Project Idea: Reverse Hall of Fame?

[Nerdlinger]

I've been contemplating starting my own year-by-year HOF election project. I'd like the process to be as unique as possible, so as to distinguish it from similar HOF projects which have already been done here. My idea was to run the elections in reverse, wherein players would be eligible the year before their MLB career started. You'd still assess their entire careers, as you would in any all HOF project, but we'd start near the present and work our way back in time. Does this idea have much merit? I'd rather not do it if it's just going to be a rehash, so please be honest.

[Freakshow]

More details please. What's the aim of the project - what end result would you have? What are you trying to find out? Would it just be another similar looking list to what we get in a going forward project? Or will we be applying some kind of different standards in the voting? What about foreign players and Negro leaguers?

What year would you start with? Who would be eligible? Give an example of what you have in mind. Propose some rules that would govern the project.

It might be a fine idea, but you need to flesh things out a bit.

[Nerdlinger]

More details please. What's the aim of the project - what end result would you have? What are you trying to find out? Would it just be another similar looking list to what we get in a going forward project? Or will we be applying some kind of different standards in the voting? What about foreign players and Negro leaguers?

What year would you start with? Who would be eligible? Give an example of what you have in mind. Propose some rules that would govern the project.

It might be a fine idea, but you need to flesh things out a bit.

The aim of the project is not too different from other HOF projects (which may mean the death of it from the start): have BBF create a HOF. So the end result wouldn't necessarily be that unique, although the process by which we get there would be (at least AFAIK). Since the project is based on MLB debut, it wouldn't encompass foreign players and Negro Leaguers, which is another reason why it may not be worth doing. I was thinking of going with the usual 10 player max per ballot and 75% threshold for induction. The year I start with can't be too recent, given that I'd run into the beginning of too many active players' careers, so maybe the early '90s. Anyone who played in the majors would be eligible (I'd rather not restrict it to a certain career length), and there would be no elimination of players from consideration due to length of time on the ballot or low support.

[Freakshow]

If you include players who debuted 1990-94 in the first election, here are the leading candidates:

Rk            Player WAR/pos    PA From   To
1     Alex Rodriguez   111.4 11163 1994 2012
2      Chipper Jones    81.5 10614 1993 2012
3       Jeff Bagwell    76.7  9431 1991 2005
4       Frank Thomas    69.7 10075 1990 2008
5          Jim Thome    67.8 10313 1991 2012
6       Kenny Lofton    64.9  9235 1991 2007
7      Manny Ramirez    64.8  9774 1993 2011
8     Ivan Rodriguez    63.7 10270 1991 2011
9        Jim Edmonds    57.3  7980 1993 2010
10       Mike Piazza    56.1  7745 1992 2007
11         Jeff Kent    51.9  9537 1992 2008
12     Luis Gonzalez    48.0 10531 1990 2008
13   Bernie Williams    45.9  9053 1991 2006
14   Chuck Knoblauch    42.0  7387 1991 2002
15    Carlos Delgado    40.4  8657 1993 2009
Rk              Player  WAR ERA+  SV     IP From   To   W   L
1       Pedro Martinez 82.6  154   3 2827.1 1992 2009 219 100
2         Mike Mussina 78.1  123   0 3562.2 1991 2008 270 153
3        Tim Wakefield 30.4  105  22 3226.1 1992 2011 200 180
4          Pat Hentgen 30.3  108   1 2075.1 1991 2004 131 112
5       Trevor Hoffman 27.0  141 601 1089.1 1993 2010  61  75
6       Alex Fernandez 25.7  115   0 1760.1 1990 2000 107  87
7         Mike Hampton 18.2  107   1 2268.1 1993 2010 148 115
8    Roberto Hernandez 17.2  131 326 1071.1 1991 2007  67  71
9      Armando Benitez 16.6  140 289  779.0 1994 2008  40  47
10            Robb Nen 14.4  139 314  715.0 1993 2002  45  42
11          Todd Jones  9.2  111 319 1072.0 1993 2008  58  63

ARod is the only player here who might still have something left in the tank. But it's OK to include him because he already ranks as an all-time great player, along with a steroids taint. That image will not change.

Jeter and Rivera are 1995 debuts.
Rolen and Andruw Jones would be included if you used 1996.
You start seeing a lot of active guys who debuted in 1997 so that's probably too recent.