How many Hall of Famers did you see live in person?

Question that has been going around some of my friends.

How many baseball hall of fame players have you seen play live?

Good one. I'll have to consult a list. Doesn't count, but I had my picture taken with Johnny Bench, and my picture taken in front of Catfish Hunter.

Okay, ones I know for sure: Reggie, Ripken, Alomar, Maddux, Frank Thomas, Junior, Trammell, McGriff.

This is where my very faulty memory becomes a problem. I'd say there's a good chance I saw Winfield and Molitor--it was harder to get a decent Jays ticket in '92 and '93, but I'm sure I saw at least two or three regular season games those years.

Possible: Halladay, Henderson, Rice, Yount, Jeter.

Tony Gwynn
Rickey
Edgar Martinez
Possibly Trevor Hoffman?

Also saw Bonds in his last season

Tim Raines (w Expos)
Andre Dawson
Ryne Sandberg
Johnny Bench (playing 3rd base)
Ozzie Smith
Frank Thomas
Barry Larkin
Ken Griffey Jr.
Craig Biggio
Tim Glavine
Jim Thome
Larry Walker (w Expos)
Randy Johnson @ Indianapolis Indians
Scott Rolen - just remembered him with Reds

I also saw Manny Ramierez with Cleveland and with Dodgers.

Impressive! I have this box with concert tickets going as far back as the late '70s, but regrettably I didn't save baseball tickets (when such a thing existed) as carefully. Found five in the same box:

- playing the Tigers 9/25/87: Trammell already noted
- back-to-back, Jays in old Municipal Stadium 9/9/89 and 9/10/89: McGriff already noted
- playing the Angels 9/20/11: this is interesting--I saw Trout during his call-up in 2011 when I didn't know who he was (saw him later, too, when everyone did)
- playing the Yankees, 4/20/13: add Ichiro to my list, also Rivera (who picked up a save)

I saw Maddux beat the Expos in Montreal...If I can pinpoint which game, I can probably add one or two more.

I too saw Manny with the Dodgers. Saw McGuire with Oakland.

I honestly dont remember all of them and a lot of the dudes i saw arent in the hall for… reasons.

Piazza, lasorda, torre, mo, jetes, ichiro, beltre, mauer for sure.

Tktktk, trout, miggy, shohei, judge, lindor

off the top of my head:

maddux
smoltz
glavine
chipper jones
fred mcgriff
david ortiz
vlad guerrero

i probably saw a bunch of others during my run of seeing the braves between 92 and 96 but couldn't remember. i do know the one time i could've seen barry bonds he wasn't playing and i won money from my dad who was convinced the outfielder playing that day was him but he was too blind to read jersey numbers.

I thought for sure I'd seen more, but it's Mike Piazza, Tim Salmon, and Chuck Finley. (plus Lasorda and Scully)

Mookie is still compiling

Our mookie ii mean

This is almost embarrassing, but:

I figured out which Maddux start my dad and I saw. I knew I'd written about it in my old fanzine as part of a long thing on Maddux's incredible multi-season run. A quote from that: "Our seats were second-level directly behind home, so we didn't have that great an angle on pitch movement: the umpire and catcher would block the view just as the ball crossed the plate, which is when Maddux's pitches are supposed to dart all over the place. It seemed like a lot of batters were taking called third strikes and walking away grimacing." This was followed by a few game notes, which, combined with mention of it being early August and the issue being from 1995, make it easy to figure out which game:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MON/MON199508040.shtml

Nowhere did I mention the opposing starter...I saw Maddux face Pedro in 1995! I don't think this even clicked in two years later, when Pedro won his first Cy Young (still with the Expos). Anyway, add Martinez and Chipper Jones to my list. (Larry Walker's first year in Colorado, unfortunately.)

After the game, Maddux stood at 12-1, with an ERA of 1.74. Game time, 2:20; attendance, 20,184.

I saw this game in 1991, and i remember it so well.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA199107150.shtml

I remember Dennis Lamp facing Frank Thomas and he kept pacing the mound, Thomas had already hit two HR and it was clear Lamp just didn't know what to do with him.

This game featured HOFers Thomas, Wade Boggs, Tim Raines, Carlton Fisk, young Sammy Sosa, plus bonus hall of very good guys like Robin Ventura, Ellis Burks, and other fun dudes like Lance Johnson, Ozzie Guillen, Mike Greenwell, Mo Vaughn, Jack Clark, Tom Brunansky...

Sammy is a HOFer in my heart

I can add Andre Dawson. I know I saw the Red Sox visit in '94, before the strike, and checking, it was the only time they were in all year, a four-game series and Dawson played in every game.

Put this up on Facebook, where I knew I'd get at least a couple of great answers. I don't think they'd mind me quoting...Steven, who lives in the Bay Area:

I'll think about this, but I can quickly note that I was going to Giants games all the way back to 1958, so I would have seen Mays, Marichal, McCovey, Cepeda, and Perry just in the 60s. Add in a lot of NL Hall guys, and I would have seen lots of those, the Dodgers for sure since they came to town a dozen or so times a year. Koufax and Drysdale, for sure. Also off the top of my head, saw Rickey and Eck and Reggie.

