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         A RATIONAL HALL OF FAME METHOD:      The "42, 6" Paradigm      137 Qualifiers through 2023

This is a quantitative, WAR-based method applying to Modern Position Players, who played mainly in the AL and NL from 1900 onwards.  I don't consider pitchers, nor players who had the bulk of their career either before 1900, or in the Negro Leagues. All WAR Values are AVERAGES of data from both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. 

The Top 450 modern position players are listed in the table below.

Pos. WAR = Career WAR, omitting years of non-positive WAR.   Pos. PA = PA in those positive-WAR seasons.  "WA>1.2" = Pos. WAR - 1.2(Pos. PA)/640.  This metric mixes Total WAR with the Rate of WAR per 640-PA season.  Play above 1.2 WAR per season (60% of average) increases the metric; play below that rate (but > 0) lowers it.
Peak Rate = mean rate of WAR per full, 640-PA season in the player's Top 5 Total-WAR seasons.  

HOFV = Hall Of Fame Value, the overall value of the player.   HOFV =  WA>1.2  +  3(Peak Rate)

A "Minimum HOF Paradigm" is 60 Pos. WAR in 9600 Pos. PA (15 full seasons), for a Career Rate of 4 WAR per season, with a Peak Rate of 6 WAR per season.  I feel such a player should be in the HOF.  He will have 42 WA>1.2, and an HOFV of 60.  Thus, my cutoff for inclusion in the Rational Hall Of Fame is an HOFV of 59.9 (erring just slightly on the side of inclusive caution.)  This creates 137 qualifiers, of whom 111 are players who exceed both 42 WA>1.2 AND a Peak Rate of 6, while the rest exceed the standard in one or the other category.  Thus, no one who is both below 42 WA>1.2, and below a Peak Rate of 6, qualifies via the HOFV formula.  

The approximate size of the HOF that I find appropriate for modern position players, on average over time, is 1 per year from 1900 onwards, plus one per decade as well.  The size of 137 that my cutoff of 59.9 produces (so far) is in that ballpark--though some other players deserve admittance via "extra credit", for military service, racism, injury, etc. (see commentary below the table.)  A black H means the player is in the real HOF, and deservedly so (say I).  (That's due to "extra credit", if his HOFV is below 59.9).  A red H means he was undeservedly put in the real HOF.  

st means that steroid accusations have been a factor in a player not being voted into the HOF by sportswriters.  An ordinal next to a player' name, such as, "5th", means he is the "5th best", of modern position players, at his position.  PRE means the player had some (usually small) amount of PA before 1900.  Active players are in red.  CATCHERS' HOFV's have been raised by Q percent, where Q = 14% times the percent of career innings played at catcher (innings % shown next to the name).  This adjusts for catchers' substantial bodily wear and tear. 

I have also included in the table, backlit in yellow, a "Minimum HOF Paradigm" hypothetical player, shown at the top of the table, although his actual rank would be 134th, with the HOFV of 60; and "Good Barry" Bonds, i.e. using only his performance through age 34, when he had NOT yet benefitted from steroids, and who would be 15th best--so why not admit THAT version of him? :)  

