Mike Schmidt should have been 1 of 8 candidates as greatest living players.

Mike Schmidt, of course, how could we have overlooked him?  The "fans" selected as their final four Mays, Aaron, Bench, Koufax.

FOUR GREATEST LIVING PLAYERS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HISTORY Friday, April 10, 2015

Hank Aaron
Johnny Bench
Barry Bonds
Rickey Henderson
Sandy Koufax
Pedro Martinez
Willie Mays
Tom Seaver

Fans can vote for four of  those eight living candidates who are listed alphabetically, plus there is space for one write-in.  So the choice is quite limited...

I could not find who selected the candidates.  On MLB Network "High Heat" historian John Thorn was interviewed about this promotion and gave some vague indication but it's unclear...

Pitchers are part time players and I would not vote for a pitcher as greatest player.  But if I were picking the four greatest living pitchers, Sandy Koufax would not be among them...

The top three living players are easy.  In this order:
Barry Bonds
Willie Mays
Hank Aaron

Then it gets tricky.  Here are some candidates:
Alex Rodriguez (I tried to vote for Alex; don't know if it worked)
Albert Pujols
Frank Robinson
Miguel Cabrera
Mike Trout
Ken Griffey, Jr.

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Mike Schmidt, where are you?  Even I omitted you as a candidate.

VOTE FOR THE TOP FOUR PLAYERS IN FRANCHISE HISTORY Saturday, April 11, 2015

This post is really a continuation of the previous...

eight candidates for each franchise, I've created a matrix which is below and can be viewed by clicking this link...

Players names in red were such terrible choices ... My choice for the best player per franchise is BOLD and the cell has a thicker border.  In case it's not clear my fourth choice for "greatest living player" is one who was missing from the mlb.com candidates: Alex Rodriguez.  Rodriguez was not a candidate for any team, which suggests Selig's influence...  Names to the right of the eight candidates are my suggestions and labeled "missing"....

The top 5 players in career WAR not listed any where on any ballot: 
1) Roger Clemens (8th in WAR) 
2) Alex Rodriguez (17th) 
3) Phil Niekro (34th) 
4) Wade Boggs (42nd) 
5) Gaylord Perry (43rd) ...

Most of the traditional teams have easy picks for best, top, most impactful player:
Red Sox - Ted Williams
Yankees - Babe Ruth
White Sox - Eddie Collins
Indians - Tris Speaker
Tigers _ Ty Cobb
Twins/Senators - Harmon Killebrew
As - Jimmie Foxx
Braves - Hank Aaron
Phillies - Mike Schmidt
Cubs - Ernie Banks
Reds - Johnny Bench
Pirates - Honus Wagner
Cardinals - Stan Musial
Giants - Willie Mays
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OK, at least I had Mike Schmidt as the greatest Phillie of all time.  But Schmidt should have been one of the eight candidates for greatest living players.  Certainly instead of Rickey Henderson and pitchers Koufax, Seaver, Martinez.  The other four were legitimate candidates: Bonds, Mays, Aaron, Bench.

Once again, the "fans" selected as their final four Mays, Aaron, Bench, Koufax.

Mays and Aaron are no brainers and Bench could be argued as the greatest catcher of all time and so is legit.  But a valid candidate for the fourth spot was Mike Schmidt.  I always liked Sandy Koufax even though he was a Dodger but there's no way Koufax should have even been a candidate much less selected.  Especially with Mike Schmidt totally ignored.