It's 2006... We let's be for real folks... we now have .260 career hitters in the Hall Of Fame. Addie Joss was without a shadow of a doubt a Hall Of Famer. Pitcher ratings on the Baseball Reference.com site will provide you with all the sound statistical analysis needed to make a your judgement. Compare him to others from his era, as well as the present. If he had not died so young (in the middle of his career), and his numbers were extended, you will see that many lesser quality major league pitchers have been allowed into the Hall in recent years, most unfortunately.

This may sound like heresy, but I don't believe Addie Joss belongs in the Hall of Fame. He pitched 9 seasons, one short of the 10 required for admission, and one of those only a partial season the year he was dying. His numbers, while good, are not spectacular in the context of his era. While he was involved in one of the legendary pitching duel in baseball history, and threw a perfect game, those in themselves aren't normally enough to get someone elected. He was, however, a personable and likeable man, and his early death was cause for widespread mourning, and one of the first all-star games was played to provide some money for his family. In 1978, in a fit of nostalgia, the Veterans committee of the Hall of Fame, gave him a plaque. Sentiment is all very well, and Joss was a good pitcher, but he doesn't belong in Cooperstown.

Excellent numbers even by deadball era standards. Might have ranked higher on the list, but died young.

One of the most overlooked pitchers in baseball history. Joss won 160 games in less than 9 seasons, pitched two no-hitters (one of which was a perfect game), led the American League in wins in 1907 (24), had one of the lowest career ERAs ever (of course, this was during the dead-ball era) and routinely outdueled the best pitchers of his time when they went head-to-head. Joss, at 6-3, 185, was a physically imposing pitcher for his era and he stymied opposing hitters with his strange wind-up and delivery. Died of meningitis at the age of 31. His achievement was so great that he is one of the few players in the Hall of Fame (elected in 1978) who had the ten-year career requirement waived by the Veterans' Committee (The only other player I can think of so honored his Ross Youngs, who played in the outfield with Casey Stengel for the 1920s-30s New York Giants).