THE HALL OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

Forget the Hall of Fame!  Recognize the Accomplishment!

The Hall of Accomplishment is a recognition of major league baseball players who have the highest statistical achievements.  The official Major League Baseball Hall of Fame recognizes players based on the favoritism of a small handful of individuals.  Additionally, fame is an impossible factor to measure.  Certainly, one of the most famous baseball players, Pete Rose, has not been elected to the Hall of Fame for reasons having nothing to do with baseball playing success.  Shoeless Joe Jackson is another player that in spite of his popularity and immense talent has not been recognized.

Each year we will induct 14 baseball players into the Hall of Accomplishment, based solely on statistical accomplishments.  The 14 baseball players will include the top catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, three outfielders, and the remaining top position player, regardless of position, and the top 5 pitchers.  The number 14 does seem rather random, admittedly, but there is madness in the method.  The thought was to elect a "team" each year of the best players of all time, but two issues came up.  First, what about the DH.  Well, the decision was to discard the DH as a position player, yet statistically he can not be ignored.  So, an extra position player is added, regardless of his position.  Second, how many pitchers should there be on the team was another unclear option.  At first the thought to have only one pitcher was not appropriate since no pitcher plays every game.  (Don't tell Cy Young that!)  Then it was thought that a four man rotation would do that trick.  However, that left us with a team of 13 players and, well, we just could not bring ourselves to live with the number.  So, to be a bit more modern, we went with the five man rotation.

The Hall of Accomplishment class of June 2007:

* There are separate rankings for position players and for pitchers. 

It is not our intention to 'slam' the Hall of Fame.  According to their website, the mission of the Hall of Fame is "fostering an appreciation of the historical development of the game and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for a global audience, as well as honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our National Pastime."  The problem has become in determining what is an outstanding contribution.  Unfortunately, enshrinement into the Hall has become a popularity contest, having nothing to do with measurable outstanding contributions.

The Hall of Fame seems to best serve its purpose when it functions as a museum, housing the articles of antiquity that document the history of the game.  We would encourage the Hall to focus on that endeavor and put a distance between itself and the politics of popularity, avoiding the allure of money, which is so pervasive in the game today.

We welcome your comments regarding the Hall of Accomplishment.  Simply click here to share your comments and they will be emailed to us.  Any comments that we deem to be of good content may be shared on our website.  We will, however, never identify your comment with your full name.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Note:  Statistics found on www.baseball-reference.com