Joe Gordon Marquee Hall of Fame 2009

He hit 25 home runs as a rookie in 1938, which was unusual for a second baseman, and he stayed at the position for 1,518 of his 1,566 games. He batted .268 with 1,530 hits and 975 runs batted in, and when he stopped playing only Rogers Hornsby had hit more home runs as a second baseman.

The 1942 award is the one still argued over. Ted Williams led the American League in home runs, in runs batted in and in runs that season; the writers gave the Most Valuable Player award to Gordon, who batted .322 for a Yankee team that won the pennant.

Military service took 1944 and 1945. New York traded him to Cleveland for the pitcher Allie Reynolds after a bad 1946, and in 1948 he hit 32 home runs with 124 runs batted in for a club that won the World Series. A veterans committee elected him in 2009, with ten of twelve votes, thirty-one years after he died.