He has more hits (2,757) than Joe Morgan. He blasted more homers (256) than Barry Larkin and has a higher bWAR (54.3) than Tony Perez. Yet, despite all these accomplishments, Vada Pinson‘s career has largely been ignored, while the other three former Cincinnati Reds players have plaques hanging in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum. Why is this?
There’s a couple of reasons for Pinson’s omission. First, while Pinson spent a decade patrolling center field at Crosley Field from 1958 through 1968, the Reds made just one postseason appearance, falling in the 1961 World Series to the New York Yankees.