Major League Baseball teams have historically had rosters of 25 players, although more recently the active rosters have been set at 26 players. With that many players on a team, plus considering the importance in a starting rotation, a bullpen, a lineup and even the defensive abilities of the 9 fielders, only one individual player can only do so much to help a team win a championship, no matter how good they are. That’s why, while in basketball, pretty much every top players of all time like Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kareem Abdul-Jababa, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Larry Bird all have multiple championship rings. With only 5 players on the court at any given time, the individual superstar has a much higher impact on the result of the game as opposed to baseball, where many of the games best players have played entire 20+ year careers and retired empty-handed – without even one World Series Championship. Today, I’ll rank the best 20 MLB players to ever play the game who never won a World Series ring.
This video will only focus on retired players, but look forward to part 2, which is coming up next and will link at the end of this video as soon as its live. That video will rank the top 20 active players who are still waiting on their championship ring, and the talent on that list is just as crazy as the one on the all-time list that starts now, but first 6 quick honorable mentions:
Honorable Mention #1: Ralph Kiner
The 6-time All Star and Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner led the league in homers for his first 6 seasons, but played for the Pirates during one of their worst eras. He not only never won a World Series, but never made it to the playoffs.
Honorable Mention #2: Fergie Jenkins
The Hall of Fame former Cy Young Award Winner Fergie Jenkins won 284 games in his career, but played mostly for the Cubs, who obviously never won a World Series during Jenkins career. He also played for the Phillies, Rangers and Red Sox but none of those teams won it all during Jenkins career. Like Kiner, he never even made it to the postseason.
Honorable Mention #3: Edgar Martinez
Edgar was with the Mariners during both their 1995 and 1997 playoff runs and the historic 2001 season. Of course, the Mariners fell short every time. Martinez hit well in the playoffs, smashing 8 career postseason bombs, but could never get that elusive ring.
Honorable Mention #4: Lee Smith
Long-time Chicago Cub players might become a pattern in today’s video. Lee Smith picked up 478 career saves, which was an MLB record for a number of years. Unfortunately, he only made the playoffs twice – once with Cubs in 1984 and once with the Red Sox in 1988. He didn’t pitch particularly well and neither time did his team make it past the championship series.
Honorable Mention #5: Roy Halladay
After 10 seasons of missing the playoffs with the Blue Jays, the late great Roy “Doc” Hallday threw a no-hitter in his very first posteason start in 2010 for the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. It helped propel his team into the next round, but the Phillies fell short against the Giants. His Phillies were back in the postseason in 2011, but this time, despite two great efforts from Hallday, they lost in the NLDS against St. Louis. He never made it back to the playoffs again, but the 2-time Cy Young Award Winner was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019, but sadly it happened after his tragic passing in a plane crash.
Honorable Mention #6: George Sisler
Poor George Sisler was an amazing player and had a .340 career batting average, hitting over .400 twice. But he played most of his career with the dreadful St. Louis Browns, who never won a World Series championship. During Sisler’s time there, they never even made the postseason nor did Sisler in his career. They eventually moved to Baltimore and became the modern day Orioles.
Honorable Mention #7: Don Mattingly
I have to mention Mattingly, who somehow played his entire 14 year career with the New York Yankees, made 6 All Star Teams, and became one of the best players in baseball, yet somehow never even got to the World Series. The Yankees won it all in 1978, the year before Mattingly was drafted and then the team went into a rough era in the 1980’s and early 90’s. Mattingly’s Yankees made the playoffs once in 1995, Mattingly’s final season, and he hit .417 but they lost to the Mariners in the ALCS. The next year, the Yankees won the World Series. They literally won a World Series the year before he was drafted and the year after his final season.
Honorable Mention #8: Jeff Bagwell
He played for 15 years for the Houston Astros, winning a Rookie of the Year, MVP and Gold Glove, but never got that championship ring. He played for some excellent Astros teams, made the playoffs 6 times, but only got to the World Series once, in 2005. The White Sox were victorious over Houston.
