Greatness in sports is an evergreen source of fun, research and debate for most fans, and the recent election of (IMO) borderline third baseman Scott Rolen to baseball’s hall of fame has sparked predictably lively discussions.
In my previous post I mentioned that I wanted a tiered Hall of Fame, so I’ve decided to start one. Bill Simmons did something similar a while back with his Hall of Fame Pyramid for Basketball, but I think I’d like mine to be more inclusive than just 96 players. Here are my rules:
- The player must be retired for 5 years, which is the same as the official baseball hall of fame.
- The player must have appeared in 1,000 games, or pitched in at least 200 games (this is currently about 3,700 players)
- Players who are selected are placed in Tier 1, the Hall of Stars. The target is about 10%. Players who are borderline may be deferred and will be re-evaluated in the future.
- For every 3 spots in tier 1, a spot will open in tier 2, the Hall of Fame. New tiers will be created with this ratio. This means based on currently eligible players that there will be 6 tiers.
I don’t have any magic numbers like 500 Home Runs or 300 Wins, although I’ll be surprised if anyone who hit those marks doesn’t at least make Tier 1. I am going to make non-scientific affordances to players who lost time to injury or military service.
Whenever I have time, I’m going to pick 10 players at random and research if they should be accepted.
Howie Fox (1944-1954) – Not Accepted. A very average starting pitcher who spent most of his career with the Cincinnati Reds.
Erv Palica (1947-1956) – Not Accepted. A slightly below average utility pitcher who spent most of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Johnny Lanning (1936-1947) – Not Accepted. A slightly above average utility pitcher who played for the Boston Bees (Braves) and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Mark Sweeney (1995-2008) – Not Accepted. A below average utility fielder and frequent pinch hitter who played for a number of teams.
Greg Minton (1975-1990) – Not Accepted. An above average relief pitcher who played for the San Francisco Giants and California Angels. 1-time All star. Notable achievement: 2691?3 consecutive innings without giving up a home run.
Dick Radatz (1962-1969) – Deferred. An above average relief pitcher/closer who had several great years for the Red Sox at the beginning of his career, becoming the first pitcher in history to have consecutive 20-save seasons, but struggled after that. Member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame.
Frank Francisco (2004-2014) – Not Accepted. A slightly above average relief pitcher who played for the Texas Rangers and several other teams.
George Kell (1943-1957) – Accepted. A 10x All Star contact-hitting, excellent-fielding third baseman who played for a number of teams. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
Greg Vaughn (1989-2003) – Deferred. A power-hitting left fielder and 4-time All Star who played for the Milwaukee Brewers and other teams. Probably not going to be accepted, he was an average fielder with a lot of strikeouts, but I’m not sure yet where the line is so we’ll revisit.
Cookie Lavagetto (1934-1941, 1946-1947) – Deferred. A 4-time All Star infielder with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh pirates. An average fielder and average hitter, though above average for his position. He missed 4 full seasons to WWII service, which probably wouldn’t have made a big difference, but we’ll come back to Cookie again.