The procession of legendary players leaving the league ebbs and flows from year to year - this time around we are again hit especially hard, losing a bunch of HOF locks or near-thereto in one fell swoop.
Lou Gehrig
In sim, as in life, Lou will be eternally interlinked with the Babe. Here, however, it could be argued he ended up slightly shading the big guy. Lou leaves the game, as you would well know if you're following along, as it's all-time leader in HR - in the end finishing just 2 clear of the Sultan on 571. He also holds the single-season record of 58. Other high leaderboard finishes for Lou include SLG (1st, 598), Runs (1st, 2039), RBI (2nd, 1932), OPS (2nd, 1023), OBP (3rd, 425), bWAR (5th, 125.0), Games (7th, 2703), Hits (8th, 2877).
Charlie Gehringer
A typically low-key performance from the Mechanical Man - few individual accolades, but sheer and relentless agglomeration over time. It will be fascinating to see how differently the voters treat him from Lou.
Lefty Gomez
Like Lou with Babe, Goofy kind of gets eclipsed by Grove. Nevertheless, this fine career should get him a plaque without a worry, although it might take a few ballots before it happens. This is a notoriously tough crowd.
And, finally, two guys I had the pleasure of having with me at the Bucs for long stretches.
Paul Waner
Kinda nice that Big P and Little P are leaving together. Sadly, only Paul will get a look-in for C-Town, and even then I'm not sure he's a lock. I'll be voting for him until I either am no longer able or no longer need to.
Jimmie Foxx
For a while there, I thought XX was headed to the top of the HR list. But the precipitous tank he suffered IRL got him here as well and he went from rooster to feather-duster lickety-split and was basically unplayable the last couple years. The power numbers and near-100 bWAR make him a safer bet than PW to get the Call.