Honorable Mention #9: Craig Biggio
I might as well mention Biggio as well, who played with Bagwell that entire time, except he played even longer – 20 years with Houston. He made 7 All Stars teams, won 4 Gold Gloves, but like Bagwell, never won it all. Both players were elected to the Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention #10: Sam Crawford
The Hall of Famer Sam Crawford hit an astonishing and MLB record 309 triples, had a .309 career batting average, 367 steals, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1957. He made it to the World Series 3 times with the Tigers, but never won it all.
Honorable Mention #11: Jeff Kent
He hit more homers than any other second basemen in MLB history, won an MVP in 2000 and made 5 All Star Teams, but the powerful Jeff Kent never won it all, although he was no stranger to the postseason. He appeared in the playoffs with the Indians, Giants, Astros and Dodgers, but always fell short.
Now let’s move on to the Top 20.
#20. Adrian Beltre
Recently inducted Hall-of-Famer Adrian Beltre played for 21 years in the big leagues for the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox, and Rangers but never in a season that one of those teams made it all the way. His first taste of the playoffs was in 2004, but the Dodgers lost in the NLDS. The closest the 4-time All Star got to a championship was in 2011, his first year with Texas. The Rangers repeated as American League champs and made it to the Fall Classic, but were defeated in 7 games by the Cardinals, despite Beltre hitting .300 with 2 home runs. Beltre’s Rangers made the playoffs again in 2012, 2015 and 2016, but were eliminated each time before the World Series.
#19. Mike Piazza
The long time Dodgers and Met catcher played for a couple great franchises, but never in the right season. He won a Rookie of the Year and made 6 straight All Star Teams with L.A., but only made the playoffs twice – in 1995 and 1996, both times getting eliminated in the first round. In 1998, after a brief stint with the Marlins, he was traded to the Mets, a very strong team that took the 1999 Braves to a 6th game of the NLCS before getting eliminated. In 2000, they made it all the way to the World Series, where Piazza had some historic moments such as this freak incident with Roger Clemens. However, the Yankees won the series. Piazza had one last chance in 2006 with the Padres, who made the playoffs but were swept immediately by the Cardinals.
#18. Carlton Fisk
Fisk had an extremely long and successful 24 year career with the Red Sox and White Sox taking lord knows how much damage behind the plate as a catcher, yet he never won a World Series title. It might be a little surprising since Fisk hit one of the most famous World Series home runs in history, a walkoff shot in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. But some people might not know that didn’t win the series; it just forced a Game 7. The Red Sox ended up losing that final game to the Reds. Fisk made it back to the playoffs just one more time in 1983 with the White Sox, but his team lost the series 3 games to 1 to Baltimore.
#17. Sammy Sosa
It might be controversial to put steroid guys on this list, but as just one of 9 players in the 600-home run club and some one who smashed over 60 3 times, he has to be mentioned. Sosa, like many of the players on this, simply played for the wrong teams – and one of those teams was of course the Chicago Cubs. Sosa spent 13 of his 18 years with the Cubs, won an MVP and put up video game power numbers, but only made the playoffs twice – once 1998 when the Cubs lost to Atlanta in the NLDS, and again in the famous 2003 postseason when the Cubs got to the NLCS against the Florida Marlins and looked to have everything under control, when the Bartman incident occurred and the Cubs completely meltdown down, losing the game and series. Sosa never got back to the playoffs.
#16. Ryne Sandberg
Not the first and definitely not the last Cub to make the list is Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, who spent his entire career with the Chicago Cubs – not a great idea if you want to win World Series Championships. He made 10 All Star Games and won an MVP, but only made it to the postseason twice and both times his team lost in the first round. It was no fault of Sandberg’s as he hit .385 with an OPS over 1.000 throughout both playoff series, but the Cubs lost to the Padres in 1984 then to the Giants in 1989.
