History
Ken Keltner was a major-league third baseman who compiled a .276 batting average, 163 home runs and 852 RBI in his career. A timely hitter, the seven-time All-Star was a fabulous fielder known for going to his right. He ended Joe DiMaggio's record hit streak at 56 on July 17, 1941 before a then-record night crowd (67,468) in Cleveland. Keltner made two stops of DiMaggio line drives, one a brilliant backhanded stab. According to baseball historian Bill James in the 1994 book, Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?, a movement briefly developed to elect Keltner to the Hall of Fame. James created the eponymous list in order to evaluate the qualifications of players who have not been elected to the Hall, but merit consideration. As a subjective method, the Keltner list is not designed to yield an undeniable answer about a player's worthiness; for instance, as James says, "You can't total up the score and say that everybody who is at eight or above should be in, or anything like that."
The list originally appeared in James' 1985 Baseball Abstract along with the anecdote of how he developed the list.
Read more about this topic: Keltner List
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