Hall of Stats

On Tuesday, ESPN announced their Hall of 100, another alternate Hall of Fame. The Hall of 100 ranks the top (of course) 100 players of all time, as chosen by ESPN’s “panel of 30-plus experts”. In the published methodology (it’s a good sign that there’s a published methodology), voters are asked to:

• Vote on a ballot containing 300 players (150 hitters and 150 pitchers)
• Vote on a scale of 1–100
• Only one player should receive a score of 100
• Grade in increments of five (with 85–100 being “This person is definitely in the top 100” and 0–20 being “A fine player, but he should not be in the discussion of the top 100 of all time”
• Judge for on-field performance, so no PEDs (and I assume, in that case, not for time lost to military or other reasons)

The ballot contains those top 150 hitters and 150 pitchers ranked by GAR, or Greatness Above Replacement. I’d never seen GAR before, but it is “a combination of career and peak wins above replacement”. So, it uses pretty much the same approach I use with Hall Rating and Jay Jaffe does with JAWS.

I thought it would be interesting to see how the Hall of 100 differs from the Hall of Stats Top 100.

Honorable Mentions

The Hall of 100 came with 25 Honorable mentions, or the Top 25 players not included. This led to some good discussion about potential snubs.

The Top 100

And here’s the meat of it—the Top 100 of each.

The Differences (So Far)

#76–125

Here are the differences for the players appearing both lists so far. The top three names are 19th century players—no big surprise. I can understand Tim Keefe being a bit underrated. Kid Nichols is a bit more problematic. But Cap Anson? #88? Really? How is that even possible?

The first modern players are Phil Niekro (who I believe may be the most underrated pitcher ever… except for maybe Rick Reuschel) and Arky Vaughan, who is mentioned by Jayson Stark as an egregious snub. Curt Schilling is also underrated on this list. Stark was surprised that Gary Carter ranked so highly while Bill Dickey didn’t. By Hall Rating, Carter actually appeared much higher.

Duke Snider and Manny Ramirez are tied for the most overrated so far. Then, surprisingly, it’s Tim Raines. It’s nice to see Raines rank so highly on the Hall of 100, but the truth is WAR isn’t in love with him. Raines has been in the news a lot, so I’m guessing that influenced this a bit.

#26–75

We’ve got some new additions to the bottom of the list (meaning players who are perhaps overrated by the Hall of 100). Derek Jeter now takes the top “honor”, as he places 38th on the Hall of 100 and just 117th on the Hall of Stats (a 79 slot difference). Bob Feller is right behind him, but I have to think that’s because the Hall of 100 voters were giving him credit for time lost to World War II. Then it’s Nolan Ryan. I love Ryan, but the 51-slot difference is not much of a surprise. I was surprised to see Steve Carlton at #26. The Hall of Stats has him at 61. Basically you can flip-flop him with Bert Blyleven in the two systems. The Hall of Stats has Blyleven at #39 while the Hall of 100 has him at #73.

#1–25

Huge surprise—Babe Ruth ended up being #1. We agree on those. We also agree exactly on Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner (as well as Paul Waner). I think that Cy Young and Walter Johnson rated way too low on the Hall of 100. Joe DiMaggio is a player in the Hall of 100’s Top 25 that rated much lower for me. Of course, that has a lot to do with time missed to World War II. It turns out that voters did factor that in, quite a bit.

Here are all the differences:

Here are the players who appeared on the Hall of 100 (with their ranking) who did not appear on the Hall of Stats Top 125.

• Sandy Koufax: 44
• Ernie Banks: 51
• Jackie Robinson: 52
• Willie McCovey: 57
• Tony Gwynn: 61
• Hank Greenberg: 63
• Harmon Killebrew: 64
• Eddie Murray: 65
• Mariano Rivera: 67
• Juan Marichal: 70
• Roberto Alomar: 73
• Mark McGwire: 83
• Willie Stargell: 84
• Jim Palmer: 89
• Craig Biggio: 90
• Sammy Sosa: 95
• Joe Cronin: 98
• Dave Winfield: 104
• Whitey Ford: 106
• Jim Palmer: 108
• Don Sutton: 109
• Bill Dickey: 113
• George Sisler: 114
• Dennis Eckersley: 116
• Rube Waddell: 119
• Billy Williams: 120
• Don Drysdale: 123
• Roy Campanella: 125

Sandy Koufax is the standout here. He’s actually near the bottom of the Hall of Stats, but the difference between his actual value and perceived historical ranking is well documented. It bugs me that Jackie Robinson didn’t quite make the Hall of Stats Top 125. Of course, that's because of all time he missed because of the color line.

Here are the players who appeared on the Hall of Stats Top 125, but not in the Hall of 100.

• Roger Connor: 42
• Dan Brouthers: 45
• George Davis: 56
• John Clarkson: 59
• Mike Mussina: 60
• Larry Walker: 68
• Bobby Wallace: 78
• Bill Dahlen: 79
• Lou Whitaker: 81
• Alan Trammell: 83
• Scott Rolen: 84
• Bobby Grich: 88
• Old Hoss Radbourn: 89
• Kevin Brown: 96
• Carl Hubbell: 97
• Jack Glasscock: 101
• Rick Reuschel: 102
• Amos Rusie: 105
• Tommy Bond: 107
• Billy Hamilton: 108
• Ed Walsh: 110
• Jim McCormick: 111
• Kenny Lofton: 112
• Carlos Beltran: 118
• Dazzy Vance: 120
• Luis Tiant: 121
• David Cone: 123
• Fred Clarke: 124

Old timers stand out here, with Roger Connor, Dan Brouthers, George Davis, and John Clarkson topping the list with several more behind them. Other than that, it seems that modern players are the most underrated, with Mike Mussina, Larry Walker, Lou Whitaker, and Alan Trammell ranking highly. No wonder they’re not getting inducted—people don’t even realize they are Top 100 players (and in many cases, much higher).

Oh, and my list has Old Hoss. Take that.