And Martin, who gave me the Abstract I posted about a few months ago:

I've seen everyone you have, except Maddux. Also Mays, Mantle, Clemente, Musial, Stargell, Banks, McCovey, Killebrew, Yaz, Brett, Rice, Ryan, Randy Johnson, Raines, Vlad Sr., Carter, Walker, Fisk, Ford, Kaline, Billy Williams, Santo, Carew , Oliva, Blyleven, Jim Bunning, Eddie Murray, Brock, Yount. That's off the top of my head. Did you mention Rickey, Clemens, and Molitor? Saw Gibson, Frank and Brooks Robinson, Eddie Mathews, Luke Appling in old-timers game. Saw Steve Carlton in minors.

Best part of being old.

i also saw a game in 1984 when i was nine years old, White Sox vs Yankees. Phil Niekro started for the Yankees, LaMarr Hoyt for the ChiSox. Carlton Fisk appeared as a pinch hitter, Dave Winfield was in the OF, Mattingly was at first base of course. Willie Randolph at second, plus Don Baylor in the lineup at DH. Harold Baines played RF for the Sox. I was going to say three HOFers but I forgot about Harold...

most memorable part of the game for me was young slugger Greg Walker hitting a pair of dingers.

I just can't remember stuff in such detail--I need ticket stubs and Baseball Reference.

Mike Piazza
Clayton Kershaw*
Albert Pujols*
Yadier Molina*

*Assuming they make it.

I also saw Carlos Beltran, who has a shot as well.

w/ reasonable certainty: cal, eddie, vlad guerrero, harold baines, jim thome, jeter, mariano rivera, pudge rodriguez, beltre, david ortiz, alan trammell...and i just b-ref'd my first game and realize that jim palmer started!

also, saw a couple of the cracker jack old timers games at rfk.

Cheating by looking at some other folks' lists.

Thome, Baines, Ripken, Murray, Jeter, Lee Smith, Ortiz, Roberto Alomar, Frank Thomas... I dunno, man, I've seen a lot of games over the years. Did I ever see Rickey Henderson play? I've gotta think yes but I can't be sure. Mattingly maybe, Griffey Jr., Vladimir Guerrero, Edgar Martinez, I sure went to a lot of AL games while these guys were playing but who knows.

Future HoFers I've seen: Ohtani, Machado, Bryce Harper, who else? Madison Bumgarner seemed like at least a potential future HoFer at the time I saw him pitch but then not. Don't think I've seen Trout or Pujols.

• Gwynn and Sutter (SDP @ ATL, July 85)
• Boggs (LAA @ BOS, 1989 while we were there for Worldcon; Clemens had pitched the night before but we were treated to a Jim Abbott 4-hit CG shutout)
• I saw several games at Turner Field in the 90s and early 00s but can't remember any of them, so might have seen Chipper, Smoltz, Maddux, Glavine
• Vlad Sr. (FLA @ MON, May 2003, the day after FIMAV '03 wrapped; great matchup btw Dontrelle Willis and Javier Vasquez; Willis' 1st loss of season)
• I went to a couple of SEA games my first time in Seattle, maybe ilxor sic has the year in his .xls, it was the year he and Gravel Puzzleworth converged on the city at the same time; one at Wrigley in 2013; one at Pac Bell Park in 2001; but can't remember opponents or details.
• Also saw a game at Candlestick in its last year, 1999; McGwire homered.

i just b-ref'd my first game and realize that jim palmer started!

Wish I could say that, and Seaver too. There's a chance I saw one or both of them. I went to two or three Jays games a year through the first half of the '80s; Seaver was in Chicago '84-'86, Palmer didn't retire till '85. But I just don't know. I didn't make a mental note at the time, like I should have: "You're seeing Tom Seaver pitch tonight; remember this, or save the ticket stub, or something."

(Seaver: and Boston for part of '86.)

Mike Piazza
Clayton Kershaw*
Albert Pujols*
Yadier Molina*

Add David Ortiz.

And Derek Jeter.

off the top of my head

current hofers
jeter (saw his 3000th hit (a homer off david price)!)
mariano
boggs
raines (these last two were on the 96 yanks who i saw a few times, tho i was too young to form any real memories)
ortiz
big unit (yanks version)
ripken (i met him when i was 8 or so and remember him being absurdly tall. also saw a few late 90s yanks-o’s games)
robbie alomar (o’s and indians!)
piazza
rickey (with the mets! saw one of his famed leadoff homers)
piazza guerrero (w/ angels)
helton
thome

future hofers
trout
harper
ohtani (saw judge rob shohei’s potential homer right in front of me in right field)
pujols (in lesser angels mode, but still)
ichiro (mariners and yankees)
miggy
judge
jo ram (maybe?)
machado (maybe?) (young version w/ o’s)

p.e.d. division
clemens
a-rod
robbie cano
palmeiro
manny

vlad guerrero lol, not piazza guerrero (which i’m sure is a top tourist attraction in some italian city)

oh and def adrian beltre

The ones I know for sure because I know the exact dates of games I saw:

Ryne Sandberg
Andre Dawson
Tim Raines
Barry Larkin
Larry Walker
Greg Maddux
Trevor Hoffman

Other possibilities:

Frank Thomas*
Harold Baines*
Carlton Fisk*
Robin Yount**
Paul Molitor**
Ozzie Smith***

*Saw at least a couple of White Sox games in the late '80s/early '90s
**Pretty sure I saw a Brewers game in the same era
***I saw a Cardinals-Expos game in Montreal in early August 1994, but I don't know the exact date of the four-game series. Larry Walker played all of them, which is why he's on my definites list, but Ozzie Smith only played three of the four.

Lol i forgot i was on the field for jim thome day in cle in 2011