#15. Robin Yount
Robin Yount spent 20 years in the big leagues, all playing for the Milwaukee Brewers who to this day have not won a World Series title at the time of this recording. So, obviously, Yount never got a ring although he did two MVPs and finished his career with 3,142 hits. The only time he played on a very good Brewers team was in the early 80’s. With teammates like Rollie Fingers, Paul Molitor, Pete Vuckovich, Ted Simmons and Cecil Cooper, the Brewcrew made the playoffs in 1981, but were eliminated in the ALCS by the Yankees. The next year, a determined Brewers club made it all the way to the World Series after leading the big leagues with 95 wins. Yount hit .414 with a home run, but the Cardinals were victorious in a hard fought 7-game series. Yount never saw the postseason again.
#14. Vladimir Guerrero Sr.
Vlad Sr. was well known for his amazing ability to put the bat on the ball, wherever it might be – even if it bounced first. He could simply rake and ended up with an MVP and 9 All-Star nods, playing for the Expos, Angels, Rangers and Orioles. The Expos were great in 1994 when Vlad entered their minor league system, but by the time he made the big leagues, they were never a postseason threat. He was with the Expos in 2002 when the Angels won it all, and that’s where Guerrero ended up a couple years later. Unfortunately, even though they made the playoffs 5 times while Vladdy was there, the Angels never returned to the World Series. However, he did make it to the Fall Classic in 2010 with the Rangers, but they lost in 5 to the Giants. He ended up with the Orioles in 2011 then retired.
#13. Rod Carew
From his rookie season in 1967 all the way through 1984, Rod Carew made literally every single All Star team. He won a Rookie of the Year, MVP and led the league in hitting 7 times. However, he played for the Twins and Angels during a time neither team won any titles. The Twins had some talent in the late 60’s and made the playoffs in 1969 and 1970, but couldn’t get passed the Orioles in the ALCS. Then, it was the Orioles again who stopped Carew’s Angels from getting to the World Series in 1979. His last shot at a title was in 1982 when the Angels faced the Brewers in the ALCS that I talked about earlier featuring Robin Yount. That was the year the Brewers made it to the World Series and it was by defeating Carew’s Angels. Rod Carew never played in a World Series game.
#12. Juan Marichal
If you were primarily a San Francisco Giant before 2010, Champions were hard to come by. In fact, you’d have to go back to 1954 when the Giants were still in New York, 6 years before Juan Marichal’s debut. Marichal played from 1960 to 1975, 13 of the 15 years with the Giants, who reached the postseason twice during that time. In 1962, the Giants won the pennant, but lost to the Yankees in the ‘62 series. Marichal threw 4 scoreless innings in Game 4, leading the Giants to victory, but the Yankees ended up winning the series in 7. In the 1970’s the Giants made the playoffs just once, in 1971, and lost in a best of 5 to the Pirates. Marichal was excellent in Game 3, giving up just 1 run in 8 innings, but was outdueled by Bob Johnson. Those were Marichal’s only 2 postseason appearances.
#11. Nap Lajoie
One of the greatest hitters in the early years of professional baseball, Nap Lajoie hit .338 for his career, maxing out at a ridiculous .463 batting average in 1901. He led the league multiple times in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, RBIs, and doubles. Over 21 seasons, he played for the Phillies, A’s, and Cleveland Bronchos, who changed their name to the Cleveland Naps in honor of Lajoie while he was still on the team – that’s how much of a legend he was. He hit for the Triple Crown one year, but none of his clubs were ever good enough to win the pennant and Lajoie retired without a World Series appearance, much less a championship.
#10. Willie McCovey
Another Giants legend who started his career just a bit too late to take part in that 1954 championship in New York was Willie McCovey, who was still in the minors when the team moved to San Francisco. He made his debut in 1959 and was an instant force, winning the Rookie of the Year Award. He ended up making 6 All Star Teams and won the MVP in 1969, but just like Marichal, the only two postseason appearances he made were in 1962 and 1971. In ‘62, he made the final out by hitting a rocket that was caught by Yankees 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson. In ‘71, he hit .429 with 2 bombs in the NLCS but it wasn’t enough to get passed the Pirates.
