Who are the greatest living Baseball Hall of Famers?

Some of baseball’s greats have departed us in recent years. Tom Seaver, Al Kaline, Hank Aaron, Lou Brock & Joe Morgan. This very year, Willie Mays and Pete Rose.

Rose’s passing has stayed with me in recent days. I marveled as a youngster at his sheer grit, determination and passion he displayed on the baseball diamond.

As a youngster in Chicago, I could pull in games at night from WLW in Cincinnati on my transistor radio. To my 8 year old ears, it was audio magic when Pete would come up to bat in clutch moments with runners in scoring position. It got me thinking with these legends passing, who are the greatest baseball players alive today?

Here’s my top five with the only prerequisites being that they have to be currently living and enshrined in Cooperstown.

1). Sandy Koufax

Can you imagine retiring at the age of 30? Koufax had to due to chronic elbow pain and yet in a relatively short career it was nothing short of astounding what he accomplished as a pitcher. Four World Series Rings, four No Hitters, and the first ever 3-time Cy Young Award winner. For good measure, he also threw a perfect game in 1965 against the Cubs.

2). Johnny Bench

If Pete Rose was the spark plug of the Big Red Machine, Bench was the engine. Back to back titles in 75-76’ and a remarkable 10 Gold Gloves behind the plate. Fun fact, Bench hit the only Grand Slam that Jim Palmer ever surrendered in his career.

3). Ken Griffey Jr.

When I think of Junior, it’s the smile, a backwards ball cap and a genuine love of the game. I would plan vacations in the early 90’s when Camden Yards was in its infancy just to see my “favorite player in my favorite ballpark” at the time. If you need one moment, go to October 8th, 1995 in the ALDS versus the Yankees. That singular play saved baseball in Seattle and made Griffey Jr legendary.

4). Cal Ripken Jr.

Long before Robert Downey Jr stepped into the Marvel Universe, Cal Ripken Jr was Iron Man. A staggering 2,632 consecutive games were played. Cal healed the game and brought fans back after the 94’ strike. A 19x All-Star and 2x MVP, yet remarkably only a pair of Gold Gloves in his career. He was and still is Orioles Baseball.

5). Rickey Henderson

Sure Rickey loved himself some Rickey with an ego as large as the Pacific Ocean, but for good reason. Over a 25 year career which featured 4 different stints with the A’s and 9 total teams in all, Henderson redefined the lead off position. Not only could he hit for power, he was prolific on the base paths. Consider that Rickey has 468 more stolen bases than fellow HOFer Lou Brock. Stole 130 bases in the 1982 season. For context, that’s 42 more than the Yankees as a team had this past regular season.