Not every man with a plaque in Cooperstown is a mortal lock Hall of Famer like Tony Gwynn or Cal Ripken.

Even elite institutions have their tiers, and Pittsburgh lawyer Sam Reich has written a little paperback book about those guys on the bubble: "Waiting for Cooperstown; Baseball's Veterans (1901-1972) and the Hall of Fame."

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The writers select the obvious worthies such as Gwynn and Ripken, but various incarnations of veterans committees have added players the writers overlooked such as Pee Wee Reese and the most recent veterans selection, Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski, chosen in 2001.

Reich says straightaway that "if you seek to be entertained by a series of interesting anecdotes about these players, you may choose to look elsewhere.'' But if you're the kind who can argue all night whether Ron Santo, Maury Wills or Gil Hodges should be enshrined, you'll understand why this book was written.

Reich names 10 players whom he believes are most deserving of consideration by the Hall's Veterans Committee. Heading that list are Santo, the Cubs All-Star third baseman of the 1960s and '70s; Wills, the Dodgers shortstop who brought base stealing back from the dead in the early 1960s; and Hodges, first baseman for the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the 1950s. They're followed by pitcher Allie Reynolds, second baseman Joe Gordon, third baseman Stan Hack, pitcher Jim Kaat, outfielder Bob Johnson, shortstop Vern Stephens and pitcher Wes Ferrell.

As a Pirates season ticket holder, Reich is something of an expert on dashed hopes. He thinks the current Veterans Committee, made up of Hall of Fame members, should focus on these 10 candidates, in the order he has them.

"I think they're going to feel a lot of heat,'' Reich said, if the Hall members continue to elect nobody, as they have for the past three elections. "Just because you were a great player doesn't make you an appropriate judge. It almost smacks of a college fraternity with blackballs.''

Hodges, he points out, hit 370 home runs back when that was a huge number. It briefly ranked fifth all time in the National League. Except for Hodges, every batter with at least 350 home runs through 1960 has been inducted, and Hodges played for seven pennant winners and two world champions (and later managed the 1969 Mets to the World Series crown.) Over the years, Hodges collected more total votes while not being selected than anyone in the Hall.

Ah, but if Hodges gets in, should Norm Cash? Frank Howard? Rocky Colavito? Boog Powell? The mythical Hall of Very Good is much larger than the actual Hall of Fame, and if a man moves from one to the other, that becomes an argument for the next man down the list.

Reich, attorney for his brother, sports agent Tom Reich, says he has presented more player arbitration cases than anyone and so is an old hand at evaluating ballplayers.

This began as a book on baseball's World War II-era players, evolved into one on the players of the 1940s, and finally became this one covering those who excelled before the arrival of the designated hitter. Reich hopes to complete a revised edition that encompasses the 20th century before the next Veterans Committee vote in 2009.

As for the undeserving players that previous versions of the Veterans Committee enshrined, Reich says if he were eliminating 10 players, he'd include Pirates legend Lloyd Waner, a very good player but not a dominant one like his big brother Paul, and catcher Rick Ferrell, whose brother, the pitcher Wes Ferrell, would have been a much better pick.

"They got the wrong Ferrell in,'' he says.

Not a bad title for a book, that, but the Hall never kicks anyone out. Two hundred twenty seven players have been elected while thousands have not, and books like these are written for every fan who knows one guy who should be in who isn't, because no two fans agree.