Top 5 - Baseball Players from Florida

Here are who I consider the top 5 baseball players born in Florida.

1. Steve Carlton - Hall of Fame pitcher - 329 career wins and 4 Cy Young Awards
2. Andre Dawson - should be in the Hall of Fame -as Ryne Sandberg said "he played the game the right way"
3. Fred McGriff - another guy who should be in the Hall of Fame - lead both the AL and NL in HR in separate years
4. Chipper Jones - will be in the Hall of Fame - not a ton of HR but top 25 all-time in OPS
5. (tie) Tim Raines - 5th all-time in stolen bases (tie) Gary Sheffield - closing in on 500 HR

I was surprised that there was only one Hall of Famer from Florida. You would think that a state that is always in the top 3 (with California and Texas) in producing athletes would have more than one. Florida does have a number of players who either should be in the Hall of Fame or are the most borderline of cases. You could actually arrange the last four players on my list in any order and I would not argue with it.

I was also surprised to learn that Wade Boggs was not born in Florida but instead was born in Omaha, Nebraska.

Florida is also home to the player who perhaps blew the most talent in the history of MLB - Doc Gooden. Conversely it is also home to the player who has probably maximized his God given gifts more than any other in Tim Wakefield.