What is the record for Hall of Famers appearing in a single regular season Major League game?

In 1982, I attended a game which had seven future Hall of Famers. I wonder what the record is. For reference, the Bucky Dent game had five. The Carlson Fisk game (World Series) also had five.What is the record for Hall of Famers appearing in a single regular season Major League game?None. No Hall Of Fame honoree has ever returned to active playing.



Oh! FUTURE HOFers.



The most (eventual) HOFers any one team had was nine, on the 1928 and 1930-33 Yankees. It wasn't the same nine each year, but there was a lot of overlap, and at least five, usually six, were non-pitchers.



The most FHOFs any AL opponent had in any of those seasons was seven, the 1928 Philadelphia Athletics. So any game between those two teams could easily have cracked double digits. (Worth noting, both teams had a HOF manager -- Huggins for the Yanks, Mack for the A's.)



And thanks to Retrosheet, we have the boxes! Let's check. At least we already know Gehrig showed up for every game.



Back then, the schedule was 154 games, and with seven league opponents, teams matched up 22 times. Doubleheaders were common.



It was a hard-fought campaign in the 1928 AL. The Yankees were coming off their monster 1927, 110-win season, and the ascendant Athletics were peaking, destined to be AL champions in 1929-31. The Yankees took the pennant with 101 wins, the A's just behind with 98. New York also took the season series, 16-6 (the only team against which Philadelphia had a losing record).



Here's their Hall contingents:

Yanx (9): Combs, Coveleski, Dickey, Durocher, Gehrig, Hoyt, Lazzeri, Pennock, and Ruth. (Manager, Huggins.)

A's (7): Cobb, Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Foxx, Grove, Simmons, Speaker. (Manager: Mack.)



Coveleski pitched only 12 games, and only one against the A's. Dickey, a rookie, played in only ten games, none against the A's. Along with Gehrig, Ruth played the full season. Collins played in only 36 games for Philly.



The lightest Hall-represented game, on 21-April, had seven players. Three games had eight, six games had nine, eight games (the most) had ten, and two games had 11. One game, on 26-May, had twelve playing: Combs, Coveleski, Durocher, Gehrig, Lazzeri, and Ruth; and Cobb, Cochrane, Collins, Foxx, Simmons, and Speaker. The Yankees won on the road, 7-4. Box: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1928/鈥?/a>



But that wasn't the biggest one; no. A few days earlier, 24-May, in the first game of a doubleheader, thirteen future HOFers were in the lineups.



Yankees: Combs, Durocher, Gehrig, Hoyt, Lazzeri, and Ruth.

Athletics, the entire delegation: Cobb, Cochrane, Collins, Foxx, Grove, Simmons, and Speaker.



And the Yankees STILL won, 9-7. Box: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1928/鈥?/a>



Thirteen HOF players and two HOF managers. The kicker? There were three umpires working the game, and two of them -- Tom Connollay and Bill McGowan -- are also in the Hall.



Twenty HOFers at the ballpark, seventeen involved in the game.



If that's NOT the record, it has to be close.



The A's won the second game, 5-2.What is the record for Hall of Famers appearing in a single regular season Major League game?I'm not sure, but my guess would be that a record like that would probably involved teams from around 1929 or 1930.



In 1929, there were a total of 20,770 at bats by players who are now in the Hall of Fame (24% of all major league at bats that year).



Of the 16 major league teams at that time:



Six had HOF first basemen

Five had HOF shortstops

Seven had HOF right fielders



In a average major leage game in 1929, there were 17 at bats by players who are now in the HOF. That's in an average game.



The task here would be to look at the HOFers then in the major leagues, and figure out which two teams (in the same league) had the most.



But I'm guessing it would probably be a game from that era. The number of players from that era that are in the HOF is probably about 50% more than it should be, with most of the bad selections occurring during the 1940s and 1970s.