Is it just my imagination, or are pre-war Hall of Fame debates more diplomatic than post-war Hall of Fame debates? I get the feeling that if we were talking about Luis Tiant, Tony Oliva and Minnie Minoso being in Cooperstown, there would already be a few comments complaining about how unworthy these candidates are — and how there's already too many players in the Hall of Fame. Personally, I say open the floodgates ...
As for pre-war players who are worthy, my list starts with Cecil Travis. Doesn't he have the third highest batting average ever for a shortstop? Isn't that enough to send him to Cooperstown? Some will argue he didn't play long enough, but while some other future HOFers (like Hal Newhouser and Lou Boudreau) were padding their stats against minor leaguers, he was busy fighting in the Battle of the Bulge ...
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