When the Rangers released Josh Hamilton last week, it might have signaled the end of his Major League Baseball career. For the moment, it also has Hamilton on an exclusive list.

At times, each player below was talked about as one of the best in baseball. But for various reasons, each fell far short of Cooperstown.

Here are the 10 best baseball players, for talent, for whom no one will make a serious Hall of Fame case.

1. Bo Jackson

Imagine if Bo Jackson had never played in the NFL. Imagine if a hip injury during the 1990 NFL playoffs hadn’t ended his time on the gridiron and cut short his MLB career to eight seasons. A player needs at least 10 seasons to be eligible for Cooperstown, so Jackson's candidacy was moot. He was never eligible for a ballot. But we can wonder what might have been.

Buck O’Neil recalled the sound he heard one time in Kansas City, a sound he’d only heard from the bats of Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson. “I was upstairs and I was coming down for the batting practice,” O’Neil said in Ken Burns’ 1994 PBS miniseries. “And before I could get out there I heard this sound I had heard only twice in my life. Now, you know who this is? Bo Jackson. Bo Jackson swinging that bat.”

If only Jackson could have swung that bat many more times.

MORE: The 25 worst Baseball Hall of Fame selections ever

2. Herb Score

Score went 36-19, made two All Star Games, and won an American League Rookie of the Year Award before a Gil McDougald line drive early in the 1957 season struck him. In an instant, Score went from perhaps the best pitcher in the American League to an end-of-the-rotation arm who struggled through 1962 before calling it quits as a player.

3. Mike Donlin

It’s unthinkable today, an athlete among the best in the game walking away from sports to pursue an acting or singing career. Donlin did this in 1907 when the 28-year-old went on the Vaudeville circuit with his wife, actress Mabel Hite. At the time, Donlin owned a .337 lifetime batting average and had helped the New York Giants to a world championship in 1905 when he hit .356 with 6.5 Wins Above Average, though he’d also been reproached by management for his drinking. Donlin returned to baseball in 1908, playing parts of four more seasons. Save for one more solid season his first year back, he was never the same.

4. Brandon Webb

History likely won’t remember Webb the same as Score, as no inglorious moment signaled Webb’s demise as a useful player. He offered similar prowess before injuries stalled his career, though, with averages every 226 innings pitched of a 15-11 record with a 3.27 ERA, 183 strikeouts, and 4.0 Wins Above Average.

5. Pete Reiser

Branch Rickey loved Pete Reiser, who had speed, power, and could hit for average, leading the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers to the World Series with a National League-best .343 batting average. Alas, Reiser also had a penchant for crashing into outfield walls, concussing himself, and finding other ways to suffer injuries. In addition, he lost three seasons to World War II. With modern medicine and a conflict-free career, Reiser might have been a first ballot selection to Cooperstown. As it stands, he topped out at three percent of the vote in 1960.

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/52/82/kerry-wood-100315-getty-ftrjpg_weekhe5frg2i1ke9g1rwo3hwf.jpg?t=820806336&w=500&quality=80 6. Kerry Wood

The one-time Cubs ace is somehow still only 39. In a more just world, Wood’s 20-strikeout performance as a 20-year-old five games into his MLB career wouldn’t have signaled open season for his managers on his arm. Perhaps Wood would be closing in on 300 wins now.

7. Josh Hamilton

If there’s a Hall of Fame for overcoming cataclysmic life issues before finally achieving MLB stardom, the former No. 1 draft pick might command his own wing. As it stands, a .290 lifetime batting average, 200 home runs, and 1,134 hits won’t be remotely enough for Cooperstown voters, even if a few credit him for his 2010 American League MVP season.

8. Jim Fregosi

Mostly remembered today for his managerial career and for getting traded as a player for a young Nolan Ryan, Fregosi was, prior to this, one of the best young shortstops in baseball history. Fregosi compiled 27.1 Wins Above Average over his first 10 seasons, seventh-best among all shortstops. Five of the players in front of Fregosi by this measure are Hall of Famers, and the other’s Alex Rodriguez. Injuries reduced Fregosi to an also-ran in the second half of his career.

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/fd/ef/kevin-mitchell-083116-getty-ftrjpg_102tigijmig6h1tklvyo4fn3jt.jpg?t=-506328218&w=500&quality=80 9. Kevin Mitchell

When the San Francisco Giants dealt Mitchell to the Seattle Mariners following the 1991 season, Mitchell was two years removed from an MVP season and owned a 143 OPS+ lifetime. Mitchell actually came close to equaling his offensive production his remaining seasons, posting a 140 OPS+ from 1992 through his final year, 1998. The only problems? Mitchell’s individual production varied wildly year to year, he couldn’t stay healthy, and he offered impressively wacky clubhouse behavior. Healthy and with his head screwed on right, Mitchell might rank as one of the better power hitters in baseball history.

10. Darryl Strawberry

Veteran teammates introduced Strawberry to cocaine early in his career, and the rest is history. The No. 1 pick in the 1980 draft, Strawberry still averaged 31 homers a season and a 144 OPS+ his first nine years in the majors. But we’ll never know what Strawberry might have gone onto had he been clean. It’s interesting, by the way, to see Strawberry rebuke former teammate Dwight Gooden recently for alleged, continued addiction. Gooden wound up with decent enough numbers that a Hall of Fame plaque isn’t out of the question. Strawberry isn’t remotely close.

Honorable mentions: Jim Abbott, Paul Blair, J.D. Drew, Brian Giles, Duffy Lewis, Sam McDowell, Hideo Nomo, Jackie Jensen, Troy Percival, George Stone