With Ron Santo’s recent enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the 1960s era Chicago Cubs, who were a terrible team, now had 4 certified immortals playing for them (Ernie Banks, Santo, Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins). The 1966 Cubs were 59-103, for Pete’s sake.
Is 4 HOFers with a .364 winning percentage, a record? How about for other sports? What do you think?
This is a tough one, as .364 is pretty goddamned low – a lot of teams with bad stretches never make it that low. The Mets have only done it once since 1965 (in 1993, with one HOFer, Eddie Murray).
The 1988 Orioles were .325 with both Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray (again) on the roster. The 1928 Boston Braves were .327 with both Rogers Hornsby and George Sisler, but I don’t think there were any other Hall of Famers on either of these teams.
This probably isn’t as rare as you’d think- remember that:
Look at the 1966 Yankees- they finished in 10th place with aging, fading Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford on the roster.
Look at the 2000 Dallas Cowboys, who finished 5-11 with the declining Troy Aikman at QB and the declining Emmitt Smith at running back
Or, for that matter, the 1989 Cowboys had YOUNG Michael Irvin and Troy aikman, but went 1-15.
They had Curt Schilling as a rookie, and he could be in the hall in a few years. Here’s the full roster. I’m pretty sure nobody else on that team is going to make it.
The Oklahoma City Thunder of a couple of years ago could be a future example. It’s too early to tell how many of their players could wind up in the Hall because it’s still a young team, but in 2008-09 they had future stars in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and important pieces like Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha and only went 23-59, last in their division and third-worst in the conference. The next year they added James Harden and won 50 games, beginning their current run.
The 1989 Braves went 63-97 with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz and a couple near-misses in David Justice and Dale Murphy.
Hey, look at the 1958 Green Bay Packers! Just before Vince Lombardi was hired, they went 1-10-1, finishing in last.
Their roster included future Hall of Famers Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke and Forrest Gregg .
The 1998 Colts went 3-13 (0.188) with Peyton Manning, Marshall Faulk, and Marvin Harrison.
The Astros of the mid-60s had Joe Morgan, two near-miss guys in Rusty Staub and Jim Wynn, and (at different times) Hall of Famers Nellie Fox and Eddie Mathews; they cracked 70 wins once over 4 seasons that they had that group together.
I think it is quite rare – in baseball, anyway, if you’re going to define “worst” by winning percentage. There aren’t that many Hall of Famers to go around, and seasons below .400 are not that common. The 60s Yankees teams in decline never went below .440, and the Yankees haven’t finished below .400 since 1913. The Senators and Browns and Phillies have fielded some terrible teams over the years, but never with multiple Hall of Famers as far as I can tell.
Another great instance of a team whose young superstars just hadn’t reached their potential yet.
As I said, there are a LOT of awful teams with old, washed-up future Hall of Famers and there are a LOT of awful teams whose rosters include future Hall of Famers who haven’t hit their stride yet.
What we DON’T tend to see are lousy teams with a lot of superstars in their peak years. Can anyone think of a last place team that was loaded with future Hall of Famers who were in their primes? Perhaps a baseball team that had loads of great sluggers but no pitching (or vice versa)? A high scoring NFL team that couldn’t play defense worth a lick (or vice versa)?
The 1925 Yankees had a down year and finished 7th out of 8 teams. That roster featured Babe Ruth (whose numbers plummeted), the rookie Lou Gehrig, and pitchers Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt.
The 2000 Astros had Biggio and Bagwell near their peaks, Lance Berkman in his first full good season, and Billy Wagner, who I think was injured that year but was in his prime years. They finished 4th at 72-90. (They also had great offensive years from Moises Alou and Richard Hidalgo; the pitching on that team was flat out miserable, even taking the home park and era into account).
The 1993 A’s weren’t awful (68-94), but finished last in the 7 team western division. They had Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, a 41-year old Goose Gossage, and Mark McGwire (although only for 27 games in a injury-shortened season).
The 1943 Giants had Mel Ott, Joe Medwick (for part of the year), 35 year old Ernie Lombardi, and 40 year old Carl Hubbell. They were 55-98.
1930 Reds had .383 (59-95) percentage with three HOF players: Leo Durocher, Harry Heilmann, & Eppa Rixey.
Durocher is in the HOF as a manager, not a player though. Light hitting shortstops (.247 BA) generally don’t make it to the Hall, Rabbit Marranville not withstanding.
Maybe not so coincidentally, Durocher was the manager of the 1966 Cubs, with whom I started this thread. 
The 1966 Chicago Cubs also had a 39 year-old, washed up, future HoFer Robin Roberts on the roster. Roberts was 2-3 with a 6.14 ERA.
This would almost certainly be the record to beat. Of course, easier to find a football team to fit the parameters rather than a baseball team.
In 1958, their first season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers were terrible and finished in 7th place.
Their roster included two over-the-hill future Hall of Famers (Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider) and two young pitchers who WOULD become superstars and Hall of Famers, but hadn’t achieved much yet (Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale).
<nitpick> Gehrig’s rookie year was '23.
The previous season Drysdale had finished 17-9 with a 2.69 ERA in 220-odd IP. At the age of 20. What have YOU achieved by the age of 20??