The Bizarro Hall of Fame: Introducing the Class of 1978

As part of an ongoing project, 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 1978
Mudcat Grant – Had there been a Cy Young award for each league in 1965, rather than an overall major league award, Grant would have been a very good contender (21-7, 3.30 ERA). Forty-two years later, he is still one of only thirteen African-American pitchers to record twenty wins in a season. Grant wrote a book on the topic in 2006.

Pedro Ramos – Ramos’ career record of 117-160 doesn’t look very impressive, but it should be noted that he played many of his “best” seasons with the lowly, lowly Washington Senators, one of the worst teams in baseball. From 1958 to 1961, he averaged 19 losses per season.

(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)