Hall of Stats

I love Hall of Fame debates. But I find them less informative when I don’t know what the Hall of Fame actually means to my fellow debater.

For example, I can say that I support Alan Trammell for the Hall of Fame. Someone else may not. I happen to think the Hall of Fame should be relatively large, honoring many of the game’s greats. I also don’t think that a Hall of Fame needs to be very large to fit Alan Trammell.

You may think the Hall should only honor the Top 50 players in history. If that’s your opinion, that’s fine. Trammell probably wouldn’t belong in your Hall. I wouldn’t agree with you (and I would also find your approach useless, given that there are already more than 200 Hall of Famers). But if that’s how you feel, you don’t have room for every guy I support.

A little while back, I published my own Personal Hall of Fame. Several other bloggers I know did the same. What this helped me do is show where each player fits in the context of my own Personal Hall. It helps me when other people do the same.

Recently, I’ve been drawn to the idea of consensus around Hall of Fame snubs. I’ve compiled the Personal Halls of Ross Carey, Bryan O’Connor, Dalton Mack, and Dan McCloskey (and mine) alongside the Hall of Fame, Hall of Stats, and Hall of Merit. What’s interesting to me is that there are 31 players who are not in the Hall of Fame, but are supporters by all seven alternate Halls. To me, this much consensus means these guys pretty clearly belong. They are:

There were some additional close calls who almost made this list. Only Bryan (and the actual Hall of Fame) failed to support Jack Glasscock, Ken Boyer, Sal Bando, Urban Shocker, Charlie Bennett, John McGraw (as a player), Al Spalding (as a player), and Ross Barnes.

There are some controversial names on the list. Two (Rose and Jackson) are banned from the game. Four others (Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro, and McGwire) are connected to performance enhancing drugs. Others are only in the outside because they are suspected of PEDs.

There are also 30 players in the Hall of Fame who are not in any of the other seven Halls. Maybe these guys don’t belong.

It’s obvious that Ross, Bryan, Dalton, Dan, and I all have a very similar approach to Hall-worthiness. The list of 31 players might shrink dramatically if I included the Personal Halls of some less stat-leaning folks.

I’ve created a page—the Hall of Consensus—to record each of these Halls, who has the most support, who’s missing, and more.

Among our Personal Halls:

• Ross has the big Hall
• Bryan has the small Hall
• Dan, Dalton, and I are in the middle

There are some quirks, though. For example, Ross lets just about everyone in, but he’s the only one of the eight Halls to exclude Red Ruffing. Bryan is rather stingy with his picks, though he supports Hack Wilson—only he and the “real” Hall support him.

Personally, I support only two players who are not in the Hall of Fame and not in any other Personal Halls—Paul Hines and Joe Start. Both are in the Hall of Merit.

Dalton and the Hall of Stats are the only ones to include Kevin Appier. Interestingly, Dalton and the Hall of Stats are also the only ones to exclude Roy Campanella.

I know. Appier, but not Campanella. Kids these days…

There’s a clear “consensus” cutoff among those of us who selected Personal Halls. Basically, Kevin Appier is that cutoff. The Appier line—right around a 110 Hall Rating—is where you start to see more and more players we don’t collectively support. Ross, Dan, and I both support everyone above the Appier line. Bryan doesn’t support Clark Griffith or Bando and Boyer. Neither Bryan nor Dan support Willie Randolph. Randolph has the highest Hall Rating outside of Dan’s Hall. Bryan’s Hall, however, excludes Glasscock (who’s 131 Hall Rating ranks 108th all time). I’m working on convincing him—especially given my new role.

Please check out the Hall of Consensus and let us know what you think. And feel free to publish your own Personal Hall and let us know in the comments!