#9. Harmon Killebrew
He was a 13-time All-Star and MVP who smashed 573 homers and led the league in bombs 6 times, but Harmon Killebrew never played on a World Series championship team. He did get to the World Series in 1965 after the Twins won an MLB best 102 games, but they ran into Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers in the World Series. Koufax threw two complete game shutouts and allowed just 3 hits in the final Game 7. He was also teammates with Rod Carew in 1969 and 1970 when the Twins could not defeat the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS.
#8. Carl Yastrzemski
The Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski played for 24 seasons, won 7 Gold Gloves, 3 batting titles, a Triple Crown and an MVP but he alone could not get the Red Sox to break the Curse of the Bambino. He did appear in two World Series with Boston, both going 7 games. The first one was in 1967 against St. Louis and Yastrzemski hit .400 with 3 bombs, but an electric Bob Gibson won 3 games for the Cardinals and they ended up taking the series from Boston. In 1975, Yaz and teammate Carlton Fisk took on the Reds but as mentioned earlier, they fell short in 7. Yastrzemski eventually retired without a championship.
#7. Ernie Banks
Perhaps the first name that comes to mind when thinking of great players who never won a World Series, Ernie Banks played his entire career with the Cubbies from 1953 to 1971 and incredibly never played in a single postseason game. He is probably the greatest player to never even appear in a postseason game. The Cubs just were never good enough but it was not Ernie’s fault as won two MVPs, hit over 500 homers, made 14 All Star teams and even won a Gold Glove. The Cubs looked primed to make the playoffs in 1969, sitting in 1st place in August with an 8 ½ game lead. In early September, that lead fell to 5 games. Then, after a series against the Mets in which the famous black cat made his appearance, the Cubs began to really collapse and lost 17 of their last 25 games. It was the closest Ernie Banks came to postseason baseball.
#6. Tony Gwynn
The Great Tony Gwynn won 8 batting titles, 7 Silver Sluggers, 5 Gold Gloves and zero World Series rings. He played his entire 20 year career with the San Diego Padres, who are still trying to win their first ever Fall Classic. Gwynn did get to experience playoff baseball, starting in 1984 when the Padres won the National League Pennant, but lost to the Tigers in the World Series. After that, the Padres fell into futility for about a decade. In 1996, a veteran Padres team with the likes of Gwynn, Wally Joyner, Rickey Henderson, Steve Finley & Ken Caminiti won the National League West with Trevor Hoffman closing out games. But, they were swept in the NLDS by the Cardinals, with Brian Jordan crushing a game winning homer off Hoffman in Game 3. Two years later, the Pads made it back to the playoffs and, in fact, all the way to the World Series. Gwynn hit .500 in the ‘98 Fall Classic, but the Yankees swept the Pads.
#5. Ichiro Suzuki
Although Ichiro did win a Japanese Championship in 1996 and two World Baseball Classics, he never won a World Series, despite playing 19 years in the big leagues and making 10 All Star Teams. Ichiro finished his career with over 3,000 hits, an MVP and 10 Gold Gloves. He played the vast majority of his career with the Seattle Mariners, another team still looking for their first World Series appearance. In 2001, the Mariners had a historic season, winning 116 games, tying an MLB record. They got passed Cleveland in the ALDS but fell short against the Yankees. Ichiro eventually played for the Yankees, which one would think would give him the best shot at a championship. However, during his 3 years in New York, they only made the playoffs once, in 2012, and were swept by a powerful Tigers team in the ALCS, despite Ichiro hitting .353 with a home run. He played for the Marlins as well, who failed to make the playoffs while Ichiro was there.
#4. Ken Griffey Jr.
Another long-time Mariner, Ken Griffey Jr. smashed 630 bombs in his amazing 22-year career in which his list of accomplishments are too long to read off, but they do not include a World Series title. He played for Seattle from 1989 to 1999 then again as a teammate of Ichiro’s in 2009 and 2010. Griffey was already gone when the M’s had their amazing season in 2001, but he was there in 1995 when they won the AL West with 79 wins in the shortened post-strike season. The team had 3 future Hall of Famers with Griffey, Edgar Martinez and Randy Johnson, not to mention Alex Rodriguez, who had Hall of Fame talent. Griffey tore it up in the ALDS, hitting .391 with 5 bombs, helping the M’s defeat the Yankees. But they lost to a loaded Cleveland Indians team in the ALCS. In 1997, Seattle won the West again, but Mike Mussina outdueled Randy Johnson twice and helped the Orioles beat the M’s in the ALDS. Griffey went on to play for the Reds, who never made the playoffs but he was traded to the White Sox in 2008 and they won the AL Central. Unfortunately for Griffey, they lost in the 1st round of the playoffs to Tampa Bay.