					PEAK	WA >	POS	POS
H?	Rank	HOFV	NAME		RATE	1.2	WAR	PA
H	(134)	60.0	Min.  HOF  PARADIGM		6.00	42.0	60.0	9600
H	1	181.7	Ruth, Babe NO Pitching	RF	12.33	144.7	164.6	10610
st	2	173.9	Bonds, Barry	LF	11.33	140.0	163.6	12606
H	3	160.3	Mays, Willie	CF	10.17	129.8	153.1	12375
H	4	156.3	Cobb, Ty	CF	10.19	125.7	150.3	13084
H	5	142.6	Hornsby, Rogers	2B	10.52	111.1	128.6	9352
H	6	138.9	Williams, Ted	LF	10.24	108.2	125.9	9459
H	7	137.6	Aaron, Hank	RF	8.03	113.5	139.7	13941
H	8	136.9	Speaker, Tris	CF	8.84	110.4	132.8	11918
H	9	136.7	Wagner, Honus   PRE	SS	10.63	104.8	123.8	10094
H	10	130.2	Musial, Stan	LF	8.85	103.7	127.5	12715
H	11	126.9	Collins, Eddie	2B	9.07	99.7	122.3	12030
H	12	125.2	Gehrig, Lou	1B	9.36	97.1	115.2	9630
H	13	123.4	Mantle, Mickey S	CF	10.26	92.7	111.3	9908
st	14	121.5	Rodriguez, Alex             2nd	SS	8.68	95.5	117.4	11666
H	(15) 15	114.9 113.7	(Barry Bonds, thru age 34) Ott, Mel	LF RF	9.25 7.64	87.1 90.8	103.1 111.6	8534  NO st yet! 11080
H	16	113.3	Schmidt, Mike	3B	8.25	88.6	107.1	9890
H	17	110.9	Henderson, Ricky	LF	8.55	85.3	109.6	12948
H	18	106.7	Morgan, Joe                  3rd	2B	9.34	78.7	99.8	11271
H	19	106.0	Robinson, Frank	RF	7.46	83.6	105.7	11743
H	20	105.4	Foxx, Jimmie	1B	8.66	79.4	97.2	9477
H	21	104.5	Lajoie, Nap              PRE	2B	9.33	76.5	91.6	8039
	22	101.8	Pujols, Albert	1B	8.35	76.7	98.2	11425
	23	100.9	Trout, Mike	CF	9.34	72.9	85.2	6521
H	24	100.3	Mathews, Eddie	3B	7.73	77.1	96.1	10101
H	25	95.2	Ripken, Cal Jr             3rd	SS	7.72	72.1	95.2	12327
H	26	95.0	Yastrzmski, Carl	LF	8.11	70.7	95.9	13452
H	27	94.2	Clemente, Roberto	RF	8.02	70.1	88.4	9711
H	28	93.4	Boggs, Wade	3B	7.57	70.7	90.2	10406
H	29	92.0	Dimaggio, Joe	CF	8.51	66.5	80.9	7672
H	30	91.5	Bench, Johnny     .818	C	7.32	60.1	75.4	8140
H	31	91.0	Kaline, Al                      6th	RF	7.20	69.4	91.1	11567
H	32	90.7	Brett, George	3B	8.09	66.5	87.1	10972
H	33	89.6	Griffey, Ken Jr	CF	8.35	64.5	83.0	9835
H	34	87.6	Beltre, Adrian	3B	7.25	65.9	88.7	12130
H	35	85.7	Jones, Chipper	3B	6.89	65.0	85.0	10614
H	36	84.6	Carter, Gary   .918      2nd	C	7.20	53.4	70.0	8853
H	37	84.3	Bagwell, Jeff	1B	7.27	62.5	80.1	9370
H	38	84.1	Gehringer, Charlie       5th	2B	7.15	62.6	81.8	10221
H	39	83.9	Vaughan, Arky            4th	SS	7.76	60.7	75.2	7722
H	40	82.3	Fisk, Carlton    .913    3rd	C	6.57	53.3	70.8	9299
H	41	79.7	Robinson, Brooks	3B	6.72	59.6	80.6	11178
H	42	78.9	Santo, Ron	3B	7.69	55.9	72.1	8640
H	43	78.5	Rodriguez, Ivan    .977  4th	C	6.34	50.0	68.9	10060
H	44	78.3	Jackson, Reggie	RF	6.93	57.5	76.0	9866
H	45	78.2	Carew, Rod	2B	7.07	57.0	76.8	10550
H	46	78.2	Piazza, Mike    .902    5th	C	7.46	47.0	61.2	7544
H	47	78.0	Walker, Larry	RF	7.35	55.9	70.9	7974
H	48	77.0	Appling, Luke            5th	SS	6.55	57.4	75.8	9820
H	49	76.2	Mize, Johnny	1B	6.89	55.5	69.4	7371
H	50	75.8	Heilman, Harry	RF	7.12	54.4	70.8	8714
H	51	75.7	Frisch, Frank            7th	2B	6.93	54.9	73.5	9892
H	52	75.7	Simmons, Al	LF	7.77	52.4	69.9	9351
O	53	75.3	Jackson, Joe	RF	8.03	51.3	61.9	5651
H	54	74.9	Thomas, Frank          6th	1B	6.76	54.6	73.1	9851
	55	74.7	Grich, Bobby             8th	2B	6.68	54.7	70.1	8220
H	56	74.7	Rolen, Scott	3B	6.71	54.6	70.3	8372
	57	74.1	Betts, Mookie	RF	7.78	50.8	61.6	5757
H	58	73.8	Boudreau, Lou           6th	SS	7.68	50.7	63.9	7019
O	59	73.7	Rose, Pete	LF	5.69	56.6	83.5	14319
	60	73.3	Cabrera, Miguel         7th	1B	6.61	53.4	71.1	9389
H	61	73.1	Robinson, Jackie        9th	2B	8.17	48.6	59.5	5803
H	62	73.1	Waner, Paul	RF	6.16	54.6	74.8	10763
H	63	72.8	Trammell, Alan          7th	SS	6.73	52.6	69.1	8810
H	64	72.7	Snider, Duke	CF	7.34	50.7	65.7	7959
H	65	72.6	Larkin, Barry             8th	SS	6.52	53.0	69.0	8490
H	66	72.5	Thome, Jim	1B	6.56	52.8	71.5	9957
H	67	72.4	McCovey, Willie	1B	7.06	51.2	67.5	8648
H	68	72.0	Berra, Yogi     .870       6th	C	6.04	46.0	61.7	8353
H	69	71.4	Banks, Ernie                9th	SS	7.79	48.1	66.6	9865
st	70	71.2	McGwire, Mark	1B	7.00	50.2	64.5	7602
H	71	71.2	Martinez, Edgar	3B	6.33	52.2	67.4	8086
H	72	71.2	Smith, Ozzie               10th	SS	6.08	53.0	72.9	10596
H	73	71.2	Crawford, Sam          PRE	RF	5.73	54.0	73.4	10358
	74	71.1	Beltran, Carlos	CF	6.57	51.4	70.3	10073
H	75	71.0	Dickey, Bill   1.000       7th	C	6.44	43.0	56.2	7047
	76	70.9	Jones, Andruw	CF	6.81	50.5	66.2	8370
	77	70.8	Utley, Chase               10th	2B	7.41	48.5	63.1	7770
H	78	70.7	Baker, Home Run	3B	7.26	48.9	61.5	6668
	79	70.2	Whitaker, Lou             11th	2B	5.66	53.2	71.8	9930
H	80	69.4	Cronin, Joe                 11th	SS	6.71	49.3	65.8	8815
	81	69.1	Edmonds, Jim	CF	7.12	47.8	62.6	7917
	82	69.1	Posey, Buster   .827       8th	C	7.02	40.9	51.4	5590
st	83	68.8	Ramirez, Manny	RF	6.08	50.6	68.8	9702
	84	68.7	Allen, Dick                    11th	1B	7.23	47.0	60.3	7062
H	85	68.7	Yount, Robin                12th	SS	6.56	49.0	72.0	12249
H	86	68.6	Hartnett, Gabby   .982   9th	C	6.31	41.4	55.0	7215
	87	68.1	Smith, Reggie	RF	6.05	49.9	64.9	7980
H	88	68.0	Jeter, Derek                  13th	SS	5.78	50.7	73.5	12161
	89	67.9	Lofton, Kenny	CF	6.54	48.3	65.5	9155
H	90	67.8	Murray, Eddie	1B	5.82	50.3	72.0	11528
H	91	67.8	Raines, Tim	LF	6.22	49.1	68.3	10218
	92	67.7	Nettles, Graig	3B	6.23	49.1	67.7	9919
H	93	67.4	Greenberg, Hank	1B	6.93	46.6	58.0	6096
H	94	67.0	Dawson, Andre	RF	6.74	46.8	64.7	9566
H	95	66.9	Sandberg, Ryne          12th	2B	6.61	47.1	64.5	9276
H	96	66.7	Gordon, Joe                13th	2B	6.98	45.7	58.0	6536
H	97	66.7	Goslin, Goose	LF	6.53	47.1	65.4	9761
H	98	66.5	Molitor, Paul	3B	5.35	50.5	72.2	11556
H	99	66.2	Gwynn, Tony	RF	6.09	47.9	67.1	10232
	100	66.2	Bell, Buddy	3B	6.74	46.0	64.6	9919
st	101	66.0	Cano, Robinson         14th	2B	6.40	46.8	64.5	9446
st	102	65.9	Palmeiro, Rafael	1B	5.62	49.1	71.1	11757
	103	65.9	Votto, Joey	1B	6.27	47.1	62.0	7972
H	104	65.7	Cochrane,Mickey 1.00  10th	C	6.38	38.5	50.2	6208
H	105	65.4	Alomar, Roberto           15th	2B	5.97	47.5	66.1	9911
H	106	65.2	Reese, PeeWee             14th	SS	5.98	47.3	64.9	9380
