Ranking the HoF Players - #1

[Jar of Flies]

1) Ruth, Babe
2) Williams, Ted
3) Wagner, Honus
4) Cobb, Ty
5) Mays, Willie
6) Johnson, Walter
7) Gibson, Josh
8) Speaker, Tris
9) Mantle, Mickey
10) Young, Cy

[swingman24]

1. Babe Ruth - 10
2. Ty Cobb - 9
3. Willie Mays - 8
4. Ted Williams - 7
5. Stan Musial - 6
6. Mickey Mantle - 5
7. Lou Gehrig - 4
8. Hank Aaron - 3
9. Honus Wagner - 2
10. Walter Johnson - 1

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Babe Ruth...no question
Willie Mays
Ty Cobb
Ted Williams
Hank Aaron
Walter Johnson
Lou Gehrig
Honus Wagner
Cy Young
Stan Musial

[BigRon]

Very interesting -a little different than the 10 best.

1. Babe Ruth
2. Willie Mays
3. Ted Williams
4. Jackie Robinson
5. Ty Cobb
6. Honus Wagner
7. Cy Young
8. Hank Aaron
9. Lou Gehrig
10. Walter Johnson

I feel bad that Musial's not in my top 10- he's my next guy. It was a tough decision among him, Gehrig, and Walter Johnson- all iconic figures.

[AstrosFan]

1) Babe Ruth - 10 points
2) Jackie Robinson - 9 points
3) Willie Mays - 8 points
4) Hank Aaron - 7 points
5) Ted Williams - 6 points
6) Ty Cobb - 5 points
7) Honus Wagner - 4 points
8) Walter Johnson - 3 points
9) Cy Young - 2 points
10) Stan Musial - 1 point

[bluesky5]

1. Babe Ruth - 10
2. Jackie Robinson - 9
3. Roberto Clemente - 8
4. Willie Mays - 7
5. Cap Anson - 6
6. John Montgomery Ward - 5
7. Mike Kelly - 4
8. Ty Cobb - 3
9. Ted Williams - 2
10. Cal Ripken Jr. - 1

[Chadwick]

1. Babe Ruth
2. Willie Mays
3. Ty Cobb
4. Honus Wagner
5. Ted Williams
6. Mickey Mantle
7. Josh Gibson
8. Walter Johnson
9. Hank Aaron
10. Roger Hornsby

[John Shoemaker]

1. Babe Ruth
2. Hank Aaron
3. Willie Mays
4. Frank Robinson
5. Ty Cobb
6. Ted Williams
7. Walter Johnson
8. Honus Wagner
9. Jackie Robinson
10. Lou Gehrig

[BigRon]

This is not a lobbying effort, but I must say I'm a little surprised by the extremely high rankings Clemente is getting from some. A great player and a tragic death- yes. But that those aren't sufficient to elevate him to the highest level, in my opinion. Clemente wasn't even the first outstanding Latin MLer- Minoso was, and even Aparicio- a very different type of player- was winning accolades before Clemente. Clemente didn't cause the explosion of Latin American talent- it was there all along.

[Bothrops Atrox]

1) Babe Ruth - 10 points
2) Willie Mays - 9 points
3.) Ty Cobb - 8 points
4) Hank Aaron - 7 points
5) Ted Williams - 6 points
6) Jackie Robinson - 5 points
7) Honus Wagner - 4 points
8) Walter Johnson - 3 points
9) Cy Young - 2 points
10) Lou Gehrig - 1 point

Also hate leaving out Musial here.

[The Dude]

This is not a lobbying effort, but I must say I'm a little surprised by the extremely high rankings Clemente is getting from some. A great player and a tragic death- yes. But that those aren't sufficient to elevate him to the highest level, in my opinion. Clemente wasn't even the first outstanding Latin MLer- Minoso was, and even Aparicio- a very different type of player- was winning accolades before Clemente. Clemente didn't cause the explosion of Latin American talent- it was there all along.

Adolfo Domingo de Guzmán Luque was the first outstanding Latin MLer. I don't think we're putting Clemente on here because he was the first outstanding Latin ballplayer. I believe it's a mixture of his quality, (as DX stated) his importance to a large segment of the population (wether wrongly perceived or not), and his tragic death. He is easily one of the most recognizable names in baseball history.

[Freakshow]

1) Babe Ruth
2) Willie Mays
3) Ty Cobb
4) Ted Williams
5) Honus Wagner
6) Walter Johnson
7) Hank Aaron
8) Stan Musial
9) Mickey Mantle
10) Oscar Charleston

[Freakshow]

I like the format for this project, Mike. I have a couple ideas for tweaking the rules.

As the project progresses, ballots will become more fragmented. You should expand the size of the ballot as we go along, while still "electing" five each time. Here's a possible schedule.

1 to 40 players (first 8 elections): 10-player ballots
41 to 80 players (elections 9-16): 12-player ballots

You might consider pausing the project at this point (or sooner). The Veterans Committee "Golden Era" election will be held during this December's winter meetings. (Santo could finally make it in.) That will be followed about four weeks later by the BBWAA results. (Larkin, Morris and Bagwell are the leading candidates.) It also gives you a "holiday hiatus" when some voters may be busy.

81 to 120 players (elections 17-24): 14-player ballots
121 to 160 players (elections 25-32): 16-player ballots
161 to 200 players (elections 33-40): 18-player ballots
201 to 215 players (elections 41-43): 20-player ballots
216 to 234 players: rank the final 19

[BigRon]

Adolfo Domingo de Guzmán Luque was the first outstanding Latin MLer. I don't think we're putting Clemente on here because he was the first outstanding Latin ballplayer. I believe it's a mixture of his quality, (as DX stated) his importance to a large segment of the population (wether wrongly perceived or not), and his tragic death. He is easily one of the most recognizable names in baseball history.

You're right about Luque being an outstanding player. I also agree that Clemente has become one of the most recognizable names in baseball history, but I at least don't see that as a compelling reason to make him one of the 10 most "deserving" HOFers. But, as I said, I'm not really trying to lobby against Clemente- whom I followed/saw throughout his entire ML career- so I'll say no more on this.

[The Dude]

You're right about Luque being an outstanding player. I also agree that Clemente has become one of the most recognizable names in baseball history, but I at least don't see that as a compelling reason to make him one of the 10 most "deserving" HOFers. But, as I said, I'm not really trying to lobby against Clemente- whom I followed/saw throughout his entire ML career- so I'll say no more on this.

If we were ranking a list of the most deserving based solely off who was the best, my top 10 would be completely different. However, as it says in the OP "subjective qualities beyond just statistics can be considered in determining a player's relative worthiness."