season: despite an American League ERA title in 2005, he posted a 94-106 record, 4.34 ERA (100 ERA+), and 6.5 K/9 in the final ten years of his career (compared to 75-46, 3.73, and 7.5 with the Braves). All told he played for seven teams in 16 seasons and led the American League with 16 losses in 2010.
Millwood’s career came with two big highlights: in his first postseason outing on October 6, 1999, he beat Houston with a complete game one-hitter (the only hit was a second inning home run by the late Ken Caminiti); and on April 27, 2003, shortly after joining the Phillies, he pitched a no-hitter against San Francisco, walking three and striking out ten.
Carlos Zambrano – I’ll probably always remember Zambrano as the ace of the pre-World Series Cubs. He was good for 30+ starts a year from 2003-08, compiling a 91-51 record, 3.39 ERA, and 1,075 strikeouts in that span. He closed out that run with a no-hitter on September 14, 2008. Zambrano made three All-Star appearances and has three Top 5 Cy Young finishes to his credit, but also struggled with control at times, leading the National League in walks in 2005 and 2006 and hit batsmen in 2004.
Zambrano also won three Silver Slugger awards in a career that saw him slug 24 home runs, tied with John Clarkson and Bob Gibson for the seventh-most by a pitcher. His career ended in 2012 at the age of 31; his current age of 36 likely puts him in the running for the youngest Bizarro in history (file that under, “Things I Claim Without Looking at Any Actual Data”).
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