H	107	65.2	Torre, Joe     .410          11th	C	5.86	44.1	60.5	8746
H	108	64.9	Killebrew, Harmon	1B	5.77	47.6	64.2	8879
H	109	64.3	Stargell, Willie	LF	6.74	44.1	60.6	8797
	110	64.2	Randolph, Willie         16th	2B	5.81	46.7	64.4	9392
st	111	63.9	Sheffield, Gary	RF	6.18	45.4	63.3	9534
	112	63.9	Magee, Sherry	LF	6.18	45.4	61.4	8547
	113	63.7	Goldschmidt, Paul	1B	6.17	45.2	59.6	7638
H	114	63.7	Mauer, Joe      .510      12th	C	6.76	39.2	54.1	7960
H	115	63.6	Ashburn, Richie	CF	5.88	45.9	62.3	8708
	116	63.3	Bando, Sal	3B	6.22	44.7	59.6	7960
	117	63.3	Evans, Dwight	RF	5.65	46.3	66.2	10569
	118	63.2	Hernandez, Keith	1B	6.04	45.1	60.7	8286
H	119	63.0	Biggio, Craig    .147    17th	2B,C	5.69	44.6	67.1	11949
	120	62.9	Boyer, Ken	3B	6.46	43.6	59.0	8234
st	121	62.8	Sosa, Sammy	RF	6.39	43.6	61.0	9269
H	122	62.7	Sisler, George	1B	7.88	39.1	53.9	7882
H	123	62.7	Helton, Todd,	1B	6.69	42.6	59.0	8752
H	124	62.5	Terry, Bill	1B	6.31	43.5	56.9	7101
H	125	62.3	Simmons, Ted   .779   13th	C	5.63	39.3	55.8	8768
	126	61.4	Longoria, Evan	3B	6.70	41.3	56.7	8206
	127	61.2	Molina, Yadier   .992   14th	C	6.57	34.0	49.2	8093
H	128	61.0	Williams, Billy	LF	5.81	43.5	62.4	10072
	129	60.9	Wynn, Jimmy	CF	6.27	42.1	55.6	7159
	130	60.6	Lemon, Chet	CF	6.37	41.5	54.9	7115
H	131	60.3	Wallace, Bobby PRE   15th	SS	6.63	40.4	54.0	7236
	132	60.2	Abreu, Bobby	RF	5.96	42.3	60.6	9774
	133	60.1	Martin, Russell  .961    15th	C	6.19	34.4	46.9	6648
H	134	60.0	Chance, Frank        PRE	1B,C	7.53	36.8	45.7	4743
	135	59.9	Bonds, Bobby	RF	5.57	43.2	57.9	7820
H	136	59.9	Wheat, Zack	LF	5.65	42.9	61.7	10001
	137	59.9	Evans, Darrell	3B	5.87	42.3	61.8	10386 last qualifier
H	138	59.3	Guerrero, Vlad (inj)	RF	6.11	41.0	57.4	8737   extra credit
H	139	59.3	Doby, Larry          Neg Lg	CF	6.44	40.0	51.6	6160   ex. credit
	140	59.1	Freeman, Freddie	1B	5.65	42.1	57.3	8074
	141	58.9	Judge, Aaron	RF	7.88	35.3	41.9	3524
	142	58.4	Arenado, Nolan	3B	6.43	39.1	51.2	6443
	143	58.3	Olerud, John	1B	5.85	40.8	57.8	9055
(H)	144	58.3	Suzuki, Ichiro      Japan	RF	5.54	41.7	60.5	10028  ex. credit
	145	58.2	Berkman, Lance	LF	6.06	40.1	54.2	7520
	146	58.0	Giles, Brian	LF	5.80	40.6	54.8	7582
	147	57.9	Johnson, Bob "Indian"	LF	5.61	41.1	56.2	8049
	148	57.9	Machado, Manny	3B	6.07	39.7	52.6	6874
	149	57.5	Ventura, Robin	3B	5.55	40.9	56.4	8271
H	150	57.5	Tinker, Joe  FEDadj-.6   16th	SS	5.57	40.8	54.2	7138  ex. credit
H	151	57.4	Winfield, Dave  58.6max	RF	5.64	40.5	63.2	12064  ex. credit
?	152	57.1	Tenace, Gene   .585        16th	C	5.60	36.0	46.2	5408   ex. credit
	153	56.9	Cey, Ron	3B	5.87	39.3	54.7	8214
H	154	56.9	Medwick, Joe Ducky	LF	5.87	39.3	54.5	8123
	155	56.9	Giambi, Jason	1B	6.43	37.6	51.9	7606
	156	56.7	Schang, Wally   .854      17th	C	5.66	33.7	45.2	6128
H	157	56.6	Minoso, Minnie  Neg Lg	LF	5.90	38.9	52.4	7210  ex. credit
H	158	56.4	Herman, Billy   WW2   18th	2B	5.39	40.2	56.4	8591  ex. credit
	159	56.4	Munson,Thurmn  .929  18th	C	5.81	32.4	43.5	5904
	160	56.2	Altuve, Jose                19th	2B	6.18	37.6	51.1	7150
	161	56.1	Cedeno, Cesar             17th	CF	6.50	36.6	51.7	8046
	162	56.0	Freehan, Bill     .905    19th	C	5.95	31.9	44.8	6889
	163	56.0	Clark, Will	1B	5.75	38.7	54.3	8283
	164	56.0	Davis, Willie	CF	5.59	39.2	57.5	9761
H	165	56.0	Kiner, Ralph inj, WW2	LF	6.67	36.0	47.7	6256  ex. credit
?	166	56.0	Keller, Charlie  inj, WW2	LF	6.63	36.1	44.7	4603  ex. credit
	167	56.0	McCann, Brian   .958   20th	C	6.31	30.4	43.3	6850
	168	55.9	Lynn, Fred	CF	6.67	35.9	50.4	7700
H	169	55.6	Perez, Tony	1B	5.69	38.6	57.7	10178
	170	55.6	Hack, Stan	3B	5.28	39.7	55.7	8507
H	171	55.6	Doerr, Bobby   WW2   20th	2B	5.86	38.0	52.7	7858  ex. credit
H	172	55.5	Bresnhan,Rogr   .707    21st	C	6.43	31.3	41.0	5196  ex. credit
	173	55.4	Cash, Norm                 28th	1B	5.63	38.5	53.4	7904
H	174	55.3	Campanela,Roy 1.00    22nd	C	6.87	27.9	37.0	4816  ex. credit
	175	55.1	Fletcher, Art                  17th	SS	6.32	36.1	47.0	5806
	176	55.0	Ramirez, Jose	3B	6.32	36.0	46.2	5404
	177	55.0	Donaldson, Josh	3B	6.30	36.1	46.8	5728
H	178	54.5	Averill, Earl	CF	5.74	37.2	50.5	7075
	179	54.4	Groh, Heinie	3B	5.85	36.8	49.8	6890
	180	54.3	McCutchen, Andrew	CF	6.26	35.5	50.7	8063
H	181	54.3	McGriff, Fred	1B	5.90	36.6	55.5	10088
H	182	54.3	Carey, Max	CF	4.82	39.8	59.1	10273
H	183	54.2	Slaughter, Enos   WW2	RF	5.24	38.5	55.1	8873   ex. credit
H	184	54.2	Clarke, Fred              PRE	LF	5.66	37.2	49.1	6361   ex. credit
H	185	54.1	Flick, Elmer              PRE	RF	6.31	35.1	45.1	5290   ex. credit
	186	54.0	Kent, Jeff                  21st	2B	5.39	37.9	55.8	9537
	187	54.0	Drew, JD	RF	6.32	35.0	46.1	5867
	188	53.9	Harper, Bryce	LF	6.40	34.7	46.9	6454
	189	53.9	Posada, Jorge     .891   23rd	C	5.68	30.9	43.0	6425
	190	53.9	Garciapara, Nomar      18th	SS	6.61	34.0	44.3	5481
H	191	53.6	Davis,George   PRE    19th	SS	6.77	33.2	41.6	4428  ex. credit
	192	53.5	Pedroia, Dustin	2B	5.43	37.2	49.7	6645
H	193	53.5	Jackson, Travis           20th	SS	6.14	35.1	46.7	6175
H	194	53.4	Cuyler, Kiki	RF	5.50	36.9	51.2	7601
	195	53.2	Clark, Jack	RF	5.33	37.2	52.0	7898
	196	53.0	Cruz, Jose	LF	5.14	37.6	53.5	8469
H	197	52.9	Lazzeri, Tony	2B	5.90	35.2	48.9	7309
H	198	52.6	Klein, Chuck	RF	5.85	35.1	46.6	6145
	199	52.6	Foster, George	LF	6.38	33.5	46.7	7047
H	200	52.5	Evers, Johnny	2B	5.89	34.8	48.4	7213
	201	52.2	Williams, Bernie	CF	5.52	35.6	49.6	7459
	202	52.0	Ohtani, Shohei  Pitchng incl.	D/P	7.88	28.4	33.5	2722
	203	52.0	Zobrist, Ben	RF	5.98	34.1	45.6	6109
	204	52.0	Kinsler, Ian	2B	5.29	36.1	51.2	8018
	205	51.9	Gonzalez, Luis	LF	5.59	35.2	54.2	10121
	206	51.8	Lindor, Francisco        21st	SS	5.60	35.0	45.2	5427
	207	51.7	Elliott, Bob	3B	5.49	35.3	50.7	8197
	208	51.7	Tulowitzki, Troy           22nd	SS	6.63	31.8	41.5	5164
	209	51.7	Porter, Darrell     .923   24th	C	5.43	29.5	41.3	6283
H	210	51.6	Lombardi, Ernie  1.00   25th	C	5.80	27.8	39.8	6351
	211	51.3	Sewell, Joe                   23rd	SS	5.18	35.8	51.4	8331
H	212	51.3	Cepeda, Orlando	1B	5.49	34.8	50.9	8540
