Earlier today Dan posed a question on here asking people’s opinions on PED’s and the Hall of Fame. In his post he proposed the example of Rafael Palmeiro as a player with a Hall of Fame caliber career, but with a failed steroid test. In my response I said that it is irrelevant to me if a player used performance, but I would not vote for Palmeiro simply because I do not believe he was a good enough player. This led many people to question me and my thought process. I explained to them that in my opinion longevity is a very small portion of a players case for Cooperstown. I thought that although Palmeiro had an undoubtedly great career, he was not an elite player for any duration of his time as a Major Leaguer.  This led me to start analyzing internally what is a HOFer in my opinion. To me it is a player that proved he was truly great for many seasons.

I have conducted a new type of Hall. This in no way is a complete list of who I would have as Hall of Fame inductees. My basis for this Hall of Fame is to find players that were well enough above league average for a long enough time to be considered great. The methodology is simple. The general consensus is that a player with a WAR of 6 in a year is at the very worst a legitimate All-Star worthy player that season. I have found every player since 1901 whom has had a season of at least 6 WAR. From there I have taken all of their seasons at this benchmark. After that I have counted the total number in said seasons above 6. For example, Mike Trout last year had a 10.9 WAR according to Baseball Reference, and in this scenario he would receive 4.9 points last year, for having a WAR 4.9 above 6. This year he has a WAR of 7.7 giving him 1.7 points. Adding those together he has a total “WAR above 6” number of 6.6. I determined that a total “WAR above 6” number of 12 is worthy of spot in the All Peak Hall of Fame. Amazingly, Trout is over half way there, and he is not even through his 2nd full season. Also of note, Palmeiro’s number is 1.2, nowhere near the cutoff for this list.

The list after the break.

Batters(in no order)

Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Mike Schmidt, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner, Alex Rodriguez, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Collins, Albert Pujols, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Mathews, Wade Boggs, Roberto Clemente, Jimmie Foxx, Nap Lajoie, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., Ron Santo, Joe Morgan, Ernie Banks, Jackie Robinson, and Carl Yastrzemski

Pitchers(in no order, Pitching WAR only)

Roger Clemens, Lefty Grove, Walter Johnson, Pete Alexander, Christy Mathewson, Randy Johnson, Tom Seaver, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Bob Gibson, Cy Young, Robin Roberts, Ed Walsh, Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller, Rube Waddell, Vic Willis, and Joe McGinnity.

Obviously this is not a complete list  of players who I think deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. It would be ridiculous to have a HOF without Mel Ott or Steve Carlton, among many others. I just thought this would be a fun exercise. I hope this does however help answer any questions about what I like to consider when determining who belongs or not. There are many factors that need to be measured when deciding whom to vote for, but I feel that peak is the most important one.