#3. Ty Cobb
The most surprising player on this list might be the legendary Ty Cobb, who played 24 years in the league, accumulated over 4,000 hits, had an unbreakable career record .366 batting average, and is one of the greats of the early 20th century, yet never did play a team that won it all. His main team was the Detroit Tigers, who didn’t win their first World Championship until 1935, 7 years after Cobb’s retirement. Back then, teams had to win the pennant just to make the postseason and they went directly to the World Series. It happened for Cobb’s Tigers 3 times – and they were consecutive American League titles – 1907, 1908 and 1909. The powerful Chicago Cubs, who had 4 future Hall of Famers, won in 1907 and 1908. In 1909, in one of great early World Series matchups, the Tigers and Pirates went back and forth but the it was the Pirates who ended up on top, thanks to rookie phenom Babe Adams, who threw 3 complete games including a shutout in the decisive game 7.
#2. Barry Bonds
You didn’t think I would forget Barry Bonds, right? Bonds was a generational talent and one of the greatest hitters to ever live. Even before what’s known as the juicing period of his career, he was one of the best all around talents to ever play the game and had won 3 MVPs, 2 of them with a powerful Pittsburgh Pirates team in the early 90’s. Those stacked Pirates teams had players like Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, and Doug Drabek. They made the playoffs for three straight seasons, 1990 to 1992, but fell short in the NLCS every time, and Barry Bonds didn’t hit well, giving him a reputation as a poor postseason performer. But then, he went to San Francisco and the Giants immediately won 103 games in 1993, which would almost always be good enough for a postseason berth, but the Atlanta Braves were also in the NL West for some reason and they won 104 games – one year before the Wild Card was instituted. The Giants and Bonds missed the playoffs that year, but Bonds would get more chances. In 1997, San Francisco clinched the division on the 2nd to last day of the season against San Diego. Unfortunately, they were swept by the Marlins, who went on to win it all. The Giants lost in the NLDS again in 2000 to the Mets. However, 2002 looked like the big year and the Giants needed one more win to take home the World Series Trophy. They had a 5 run lead in Game 6 of the World Series against the Angels but blew the game and ended up losing the series in 7 games. In 2003, they had another chance against the Marlins, but the series ended when J.T. Snow was cut down at the plate on a great throw by Jeff Conine and a nice catch & tag by Pudge Rodriguez. Bonds never got back to the playoffs although he wanted to continue his career in 2008 to complete his goal of winning a World Series, but no teams were interested. Was it collusion? Most seem to think so as Bonds had just hit 28 home runs with an OPS over 1.000 and league leading .480 on-base percentage. Imagine a player today going unsigned after that type of season.
#1. Ted Williams
At #1 I had to go with the Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams, the last man to hit over .400 in a full season and perhaps the greatest hitter to ever live. He is a legend in Boston and he played his entire career that spanned over 4 decades with the Red Sox. Most baseball fans are aware that the Red Sox went into a massive World Series drought after selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Williams played his entire career during that drought and sadly never won a World Series, although he did appear in one, in 1946. The Red Sox went 104-50 that season behind a stacked roster that included future Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr, 20-game winner Tex Hughson, hitting machine Johnny Pesky and the powerful 7-time All Star Rudy York. They went up against Stan Musial and the Cardinals, who ended up winning an incredible World Series in 7 games. Williams was injured but played through it, hitting just .200 with no homers. That would be the extend of his postseason career. Ted Williams himself proves that in baseball, you don’t have to be great in the postseason to be an all-time great, and it’s incredible that even the great Ted Williams played in just 7 postseason games and never won a World Series.