	213	51.2	Fregosi, Jim                 24th	SS	5.95	33.4	46.7	7109
H	214	50.9	Roush, Edd FdLg   -.7 FG	CF	5.61	34.1	48.3	7560
	215	50.9	Teixeira, Mark	1B	5.37	34.8	48.9	7528
	216	50.7	Cameron, Mike	CF	5.35	34.7	49.0	7626
	217	50.6	Murphy, Dale	CF	6.06	32.4	47.8	8198
	218	50.5	Williams, Matt	3B	5.94	32.7	46.1	7173
	219	50.4	Williams, Ken	LF	6.30	31.5	41.8	5468
	220	50.4	Camilli, Dolph	1B	6.18	31.9	43.6	6236
H	221	50.1	Rice, Jim	LF	5.52	33.6	50.0	8755
H	222	50.0	Ortiz, David	1B	5.06	34.8	53.7	10066
	223	50.0	Strawberry, Daryl	RF	5.96	32.1	43.5	6061
	224	49.9	Doyle, Larry	2B	5.08	34.7	48.1	7137
	225	49.9	Sheckard, Jimmy       PRE	LF	5.65	32.9	47.6	7831
	226	49.8	Granderson, Curtis	CF	5.50	33.3	48.2	7929
	227	49.7	Dykstra, Lenny	CF	6.09	31.4	41.4	5282
	228	49.7	Harrah, Toby	3B	5.41	33.5	48.9	8211
	229	49.7	Pinson, Vada	CF	5.48	33.2	51.7	9817
	230	49.6	Stephens, Vern           25th	SS	5.25	33.8	47.4	7239
	231 232	49.5 49.5	Downing, Brian   .461 Colavito, Rocky	LF,C  RF	4.42 5.60	33.3 32.7	50.5 46.9	9170 7559
H	233	49.4	Wilson, Hack	CF	6.19	30.8	40.8	5340
	234	49.4	Stanton, Giancarlo	RF	5.63	32.5	43.8	6022
	235	49.3	Burks, Ellis	CF	5.57	32.6	47.6	7979
	236	49.1	Campaneris, Bert         26th	SS	5.09	33.8	50.0	8595
H	237	49.1	Puckett, Kirby	CF	5.24	33.4	48.1	7831
	238	48.9	Holliday, Matt	LF	5.33	32.9	47.1	7554
	239	48.8	Berger, Wally	CF	5.61	32.0	42.6	5664
	240	48.5	Sundberg, Jim    .998    26th	C	5.33	26.5	39.2	6738
	241	48.4	Galan, Augie	LF	5.50	31.9	44.7	6830
	242	48.3	Veach, Bobby	LF	5.48	31.8	45.9	7479
	243	48.3	Braun, Ryan	LF	5.54	31.6	45.4	7340
	244	48.2	White, Roy	LF	5.23	32.5	45.8	7083
	245	48.2	Ramirez, Hanley         27th	SS	5.96	30.3	41.5	5988
	246	48.1	Fournier, Jack	1B	5.88	30.5	41.8	6032
H	247	48.1	Hooper, Harry	RF	4.79	33.7	52.9	10250
	248	47.8	Barfield, Jesse	RF	5.76	30.5	40.4	5289
	249	47.7	Parrish, Lance    .930    27th	C	5.03	27.1	41.5	7672
	250	47.7	Knoblauch, Chuck	2B	5.95	29.8	43.1	7050
	251	47.7	Gardner, Larry	3B	4.93	32.9	47.2	7630
	252	47.6	Bautista, Jose	RF	6.15	29.2	39.4	5443
	253	47.6	Burgess, Smoky  1.00   28th	C	5.51	25.3	34.1	4720
	254	47.6	Leach, Tommy           PRE	CF	5.06	32.4	48.4	8502
	255	47.6	Konetchy, Ed	1B	4.90	32.9	48.2	8175
	256	47.5	McDougald, Gil	2B	5.81	30.0	40.2	5397
	257	47.5	Correa, Carlos           28th	SS	6.35	28.4	36.7	4393
H	258	47.3	Manush, Heinie	LF	5.23	31.6	46.8	8071
	259	47.0	Blair, Paul	CF	6.16	28.5	39.7	5961
	260	46.9	Frey, Lonnie	2B	5.57	30.2	42.2	6375
H	261	46.9	Oliva, Tony	RF	5.52	30.3	42.9	6718
	262	46.8	Petrocelli, Rico	3B	5.85	29.2	39.9	5661
	263	46.7	Powell, Boog	1B	5.78	29.4	42.5	6968
H	264	46.7	Rice, Sam	RF	4.19	34.2	52.9	9973
H	265	46.7	Aparicio, Luis             29th	SS	4.53	33.1	53.2	10689
	266	46.6	Phillips, Tony	2B	4.70	32.5	49.1	8859
	Rank	HOFV	NAME		PEAK	w>1.2	P.War	Pos PA
	267	46.5	Stanky, Eddie	2B	5.72	29.4	39.6	5436
	268	46.4	Bradley, Bill  Fed Lg   PRE	3B	5.99	28.4	38.0	5068
	269	46.2	Realmuto, J.T.   .956   29th	C	5.64	23.8	32.4	4549
	270	46.1	Belle, Albert	LF	5.95	28.2	40.7	6650
	271	46.0	Heath, Jeff	LF	5.80	28.6	39.0	5499
	272	45.9	Combs, Earle	CF	5.04	30.8	43.0	6511
	273	45.9	Nicholson, Bill	RF	5.37	29.8	41.7	6340
H	274	45.8	Fox, Nellie	2B	5.11	30.5	48.2	9438
	275	45.7	Yelich, Christian	LF	5.53	29.1	40.4	6027
	276	45.7	Myer, Buddy	2B	4.92	30.9	46.3	8179
	277	45.7	DeCinces, Doug	3B	5.59	28.9	41.1	6524
	278	45.5	Van Slyke, Andy	CF	5.37	29.4	41.6	6487
H	279	45.5	Rizzuto, Phil               30th	SS	5.36	29.4	41.9	6650
	280	45.4	Burns, George Joe	LF	5.54	28.8	43.1	7627
	281	45.4	Delgado, Carlos	1B	5.20	29.8	45.6	8397
	282	45.4	Mattingly, Don	1B	5.35	29.3	42.1	6774
H	283	45.3	Hodges, Gil	1B	5.01	30.3	44.1	7360
	284	45.2	Butler, Brett	CF	4.69	31.2	47.6	8731
	285	45.1	Herman, Babe	RF	5.25	29.4	41.1	6228
	286	45.1	White, Devon	CF	5.08	29.9	44.7	7912
	287	44.9	Wilson, Willie	CF	5.80	27.5	42.3	7856
	288	44.8	Hunter, Torii	CF	4.80	30.4	47.7	9211
	289	44.8	Kendall, Jason   .986    30th	C	4.91	24.7	40.1	8200
	290	44.8	Parker, Dave	RF	6.13	26.4	42.6	8626
	291	44.8	Singleton, Ken	RF	5.07	29.6	44.9	8155
	292	44.8	Smith, Lonnie	LF	5.96	26.9	37.5	5652
	293	44.5	Bregman, Alex	3B	5.70	27.4	35.3	4198
	294	44.5	Devlin, Art	3B	5.73	27.3	37.2	5243
	295	44.5	Rosen, Al	3B	6.07	26.3	34.4	4309
	296	44.4	Otis, Amos	CF	5.03	29.3	43.5	7586
	297	44.3	Howard, Elston   .769   31st	C	5.98	22.1	31.1	4803
	298	44.3	Henrich, Tommy	RF	5.12	29.0	39.1	5409
	299	44.2	Walker, Dixie	RF	4.88	29.6	43.7	7520
	300	44.2	Alou, Moises	LF	4.99	29.2	44.0	7892
	301	44.1	Crawford, Carl	LF	5.16	28.6	41.3	6725
	302	44.1	Damon, Johnny	CF	4.30	31.2	50.9	10522
	303	44.0	Gardner, Brett	LF	5.02	28.9	41.4	6614
	304	43.9	Lankford, Ray	CF	5.36	27.8	39.9	6435
	305	43.9	Alou, Felipe	RF	5.46	27.5	41.7	7562
	306	43.7	Clift, Harlond	3B	5.22	28.1	40.9	6847
	307	43.7	Grandal,Yasmani   .881   32nd	C	5.45	22.6	29.8	3861
	308	43.7	Maris, Roger	RF	5.54	27.1	37.7	5651
	309	43.6	Rollins, Jimmy 31st	SS	4.56	30.0	48.9	10102
	310	43.6	Guerrero, Pedro	RF	5.81	26.2	36.7	5615
	311	43.4	Grace, Mark	1B	4.40	30.2	47.1	8961
	312	43.4	Justice, David	RF	5.10	28.1	40.5	6602
	313	43.4	Cain, Lorenzo	CF	5.71	26.3	34.9	4591
	314	43.4	Turner, Justin	3B	5.79	26.0	36.8	5743
	315	43.3	Dahlen, Bill PRE	SS	5.50	26.8	36.9	5379
	316	43.2	Bogaerts, Xander	SS	5.16	27.7	39.1	6054
	317	43.0	Davis, Eric	CF	5.74	25.8	36.5	5684
	318	43.0	Heyward, Jason	RF	5.51	26.5	38.7	6491
	319	43.0	Chapman, Ben	CF	4.58	29.2	42.4	7014
	320	42.9	Belanger, Mark	SS	5.24	27.2	38.9	6207
	321	42.9	Peckinpaugh, Roger	SS	4.71	28.8	43.9	8048
	322	42.9	Staub, Rusty	RF	5.07	27.7	47.8	10705
	323	42.9	Judge, Joe	1B	4.27	30.1	46.8	8928
	324	42.8	Gordon, Sid	LF	5.56	26.2	37.1	5812
	325	42.8	Bishop, Max	2B	5.23	27.1	37.8	5702
	326	42.7	Kauff, Benny  Fed.L   WW1	CF	5.95	24.9	31.6	3549
	327	42.7	Polanco, Placido	2B	5.16	27.2	41.3	7525
	328	42.6	Pratt, Del	2B	4.53	29.0	43.3	7615
	329	42.6	Callison, Johnny	RF	5.26	26.8	39.6	6844
	330	42.5	Marte, Starling	LF	5.31	26.6	36.5	5267
