Fantasy rankings of MLB Hall of Famers

To give a brief overview, here is how the Baseball Hall of Fame selection process works: Five years after retirement, any baseball player with at least 10 years of Major League experience who passes through a screening committee (where a majority of players are removed) is eligible for selection. Additionally, any player from a previous voting year who received at least 5% of the vote is eligible the subsequent year for selection (this is in effect for 10 years, after which point they are removed from the ballot if they have not been selected).

The Baseball Writers Association of America (currently around 258 active members) will vote upon those eligible to be selected. Any writer who has covered baseball anytime in the last 10 years, was in the association for 10 years and has held an active status in the association within the last 10 years is eligible to vote (last year this yielded 422 votes). Each writer can vote for up to 10 players on their ballot. Any player who received 75% of votes among the ballots is elected into the Hall of Fame. Any player who is voted in on their first year eligible is known as a first ballot Hall of Famer (54 total players). Notable players who are NOT first ballot Hall of Famers include: Joe DiMaggio, Cy Young, Yogi Berra, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Mathews and Harmon Killebrew. The very first class was inducted in 1936.

Among the contentious questions that will be discussed ad nausea include:

1. Will some of the steroid-linked athletes be inducted this year (notable names include Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa)?
2. Will first year eligible Mariano Rivera receive a unanimous induction (or will he not due to a handful of voters who believe if Hank Aaron and Joe DiMaggio were not unanimous then Mariano should not be..)?
3. Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff are now on their 10^th and final year eligible to be voted in, will either get the necessary 75% (Edgar had 70% last year and 19 of the last 20 candidates to receive at least 70% of the vote got in the next year as long as it was within the 10 year window).
4. Will Andruw Jones, Sammy Sosa, Scott Rolen, Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield or Jeff Kent fall off the list this year (all under 15% received votes last year)?
5. Does the death of Roy Halladay affect (up or down) his number of votes this year?

Below is my take from a fantasy point of view. I split apart the batters and pitchers and awarded a rotisserie ranking score against the counterparts (because you are battling your fellow candidates just as much as anything else and this isn’t a head-to-head matchup, this is a collective 10 players who will receive a vote at MOST assuming all voters submit 10 votes). Given the 35 player pool I took the split up batters vs. pitchers and further split it amongst their stats on a per year basis and their stats on an entire career standpoint. Consider this last part the Dynasty format vs. a redraft format. Some of the notable names: Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens hold up well...beyond that it gets interesting.

Batter Redraft

Barry Bonds holds highest marks taking average top billing in Runs, Home Runs, OBP, SLG and OBP, Manny Ramirez is in second with the most RBIs per year and 2^nd highest SLG and OPS Ranking; Todd Helton holds the highest Average and Juan Pierre way down in 16^th holds the most Stolen Bases. Seeing Miguel Tejada, Kevin Youkilis, Travis Hafner (in HR especially) and Omar Vizquel so low really speaks volumes to just how good Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Edgar Martinez and Scott Rolen were.

Pitcher Redraft

Curt Schilling takes top spot with an even resume except for K/BB where he was the best amongst the group. Mariano Rivera holds top ERA and Save spot, Roger Clemens sits in third with the second most wins, third highest ERA and most innings pitched. I was surprised to see Roy Halladay beat out Mike Mussina who holds the most wins and second most innings pitched.

Batter Dynasty

Barry sits atop the Dynasty list too—with 22 seasons under his belt it’s no wonder. We all think of Barry Bonds home runs but he also stole 514 bases, good enough for 23 per season. The Mike Trout of his time. I was surprised to see Omar Vizquel with his 24 seasons sitting at 20^th but his Average, OBP, SLG and OPS are all among the five worst of the group. Manny, Larry, Gary and Todd round out the top five, each with strong totals in Runs, Home Runs, RBIs and solid stats in Average, OBP, SLG and OPS.

Pitcher Dynasty

It should come as no surprise to see the marathoners Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling beat out the rest, each of them pitched for 20+ seasons. Darren Oliver ALSO pitched for 20+ seasons but he had, ahem, less than favorable Wins, ERA, WHIP and innings pitched. Mike Mussina and Roy Halladay round out the top four with commanding wins, innings pitched and WHIP over their 16+ seasons.

Given all of this, my top 10 players I choose for my fantasy team (assuming I somehow got picks 1-10 in the draft): Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Todd Helton, Gary Sheffield, Larry Walker, Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens and Mariano Rivera.