Jim Rice won the 1978 American League MVP and drove in 1,451 runs. Manny Millan/SI
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The Baseball Hall of Fame welcomes Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg into its unsurpassed realm of immortality this weekend. No other sport has a more prestigious place of highest individual honor -- or one that sparks more debate.

The process of enshrinement generally is well understood and closely followed. Players are eligible on the writers' ballot for 15 years, beginning five years after retirement, and then can be considered by the Veterans Committee, a group of 83 living Hall of Fame members (players, managers, executives, writers and broadcasters). In each case a player needs to appear on at least 75 percent of the ballots to gain election to the Hall.

It's a fair process with very high standards, which is what the Hall should be about. Because of those high standards, many great players have found themselves on the outside looking in, unable to reach the magic 75 percent mark. Despite credentials that often are similar and in some cases better than those already in the Hall, they have gained another sort of immortality for their exclusion. Here are the best players not in the Hall of Fame. (Pete Rose and Joe Jackson, who did not appear on ballots because of their ineligible status, are excluded.)

1. Gil Hodges
He must hit leadoff here because no one has ever been more agonizingly close, so often to the Hall of Fame without getting in than Hodges. Consider:

• No player ever received more votes from the writers without getting in.

• He is the only person ever to get more than 60 percent of the Hall vote without eventually getting in.

• At various times during his 15 years on the ballot he finished ahead of 21 different future Hall of Famers -- including easily beating out former teammate Pee Wee Reese all eight times they were on the same ballot.

• The revamped Veterans Committee essentially named him Best Player Not in the Hall, giving Hodges the most support in each of its two elections; he missed getting in by 11 votes and then by eight votes.

How good was Hodges? Think of him as a better version of Hall of Famer Tony Perez -- better plate discipline, better power and a better glove. He outslugged Perez (.487, .463), reached base more often (.359, .341), made more All-Star teams (eight, seven), won more Gold Gloves (three, zero) and had just as many 100-RBI seasons (seven). At the time of his retirement Hodges was the all-time NL leader in home runs among right-handed hitters. He was the premier defensive first baseman of his era and -- as part of his overall contribution to the game, which must be considered -- he was a highly respected manager who crafted one of the most unlikely world championships in history (the 1969 Mets) and he was the idol of many baseball fans for his integrity and character.

2. Jim Rice
From 1975 through 1986, Rice averaged .304 with 29 homers and 106 RBIs while finishing in the top five in the MVP voting in half of those 12 years. I cannot think of another player who had such an extended dominant prime and didn't get in the Hall. Yet Rice has yet to build the voting support that hints at eventual enshrinement. His 1,451 RBIs are the fourth most for a player who has appeared on the ballot and not gained admission to the Hall, trailing Andre Dawson, Dave Parker and Rusty Staub.