	331	42.5	Cruz, Nelson	RF	4.77	28.2	42.4	7585
	332	42.5	Rendon, Anthony	3B	5.82	25.0	33.8	4660
	333	42.4	Canseco, Jose	RF	5.05	27.3	42.3	8003
H	334	42.4	Collins, Jimmie          PRE	3B	5.76	25.1	33.2	4271
	335	42.4	Tejada, Miguel	SS	4.71	28.2	44.2	8523
	336	42.3	Zimmerman, Ryan	3B	4.92	27.6	40.4	6840
	337	42.3	Parent, Fred              PRE	SS	5.67	25.3	35.2	5263
	338	42.2	Cravath, Gavvy	RF	5.54	25.6	34.4	4652
	339	42.2	Sanders, Reggie	RF	4.99	27.3	40.4	7003
	340	42.2	Chavez, Eric	3B	5.21	26.6	37.9	6027
	341	42.2	Lopes, Davey	2B	4.61	28.3	42.1	7340
	342	42.1	Gonzalez, Adrian	1B	4.72	28.0	41.9	7401
	343	42.0	Keirmaier, Kevin	CF	6.14	23.6	30.6	3759
	344	42.0	Bartell, Dick	SS	5.19	26.4	41.6	8116
	345	41.9	Valentin, John	SS	6.05	23.8	32.1	4403
	346	41.8	Oliver, Al	CF	4.47	28.4	45.3	9030
	347	41.8	Haller, Tom    .994        33rd	C	5.07	21.5	29.8	4447
	348	41.7	Cooper, Walker  1.00    34th	C	5.41	20.4	29.1	4631
	349	41.7	Buford, Don	LF	5.45	25.3	34.9	5105
	350	41.6	Springer, George	RF	5.21	26.0	35.7	5175
	351	41.6	Finley, Steve	CF	4.80	27.2	44.6	9244
	352	41.6	Semien, Marcus	SS	5.19	26.0	36.9	5821
	353	41.5	Franco, Julio	SS	5.13	26.1	43.3	9158
	354	41.5	Thomas, Roy              PRE	CF	4.96	26.6	37.5	5761
	355	41.5	Lollar, Sherm   .985      35th	C	4.55	22.8	34.4	6147
	356	41.4	Carty, Rico	LF	5.47	25.0	35.1	5370
	357	41.3	Fernandez, Tony	SS	4.31	28.4	44.6	8640
	358	41.3	Lopez, Javy    .927        36th	C	5.11	21.3	31.2	5278
	359	41.3	Bailey, Ed       .997       37th	C	5.45	19.9	27.8	4206
	360	41.2	Turner, Trea	SS	5.03	26.1	34.4	4406
	361	41.1	Gibson, Kirk	LF	5.21	25.5	37.5	6398
	362	41.1	Seager, Corey	SS	5.44	24.8	32.1	3909
	363	41.1	Madlock, Bill	3B	5.59	24.3	37.3	6937
	364	41.0	Youkilis, Kevin	1B	5.82	23.6	31.7	4318
	365	41.0	Cullenbine, Roy	RF	5.54	24.4	33.2	4680
	366	41.0	Glaus, Troy	3B	4.95	26.1	37.2	5900
	367	41.0	Zimmerman, Heinie	3B	5.45	24.6	35.1	5578
H	368	40.9	Maranville, Rabbit	SS	4.56	27.2	45.6	9763
	369	40.9	Ramirez, Aramis	3B	4.88	26.3	39.5	7038
	370	40.8	Jordan, Brian	RF	5.38	24.7	34.0	4983
	371	40.8	McAuliffe, Dick	2B	5.32	24.8	37.1	6531
H	372	40.7	Youngs, Ross	RF	5.23	25.0	34.5	5043
H	373	40.7	Brock, Lou	LF	4.33	27.7	47.2	10388
	374	40.6	Caminiti, Ken	3B	5.28	24.8	36.3	6117
H	375	40.6	Hafey, Chick	LF	5.64	23.7	32.1	4497
	376	40.6	Ordonez, Magglio	RF	5.10	25.2	39.1	7388
	377	40.5	Salmon, Tim	RF	4.84	26.0	38.6	6741
	378	40.4	Allison, Bob	RF	5.40	24.2	35.1	5775
	379	40.3	Crandall, Del    .988        38th	C	4.92	20.6	30.0	4994
	380	40.2	Hrbek, Kent	1B	4.83	25.7	38.4	6747
	381	40.1	Rizzo, Anthony	1B	4.85	25.6	38.4	6808
	382	40.1	Davis, Harry                 PRE	1B	4.83	25.6	36.4	5722
	383	40.1	Reyes, Jose	SS	4.65	26.1	41.1	7989
	384	39.7	Donlin, Mike	CF	5.70	22.6	30.1	3961
	385	39.7	Flood, Curt	CF	4.30	26.8	39.4	6696
	386	39.7	Turner, Terry	SS	5.07	24.5	36.3	6313
	387	39.6	Murphy, Dwayne	CF	5.40	23.4	33.2	5180
	388	39.5	Dark, Alvin	SS	4.82	25.1	39.8	7831
	389	39.5	Bryant, Kris	3B	5.42	23.2	30.8	4019
	390	39.4	Holmes, Tommy	RF	4.81	25.0	35.3	5492
	391	39.2	Scott, George	1B	4.55	25.6	39.2	7224
	392	39.2	Maddox, Gary	CF	4.97	24.3	35.9	6186
	393	39.0	Bush, Donie	SS	4.92	24.3	38.5	7567
	394	39.0	Seymour, Cy              PRE	CF	5.29	23.1	32.7	5130
	395	38.9	Bell, Jay	SS	4.62	25.0	40.0	7954
	396	38.9	Cirillo, Jeff	3B	4.82	24.4	35.3	5762
	397	38.8	Concepcion, Dave	SS	4.63	25.0	41.5	8825
	398	38.8	Howard, Frank	LF	4.70	24.8	38.3	7197
	399	38.8	Gonzalez, Juan	RF	4.74	24.5	37.7	7017
	400	38.7	Mitchell, Kevin	LF	5.53	22.2	30.6	4477
	401	38.7	O'Neill, Paul	RF	4.77	24.4	40.0	8314
	402	38.6	Pesky, Johnny	SS	4.93	23.8	33.5	5171
	403	38.6	Gaetti, Gary	3B	4.16	26.1	43.0	9012
	404	38.5	York, Rudy	1B	4.99	23.6	36.1	6657
	405	38.5	Seager, Kyle	3B	4.69	24.4	36.1	6204
	406	38.5	Murphy, Danny 1900	2B	4.69	24.4	35.4	5873
H	407	38.4	Bottomley, Jim	1B	4.69	24.3	37.9	7209
H	408	38.3	Kell, George	3B	4.35	25.3	38.0	6785
H	409	38.3	Schoendienst, Red	2B	4.71	24.2	41.2	9091
	410	38.2	Chapman, Matt	3B	5.21	22.6	29.3	3588
	411	38.2	Werth, Jayson	RF	4.95	23.3	34.0	5674
	412	38.0	Soto, Juan	RF	5.26	22.2	28.6	3375
	413	37.9	Acuna, Ronald Jr.	RF	5.78	20.6	26.3	3032
	414	37.8	White, Bill	1B	4.68	23.8	36.3	6679
	415	37.8	Milan, Clyde	CF	4.28	25.0	39.6	7786
	416	37.7	Pafko, Andy	CF	4.95	22.9	35.8	6893
	417	37.7	Wallach, Tim	3B	4.46	24.4	39.4	7990
H	418	37.7	Traynor, Pie	3B	4.16	25.2	39.3	7481
	419	37.6	Vizquel, Omar	SS	4.03	25.6	45.9	10826
	420	37.6	Simmons, Andrelton	SS	5.05	22.5	31.4	4731
	421	37.5	Elberfeld, Kid           PRE	SS	5.20	21.9	31.3	4993
	422	37.5	Stephenson, Riggs	LF	4.58	23.7	33.2	5052
	423	37.4	Sizemore, Grady	CF	5.22	21.8	29.5	4098
	424	37.4	Soriano, Alfonso	LF	4.76	23.2	36.3	7013
	425	37.4	Keltner, Ken	3B	4.79	23.0	34.8	6296
	426	37.3	Stirnweiss, Snuffy	2B	5.22	21.7	29.0	3909
	427	37.3	Fairly, Ron	1B	4.28	24.5	37.7	7039
	428	37.3	Thompson, Robby	2B	5.37	21.2	31.1	5235
	429	37.3	Jones, Fielder            PRE	CF	4.36	24.2	35.0	5719
	430	37.3	Daubert, Jake	1B	4.10	25.0	41.4	8745
	431	37.2	Logan, Johnny	SS	4.80	22.8	33.0	5415
	432	37.2	Cooper, Cecil	1B	4.73	23.0	36.2	7007
	433	37.1	Woodling, Gene	LF	4.97	22.2	33.8	6178
	434	37.1	Williams, Cy	CF	4.27	24.3	38.2	7375
	435	37.0	Gordon, Alex	LF	4.99	22.0	34.1	6428
	436	36.8	Joost, Eddie	SS	4.61	23.0	34.2	5951
	437	36.8	Cavaretta, Phil	1B	4.38	23.7	37.0	7092
	438	36.6	McMullen, Ken	3B	4.62	22.8	33.4	5647
	439	36.6	Grantham, George	2B	4.46	23.2	34.3	5874
	440	36.6	Martinez, JD	LF	5.00	21.6	31.7	5384
	441	36.6	Baker, Dusty	LF	4.28	23.8	38.4	7783
	442	36.6	Upton, Justin	LF	4.65	22.6	35.6	6920
	443	36.6	Hamilton, Josh	CF	5.56	19.9	28.1	4350
	444	36.5	Choo, Shin-soo	RF	4.92	21.7	34.5	6808
	445	36.5	Buxton, Byron	CF	6.88	15.9	20.4	2393
	446	36.5	Alfonzo, Edgardo	3B	5.30	20.6	31.1	5611
	447	36.5	O'Doul, Lefty	LF	5.26	20.7	27.4	3585
	448	36.4	Furcal, Rafael	SS	4.47	23.0	36.5	7200
	449	36.4	Wills, Maury	SS	4.14	23.9	38.8	7895
	450	36.3	Huggins, Miller	2B	3.96	24.4	37.2	6809

