Best of YB: A Hall of Fame pit stop prior to deadline day

It's quite an honor for these five individuals, whether we're talking about the on-field exploits of Bagwell, Pudge and Rains or the remarkable contributions Scheurholz and Selig made as front office executives — and in the case of Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball.

That leads us to the 'Cooperstown: The New Class' quiz:

Obviously, no current MLBer is eligible for the Hall of Fame, but one player who seems destined for enshrinement when his time comes is Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre, who exhibited once again that he is a national treasure this week: "For some reason during a blowout, umpire Gerry Davis decided that he didn't like where Beltre was warming up with regard to the on-deck circle. Davis asked Beltre to move over to the circle, and Beltre responded by actually dragging the on-deck circle to where he was standing."

As mentioned, Beltre has all but assured himself a spot in Cooperstown when all is said and done, and he's among the active MLB players who are bound to be Hall of Famers:

Another player who may have a shot at enshrinement not listed above is Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates. After all, 'Cutch has an NL MVP, Gold Glove, four Silver Sluggers and five All-Star appearances to his name to date, and he's been the face of one of the best eras since the 1970s for the organization. His second-half resurgence has been huge for Pittsburgh, and now, for the revitalized Pirates, the trade deadline has newfound meaning, thanks in no small part to the former MVP: "The National League Player of the Month for June, McCutchen is hitting .366 with 10 home runs, 37 RBI and has scored 38 runs over the last two months. When the Cutch is at his best, the Pirates have been at theirs, and a fully revitalized McCutchen in centerfield has been the driving force they desperately needed."

The Pirates still trail the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, however, and they hope the teams ahead of them hit some bumps in the road. We did them and the rest of the league looking up in the standings a favor, finding the possible Achilles' heel for baseball’s best teams: "Much of the attention aimed at the Brewers’ needs is that of adding a front-line starting pitcher, and that is not an inaccurate assessment. However, the best efforts of a potentially upgraded rotation can go to waste if a porous defense is charged with supporting its efforts."

Of course, any team in contention will look to upgrade its roster in hopes of participating in October baseball. Here's every MLB team's biggest need at the trade deadline:

For a walk down memory lane, we also provided every MLB team's best and worst deadline trade from the last 25 years:

Finally, bringing it back full circle, we leave you with a quiz centered around a baseball Hall of Famer. Given Beltre's on-deck circle antics that led to his ejection and the eruption from Bryce Harper — another player on an early-career HOF track — that also saw the 2015 NL MVP get tossed, it's only right to end with the ‘When George Brett went completely batty' quiz: