OT: Hall of Fame inner circle

This was a fun read:

http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2012/07/19/hall-fame-circle/

I don't know how many voters actually participated in making this list, nor how each vote was weighted (maybe I just skipped over that part) but I doubt this list was truly scientific.

Babe Ruth not topping the list immediately made me laugh.

FirstTimer said:

Babe Ruth not topping the list immediately made me laugh.

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Considering it's the "Inner Circle" of the Hall of Fame... this I'd have to absolutely agree with. My wife, who knows virtually nothing about the history of baseball... and needs reminders of how a double play works whenever she watches a game with me, or how many balls it takes to complete a walk.... knows who Babe Ruth was. Friends from Denmark, who never saw a professional baseball game in their lives until I took them to a Rangers game a few years back, asked in excitement if Babe Ruth would play... and had no clue about the significance of Nolan Ryan's picture being all over the place. There aren't a whole lot of people known as much for a supposed curse left on a team he was sold from as his incredible performance.

I may consider Mays, Williams, Cobb all better players overall... but not by much, but no one to this day equals the fame of George Herman Ruth, and we're a little less than 2 years from the 100th anniversary of his debut (July 11, 1914). The only guys that come close to comparing to him in all of professional sports are Jim Brown from the NFL, Wayne Gretzky from the NHL, Michael Jordan from the NBA.... and of those guys I think only Jordan (he is the only one that was playing in his sport's hay day... like Ruth was) will have the prolonged legendary status that Ruth has had within his sport.... but still will always be in Ruth's shadow in terms of fame.

Rory Sparrow said:

Thats kind of my point...you can't complain that the HOF does a half-ass job when deciding who to allow in, and then make your own half-ass "inner circle" list. So now instead of one half-ass list, we have two. I don't see what that solves.

If I were forced to create my own "inner circle", it would have 25 players max. I think once you get down to splitting hairs with Robin Roberts and Tony Gwynn, you've gone too far.

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I agree.

I think, while they still let in poop, the NFL has a good question it poses to voters. Can you tell the story of the NFL without *blank*?

Talking about this list...it's abusrd to see guys like Walter Johnson so low. Same with Koufax.