Comments:  

0. I rate only "modern" position players, whose careers started after (or only slightly before) 1900, and who are not (mainly) pitchers. WAR from before 1900 are omitted from their calculations.  Ruth's 20 pitching WAR are not included, as he's already #1--though I do include Ohtani's; if he ever surpasses Ruth I'll give Ruth his extra 20 :)  I don't include Negro League stars who did not play much in MLB, as their stats won't fit my model.  My (rough) desired size (rate of increase) for the HOF is, on average, 1 per year starting in 1900, plus an extra "wildcard" of 1 more player per decade since then. Thru 2023, this would yield around 137 or so players who qualify via the formula.

PLUS I would add some players who deserve "extra credit"--due to being hampered by military service, strikes, racism, major injuries, etc. It will turn out there are 17 of those. This would make a total of around 154 or so thru 2023, but that will be roughly the same size in 2030, as there are no active players likely to both be eligible and qualify before then. I do not exclude anyone based on drugs or sin (McGwire, Rose, etc.) For WAR, I average stats from both websites, BR and FG. 

It turns out that my desired HOF size is elegantly met using a formula based on a rough consensus "Paradigm" of the Minimum HOF player. This is a player with 60 WAR in 9600 PA, for a Career Rate of 4 WAR per 640 PA (i.e., per "full season"), and who has a Peak Rate in their Top 5 WAR seasons of 6 WAR per full season. I end up with 137 players who are evaluated by my formula to be, overall, at least as good as that paradigm (without extra credit.)

1. The overall rating formula, "HOFV", combines two measures, "WAR>1.2", and "Peak Rate". In what follows, we omit seasons with zero or negative WAR from career totals, as they are basically seasons in which the player should not really have been in the majors.

For WAR>1.2, we use only the career total WAR from positive-WAR seasons, and their total PA. From the total Pos. WAR, we subtract 1.2 WAR per 640 PA. That 1.2 WAR rate is the baseline, "Poor" level of play, only above which I feel that a HOF player should start getting credit towards the HOF. 1.2 WAR is roughly 60% of an average player's full-season WAR. A team, all of whose players played like that, would be expected, on average, to win 66 games and lose 96, and that would certainly be regarded as a team that had played "poorly". This baseline level of 1.2 WAR also creates a penalty for any (positive, but low) seasonal play, i.e. play below the "poor", 1.2 rate level. This WAR>1.2 measure inherently mixes total Career Production with Career Rate per PA.

So we have: "WAR>1.2" = Pos. WAR - 1.2(Pos. PA)/640.

2. Peak Rate (per full, 640-PA season) is: Total WAR in the player's 5 Top WAR seasons, divided by their total PA in those 5 seasons, then multiplied by 640.  Since, during the top 5 seasons, variations in PA between players are usually due to factors beyond the player's control, Peak Rate (rather than Total Peak Production) is the appropriate measure to use. Thus, for example, a player with a Peak Rate of 7.2 would have averaged, during their best 5 seasons, a (great) rate of 7.2 WAR per full season, no matter how many PA's they had in those 5 seasons.

3. The final, overall measure is: HOFV = "WAR>1.2" + 3(Peak Rate). This Peak multiplier of 3 is determined both by the choice of the "Poor" minimum rate of credit (WAR = 1.2 per season), and by my wanting to have the "Paradigmatic" minimum HOF player, who will have 60 Pos. WAR, also get an HOFV of 60--for aesthetic reasons.  Using the number 3 as the multiplier is what makes that happen. While both the 1.2 and the 3 parameters are arbitrary, I feel they are quite reasonable, and give "just about the right mix" of credit for Peak Performance, Career Production, and Career Rate. Others may of course prefer different parameters.  

4. However, the Paradigm, now that we have defined WAR>1.2, should really depend on that measure, not on 60 WAR and 9600 PA, or a Career Rate of 4. A player with those stats will have a WAR>1.2 value of 42, so the effective Min. HOF Paradigm is a player with both "WAR>1.2" of at least 42, AND a Peak Rate of at least 6.  This is why I call it the "42, 6" Paradigm. 

There are 111 such players, all of whom I claim should be in the HOF. Any player who fails to meet those minimum values in BOTH categories will NOT qualify via the formula (though they may get in with extra credit.) But that leaves many players who exceed the minimum standard in one category, but not the other. The formula's mathemtical "mix" of course takes care of evaluating such players, and I find another 26 players whose excess in one category more than compensates for their deficiency in the other, so they are also qualified via the formula. This yields 137 players, just about my "desired" HOF size (again, before extra credit.)  

5. The Cutoff Level: Since the "Paradigm" player has, by design, a HOFV of 60.0, one might expect that value of 60 to be the cutoff level for qualification, via the formula's mix of Career and Peak performance. That would admit 134 qualifying players, also roughly in line with my desired HOF size. Higher or lower cutoffs could of course be used by those who prefer a smaller or larger HOF. I find that using a cutoff of 60 creates "just about the right size" of the HOF, based on performance alone, not extra credit.

HOWEVER, since WAR values cannot be taken to be perfectly accurate, I have very slightly lowered the cutoff level to 59.9, which admits 3 more players, making 137 total. These are Bobby Bonds, Zack Wheat, and Darrell Evans. I firmly believe all three deserve to be in the HOF, and Wheat was in fact elected. All three have WAR>1.2 above 42, so by setting the 59.9 cutoff, this leaves only one player in MLB since 1900 who has WAR>1.2 above 42 but does NOT (yet) qualify for my HOF via my formula--Freddie Freeman. But he is still active, and he will certainly (soon) qualify via the formula. So having that standard for WAR>1.2, namely 42.0, as a SUFFICIENT (though not necessary) minimum standard for qualification, has a lot of sabermetric appeal to elegance and simplicity, helping to further justify lowering the cutoff to 59.9.

Also, two of the players (Wheat and Evans) have over 60 total Pos. WAR in the first place--a very difficult standard to reach, and one that might further bias us toward ensuring their admission. Qualifying these two leaves only two players since 1900 who have at least 60 Pos. WAR but who do NOT qualify via my formula (because their WA>1.2 is below 42): Winfield and Ichiro. Winfield was voted into the HOF, and probably deserves it via extra credit (injuries, retiring too tardily); and Ichiro will certainly be voted into the HOF, and deserves it via extra credit (for his play in Japan).  In fact, I would not necessarily oppose an "automatic" extra credit admission for anyone with 60 or more Pos. WAR, even without other extra credit--although so far I don't need to stipulate it.

