Black Ink test leaders

[Paul Wendt]

"Black Ink" is a toy statistic, the sum of points awarded to league leaders in about 12 batting categories and 12 pitching categories. It is popular, perhaps because baseball-reference puts it at the fingertips of everyone with an internet connection.
Black Ink, Gray Ink, and other career point systems at baseball-reference

This list gives all of the highest-Black Ink batters not in the Hall of Fame down to the top fourteen eligible. For example Paul Hines now ranks tie for 59th in career black ink with 30 points. From the table one may count and infer that the 58 players ahead of Hines and Ichiro! include
- eleven who are eligible but not in the Hall of Fame (listed above Hines, left column)
- three who are not yet eligible: Bonds, Rodriguez, and Henderson
- one permanently ineligible: Pete Rose
- by simple arithmetic, 43 Hall of Fame members

Batters

eligible ---------------- not eligible

----------------------- 1. Barry Bonds
----------------------- 2. Alex Rodriguez (#13 all-time!)
----------------------- permanently ineligible Pete Rose
17t. 59 Ross Barnes
21.. 56 Harry Stovey
----------------------- 3. Rickey Henderson
31.. 46 Gavy Cravath
35t. 41 Tony Oliva
41.. 36 Mark McGwire
43t. 35 Tip O'Neil
43t. 35 Sherry Magee
46t. 34 Harry Davis
49t. 33 George J. Burns
49t. 33 Jim Rice
54t. 31 Dale Murphy
59t. 30 Paul Hines ------ tie with 4. Ichiro Suzuki
63t. 28 Deacon White ------ tie with 5t. Sammy Sosa and Belle
63t. 28 Albert Belle
-----------------------

Black Ink = 27 happens to be average (mean) for all HOF non-pitchers who played primarily in the major leagues. Of course a few all-time great batters float the mean above the median. On the other hand, outfielders and 1Bmen win most of the black ink for batting/running; the median for HOF members at those positions may be about 27.

[Paul Wendt]

Pitchers not in the Hall of Fame

This list gives all of the highest-Black Ink pitchers not in the Hall of Fame down to the top seventeen eligible. Why list all the way down to seventeen eligible pitchers? Twelve of them worked before 1893 when the pitching distance was established at 60'6" so "all the way down to seventeen" is the way to get a handful of modern ones (five, bold). The twelve worked when team workload was divided among only two or three pitchers (one in some Mathews and Bond seasons). In effect probably eight to sixteen pitchers were competing for league leaderships and only half that many competing in team-dependent categories such as wins.

Refer to the table. For example Dolf Luque and Jim Hippo Vaughn now rank tie for 59th in career black ink with 27 points. From the table one may count and infer that the 58 players ahead of them include
- twelve who are eligible but not in the Hall of Fame (listed above Luque in the left column)
- eight who are not yet eligible (listed in the right column)
- by simple arithmetic, 37 Hall of Fame members

Pitchers

eligible ---------------- not eligible

----------------------- 1. Roger Clemens (tie for #5 all-time)
----------------------- 2. Randy Johnson (#6)
----------------------- 3. Greg Maddux (#10)
----------------------- 4. Pedro Martinez(#22)
26.. 48 Bucky Walters
30.. 45 Tommy Bond
----------------------- 5. Curt Schilling
36t. 40 Jim McCormick
36t. 40 Bill Hutchison
----------------------- 6. Johan Santana
----------------------- 7. John Smoltz
47.. 32 Sam McDowell
49t. 33 Mark Baldwin
49t. 33 Will White
49t. 33 Bobby Mathews
53.. 29 Ron Guidry
----------------------- 8. Tom Glavine
55t. 28 Ed Morris
55t. 28 Tony Mullane
55t. 28 Jim Whitney
59t. 27 Dolf Luque ------ permanently ineligible Eddie Cicotte
59t. 27 Hippo Vaughn
59t. 27 Sadie McMahon
59t. 27 Bob Caruthers
----------------------- 9. Roy Halladay (tie #66 all-time)

bold - eligible pitchers who scored their blank at the modern pitching distance, 60'6"

Black Ink = 40 is the average (mean) for all HOF non-pitchers who played primarily in the major leagues.