What about these three 59.9 players' Peak Rates? All are of course below 6.0, with Bonds having the lowest, which, at 5.57, is the second-lowest Peak of all 137 qualifiers. (But the lowest is Paul Molitor, who is a very solid HOF member--and a fair number of my qualifiers, including some voted into the HOF, have Peak Rates only a little bit above Bonds's.) However, Bonds was pretty consistently very good in his non-peak years, 30% better than Wheat or Evans; his WAR>1.2 is above both Wheat and Evans; and Bonds's overall HOFV is actually a tad above them as well, in the second decimal place. So I can't admit them without also admitting him.

And Bobby could be considered to have potential extra credit due as well, as he was cruising along after a strong age 33 season of 3.5 WAR, declining only slowly, and with plenty of gas left in his tank--when suddenly in his age 34 and 35 seasons he had two different serious injuries, which drastically impaired all aspects of his game, including his playing time, yielding total WAR in those final two seasons of below zero. Take even one of those injuries away, and in any remotely likely scenario he easily comes in with an HOFV well above 60, as well as, quite likely, Pos. Total WAR above 60 as well, like Wheat and Evans. So I firmly believe that the 3 extra players qualified by my 59.9 cutoff all legitimately deserve HOF status, from several different angles. 

After the cutoff at of 59.9, which is at 137th place, the table lists the rest of the top 450 players, including almost all actual HOF members, though most of them don't "deserve" it (the undeserving ones have a Red H).  This includes the relatively few players who deserve to be in the HOF via "extra credit"--all but two of whom were actually voted in (and thus have a Black H). And it includes a lot of excellent but "not great enough" players who either weren't voted in (deservedly so), or who were undeservedly voted in. The lowest HOFV value for someone who deserves to get in via extra credit is George Davis, who is 191st on my list at 53.6.  All HOF members below that don't deserve it.  

6. Catchers need a Bonus: The rigors of catching make them wear out and wear down (and miss PA's in order to rest) much more than other players. Without giving them a "bonus" they will be obviously underrepresented in any HOFV interval. With 137 entrants, the 8 positions divided "evenly" would mean roughly 17 players from each position. I have awarded a 14% bonus to catchers, and even with that, we get only 15 Catcher qualifiers among the 137 above the cutoff. However, 2 more would get in with extra credit (Gene Tenace and Roy Campanella), and Thurman Munson had a fairly good probability of making it if he had lived, though not high enough that I feel I can give him enough extra credit to let him in. So overall that number of catcher representatives seems ok.

That 14% bonus is pro-rated to how many defensive innings they played at Catcher--if a player only played half his innings at C, he only gets half the bonus, i.e., 7%. The bonus is then applied to his nominal HOFV value, yielding the final HOFV value listed in the table above. There are a couple of "very partial" catchers, Biggio and Frank Chance, who mainly played elsewhere, and who I don't count in the "representation" issue.  I still decided to give them their bonuses--Biggio would have qualified anyway without the bonus, so it just gave him a little boost in rank. But Chance would actually have been the first player not to qualify, had he not received the very small bonus, which just inched him over the cutoff, to HOFV of 60. However, he would get a lot of separate "extra credit" anyway, for several reasons, so he would be in (and was voted in) via that route. Might as well have him in via the stats alone.  And there is Brian Downing, who played a lot at C, but more at LF. but whose bonus leaves him still well below the cutoff level.

A similar slight dearth of representation is also true of Shortstops, who do NOT get a bonus--only 15 qualify above the cutoff. This is counting A-Rod as a SS, which he played just a tad more than at 3B, but he certainly would have qualified had he played all games at SS. But the 16th best SS, Joe Tinker, was elected to the HOF, a quite reasonable choice at the time, as I have him as the 5th best player below my cutoff, though he has no extra credit. And George Davis, whose pre-1900 games aren't included in his HOFV, would easily qualify via extra credit for them, even if they were fairly heavily discounted, making 17; and Francisco Lindor is likely to be the 18th SS within the next decade; so that seems ok for representation.

There is also a major issue with catcher "framing", which Fangraphs uses for recent players, though BR doesn't. Since previous players who may have been good framers don't have its (often quite large) value added to their stats, even just averaging in Fangraphs with BR gives some recent catchers a huge relative boost over old-timers. I have decided I can't do anything about that--there are other areas where we are also missing data on older-time players, and we just use what we have. So Russell Martin, Yadier Molina and Buster Posey qualify for my HOF, but wouldn't do so without Fangraph framing value--c'est la vie...

7. The "Next Best" players not in my HOF.  The players ranked 138th and below who have a black H next to them were elected to the Hall (as were those with the black H who are above the cutoff), and have enough "extra credit" that I think their election was rational and justified. This involves my (admittedly subjective) judgment--in agreement with the voters--that, had their handicaps NOT occurred (military service, racism, strike years, major injuries, etc.), there would be a STRONG probability that they would have made it up to my 59.9 cutoff level. Another "handicap" is the fact that some players who played mostly after 1900 had a bit of significant WAR value before 1900, even if we discount that value a fair amount for a lower, pre-modern level of play--but my formula doesn't count that pre-1900 value. I will give them some (discounted) "extra credit" for that play, if they are close to qualifying. [Players with all or most of their WAR before 1900 are a matter for specialists in old-time baseball, in which I am not really interested (nor qualified to judge)].  

The players who have a red H by them are ones who were elected to the HOF, but should not have been, as they don't have enough extra credit to get up to my 59.9 level. These were all of course quite good players, so some of those with the red H's were reasonable voter selections for their (uninformed by WAR) times, though the lower-ranked ones were not, even back then. Note that for players who do qualify by extra credit, I don't try to "quantify" specifically WHERE the player would end up ranked if the extra credit is given to them--I just make a binary decision: "they would very likely be above (or not) the 59.9 HOFV cutoff". Here are some comments on selected players' ex. credit (or not) from #138 on down

H 138. Vlad Guerrero   Back injury in very good year cost him at least 1 "WAR>1.2". Without the injury, he probably qualifies.  Since he's my "Best player not qualified", but was voted in, we'll give it to him with the extra credit for the injury.

H 139.   Larry Doby: racism (and WW2, had there been no racism) cost him ~ 2 full seasons in young prime. So lots of extra credit.

140 to 142.   Freeman, Judge, and Arenado are active, and will qualify fairly soon. They will make 140 qualifiers.

143. John Olerud--he is "Paul's Best Player NOT in his HOF", as I don't see extra credit. Voters agreed...  Someone has to be the best player not in the HOF, and he gets the "close but no cigar" nod...

(H) 144.    Ichiro, gobs of extra credit for many years in Japan, even at lower play levels. Certain to be voted in.  

145 to 147.   Berkman; Giles (has steroid issue); Johnson (inflated WAR by playing in 1945): none have ex. credit.  2nd, 3rd, and 4th best players to not be admitted to my HOF.

148.   Machado, will qualify within a couple years.

149.   Ventura, no ex. credit. May be better than Johnson, as latter got many WAR in 1945, which are inflated.

H 150.   Joe Tinker, no ex. credit, but 16th best SS...maybe SS's do deserve a tiny bonus. So I'm ok with him voted in, especially at the time.

H 151.  Dave Winfield.   Various Ex. Credit: Has 63.2 Pos. WAR, higher than many qualifiers. His WAR>1.2 is lowered by playing well into his 40's at low WAR levels, some of which were barely positive and dragged him down.  This is a drawback of my formula, that it could yield players who WOULD qualify at 59.9 at some point in their career, if they stopped there, but who will drop below it if, instead of retiring, they keep on playing at low Pos. War levels. [If they play at negative WAR levels, like Miggy or Pujols, they WON'T be penalized, as we don't count those--so this is a mildly unfair feature, that a player who plays better than another could get penalized for it.] However, Winfield is the only player I've found who is affected enough to ask if they do NOT qualify for my cutoff due ONLY to this un-ideal feature of my formula. The answer, however is still no:

I calculated Winfield's hypothetical HOFV if he had retired after his last good season at age 40, and it was only 58.6, good for 142nd place, but not a qualifier. This would have made him the best (non-active, non-extra credit) player NOT qualified for my HOF, ahead of Olerud. However, that fact, plus 63.2 WAR considered as ex. credit, could convince me to admit him...perhaps...

BUT no need for that:  he ALSO missed a full year of play due to a serious injury at age 37, after posting an excellent 5 WAR at age 36--his second best season! Had that injury not occurred at age 37, it is highly likely he would have gotten to above HOFV of 60 in that missing age-37 year alone. Also, his return seasons at ages 38 and 39 showed serious declines in both offense and defense (hence to very low positive WAR levels), which seem to have been lingering effects of the injury. The evidence that it was the injury, and not just age, is that his age 40 season, after the injury may have finally fully healed, yielded much better offense and defense, and 3.8 WAR, roughly an average "paradigm" non-peak season for a HOF player--and extremely rare at age 40! So overall, I think the injury very likely prevented him from getting plenty of additional WAR, and well above 60 HOFV, and even his final low-WAR years wouldn't have dragged him below it. So I'm fine with admitting him on Ex. Credit.

152. Gene Tenace:   Catcher, so got his bonus, just to get to 152nd. But for a variety of kind of strange reasons, he consistently got way too few PA--not just because he was a catcher (as he could also play 1B), and not because he wasn't playing very well, as his rate of WAR per PA was usually quite high. He was often platooned (not just "rested") with other players (at both C and 1B) whose WAR rates were substantially worse than his... WTF? Very good hitter and at least an average defender, on the whole. So I think that had he been on different teams with different players and especially with more astute managers, he would have very likely played much more, and come in well above the 59.9 HOFV cutoff (perhaps not even needing the catcher bonus to do so). He is also the 16th best Catcher, so a desire for more equitable representation of positions also argues for him. But he is one of ONLY TWO Players BELOW my cutoff who is NOT already elected to the HOF, yet who I think SHOULD be in on extra credit.  

H 154. Ducky Medwick   No ex. credit, he faded fast after age 30. First actual HOF electee I feel should NOT be in.

H 157. Minnie MInoso   Racism caused him to miss sufficient PA's to qualify him., so he's in on ex. credit.

H 158. Billy Herman   Missed '44, '45 seasons, played at 4.5 WAR per season in '46, very likely would have been in except for WW2.  in on ex. credit

160. Jose Altuve   Active, 5.3 War/Season rate in '23, but will be age 34 in '24; will LIKELY qualify, but no sure thing.

H 165. Ralph Kiner, voted into the HOF, and
    166. Charlie Keller (NOT voted in). 
    Charlie and Ralph are basically "identical twin" players!  Their last names both start with K and end with ER, both were Left Fielders, their careers overlapped for 7 years (though at different stages of career development), both missed close to 2 full years to WW2 (again, at different playing ability levels), they have the same HOFV value, both great hitters and sluggers. They had quite similar, nice high Peak WAR Rates (around 75th to 80th best of all time.) Then both were felled by back injuries in their prime, in mid-career. Kiner played another 1600 PA more than Keller did, mainly playing impaired by his injuries, until he gave up, while Keller couldn't do much at all after his injury. But Kiner played, overall, during those extra PA's, at the baseline 1.2 WAR per season rate, hence picked up NO additional WAR>1.2, so the twins' values of WAR>1.2 are, again, virtually identical. Keller was the slightly greater hitter, with better OBP, Batting Avg, and doubles and triples power, while Kiner had substantially better HR rates. Keller was a near-average fielder, with Kiner a fairly poor fielder but a little better baserunner.

Their main difference was in their time missed to WW2. Kiner missed 2 years, but early in his career, when he had not yet played in the majors, while Keller missed 1.7 years in his absolute peak, prime years, before his injury, and was still in his prime in 1946 when he came back from the war. There is a quite high likelihood that, at a conservative guesstimate, Keller would have picked up sufficient WAR, had he played the missing WW2 years, to make my HOF BEFORE his injury. His Peak Rate would also likely have been a little higher, as again the missed time was during his absolute peak years.

Kiner, however, missed playing time in '44 and '45 that could have seen him still in the minors, where he had been before going off to the war. However, when he came back in 1946, he was immediately promoted to the major leagues, and led the league in HR's(!), though with only 23, as the NL seemed to be a pitchers' league that year. His overall hitting was fairly good but not great that year, but the next year he improved a LOT and had a great year, which began his prime, which lasted 6 years, until his back injuries. He also said he hadn't swung a bat at all during WW2, hence was rusty in '46.  So imagine if he had played in 44 and 45, perhaps a bit in the minors to begin with, but improving steadily (instead of stagnating.)  I would say it's quite likely he would have been in the majors substantially earlier, picking up some more WAR, and certainly not rusty in '46, hence picking up more WAR in that year as well. It's not very likely he would have picked up nearly as much extra WAR as Keller, had they not missed the WW2 time, but Kiner is only 3.9 WAR>1.2 below qualifying for my HOF, even without any injury extra credit. He could have come quite close...

The upshot: I think that Keller was the slightly better player, and should get in my HOF, even before considering the injury issue, via ex. credit from the WW2 issue only. But Kiner does get some ex. credit for WW2, and I am willing to say that there is enough ex. credit for the injuries as well to say that, combined with his WW2 bump, Kiner can be considered to be likely enough to at least barely make it in.  Keller of course would get the same further boost for injuries, further raising his value well above my minimum. So I say Kiner's vote is deserving (barely), thus Keller is even more deserving, and hence that Keller is the only other player (with Tenace) who is BELOW my cutoff, who is NOT already elected to the HOF, but who I think SHOULD be in on extra credit.

H  169. Tony Perez  Not quite good enough a hitter to make up for often weak defense. No ex. credit.

H 171. Bobby Doerr   WW2--missed 1 yr; back injury ended career at age 33; so a lot of ex. credit, he goes in.

H 172. Bresnahan  4 yrs. as player-manager, didn't play himself much despite high WAR rates. Ex. credit!

H 174. Campanella  Racism kept him out of MLB until age 27. Crash ended career a bit early. Ex Credit!  

H 178. Earl Averill   Quite good hitter, but fairly poor speed and defense. Career too short. No ex. credit.

H 181. Fred McGriff   Better hitter than Averill, much worse defense, long career, but no ex. credit.

H 182.   Max Carey Good for a long time, but not good enough. Never great, quite low Peak Rate for the HOF. No ex. cred.

H 183. Enos Slaughter Missed 3 years at his peak to WW2, would have had many WAR! Deserves in.

H 184. Fred Clarke   Had quite a bit of Pre-1900 WAR, even if discounted would still qualify him. Deserves in.

H 185.   Elmer Flick   2 good years before 1900; after great age 31 yr, career basically ended by weird disease. Deserves in on ex. credit.  

H 191. George Davis   Lots of Pre-1900 WAR. Easily qualifies him even at steep discount. Deserves in.

George Davis at #191 is the lowest ranked modern position player, according to my formula, who was voted in to the HOF deservedly (via extra credit), in my opinion.   All the Red H's below him were voted in undeservedly, as they don't have enough ex. credit, if any, to boost them up.

If we include Ichiro, who is a lock to be elected, and Tenace and Keller, along with those actually voted in, this creates 17 more "extra credit" entrants to my HOF, beyond the formula's 137 qualifiers, for a total of 154. That is actually a bit larger HOF than I had thought desirable/reasonable for entrance through 2023 when I started thinking about how to structure a rational formula. BUT there won't be anyone new (i.e., not yet above 59.9) who will qualify from among active players (and also be eligible for voting upon) for roughly 7 to 10 years. By say, 2040, I think it's quite likely the total "rational" HOF will only be up to maybe 160 to 162 or so, which is only 5 to 7 more than my "desired" rate of admission would create; and the rate is designed to be only "long-term, on average", so fluctuations of that small an amount are unimportant. And, hoping we have relatively few more "World Wars", there should be very few folks getting in on Ex. Credit in the future...

So it seems quite reasonable to me that my formula is doing its job, even with the adding in of those with extra credit,. I think it largely captures in quantitative form the kind of thinking about "Hall-worthiness" that would be in line with the rough consensus among many sabermetricians, and among INFORMED actual voters. While opinions will vary on how large the HOF should be, any such desired size can be accomodated by setting different cutoffs using my formula. And of course other formulas with other parameters could be used--the important thing is to have a set of structured, objective quantitative criteria, rather than just ad hoc subjective "feelings" about whose favorite player was great, based on data, if any, which is almost always cherry-picked and/or irrelevant, to some degree, and often wholly inconsistently applied to other, non-favorite players.