Hall of Fame

Bill Simmons had a podcast earlier this week where he mentioned that he wouldn't mind having the Hall of Fame being like a pyramid, with the most deserving players in the top level, and the more questionable inductions on the bottom. So I figured I would give it a shot, sorting the players into five levels. I chose to have 40% of the inductees in the bottom level, 25% in the fourth level, 20% in the third level, 10% in the second, and 5% in the top level. There are 289 people in the Hall of Fame, so the levels have 116, 72, 58, 29, and 14 people.

Some of this got pretty subjective, Rube Waddell is higher than he probably should be because he was the coolest person to ever play baseball, but I tried to be as objective as I could. Some of the Negro League players were tough, especially the group that was inducted in 2006, so I heavily weighed how cool the first handful of sentences on their Wikipedia page were. Builders and executives were tough too, so the more I knew about someone, the higher they got ranked. Anyway, if you disagree with any placements here, you're probably wrong. Well, here it is:

First Level - 14
Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Josh Gibson NL, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Satchel Paige NL, Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Cy Young

Second Level - 29
Grover Cleveland Alexander, Cool Papa Bell NL, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Steve Carlton, Oscar Charleston NL, Eddie Collins, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Bob Gibson, Lefty Gomez, Rickey Henderson, Rogers Hornsby, Monte Irvin NL, Ban Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Nap Lajoie, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Connie Mack, Mickey Mantle, John McGraw, Mel Ott, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Tom Seaver, Ozzie Smith, Warren Spahn, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner

Third Level - 58
Cap Anson, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Ernie Banks, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Dan Brouthers, Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, Jim Bunning Rod Carew, Gary Carter, Alexander Cartwright, John Clarkson, Roberto Clemente, Mickey Cochrane, Charles Comiskey, Roger Connor, Joe Cronin, George Davis, Dizzy Dean, Ed Delahanty, Martín Dihigo NL, Bobby Doerr, Carlton Fisk, Whitey Ford, Rube Foster NL, Frankie Frisch, Hank Greenberg, Lefty Grove, Tony Gwynn, Gabby Hartnett, Harry Heilmann, Cal Hubbard, Carl Hubbell, Reggie Jackson, Judy Johnson NL, Al Kaline, Chuck Klein, Buck Leonard NL, John Henry "Pop" Lloyd, NL, Eddie Mathews, Willie McCovey, Johnny Mize, Joe Morgan, Eddie Murray, Kid Nichols, Cal Ripken, Jr, Brooks Robinson, Nolan Ryan, George Sisler, Willie Stargell, Casey Stengel, Arky Vaughan, Rube Waddell, Ed Walsh, Paul Waner, Smokey Joe Williams NL, Hack Wilson, Carl Yastrzemski,

Fourth Level - 72
Sparky Anderson, Luke Appling, Dave Bancroft, Chief Bender, Lou Boudreau, Willard Brown NL, Roy Campanella, Henry Chadwick, Fred Clarke, Andy Cooper NL, Stan Coveleski, Sam Crawford, Ray Dandridge NL, Leon Day, Bill Dickey, Don Drysdale, Leo Durocher, Dennis Eckersley, Bob Feller, Rollie Fingers,Elmer Flick, Bill Foster NL, Ford Frick, Pud Galvin, Charlie Gehringer, Warren Giles, Clark Griffith, Billy Hamilton, Pete Hill NL, Ferguson Jenkins, Tim Keefe, Willie Keeler, King Kelly, Harmon Killebrew, Tommy Lasorda, Bob Lemon, Ted Lyons, Biz Mackey NL, Juan Marichal, Joe McCarthy, Bid McPhee, José Méndez NL, Paul Molitor, Hal Newhouser, Phil Niekro, Jim Palmer, Gaylord Perry, Eddie Plank, Cumberland Posey NL, Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, Pee Wee Reese, Robin Roberts, Bullet Rogan NL, Red Ruffing, Amos Rusie, Frank Selee, Joe Sewell, Duke Snider, Albert Spalding, Turkey Stearnes NL, Bill Terry, Sam Thompson, Dazzy Vance, Bobby Wallace, Earl Weaver, Willie Wells NL, Sol White NL, Hoyt Wilhelm, J.L. Wilkinson NL, Dave Winfield, George Wright, Robin Yount

Fifth Level - 116

Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Richie Ashburn, Earl Averill, Al Barlick, Ed Barrow, Jake Beckley, Jim Bottomley, Roger Bresnahan, Lou Brock, Ray Brown NL, Morgan Bulkeley, Jesse Burkett, Max Carey, Orlando Cepeda, Frank Chance, Albert "Happy" Chandler, Jack Chesbro, Nestor Chylak, Jimmy Collins, Earle Combs, Jocko Conlan, Tommy Connolly, Candy Cummings, Kiki Cuyler, Larry Doby, Barney Dreyfuss, Hugh Duffy, Billy Evans, Johnny Evers, Buck Ewing, Red Faber, Rick Ferrell, Nellie Fox, Joe Gordon, Goose Goslin, Rich "Goose" Gossage, Frank Grant NL, Burleigh Grimes, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines, Ned Hanlon, Will Harridge, Bucky Harris, Billy Herman, Harry Hooper, Waite Hoyt, William Hulbert, Catfish Hunter, Miller Huggins, Travis Jackson, Hughie Jennings, Addie Joss, George Kell, Joe Kelley, George Kelly, Bill Klem, Ralph Kiner, Bowie Kuhn, Tony Lazzeri, Freddie Lindstrom, Ernie Lombardi, Al Lopez, Larry MacPhail, Lee MacPhail, Effa Manley NL, Heinie Manush, Rabbit Maranville, Rube Marquard, Bill Mazeroski, Tommy McCarthy, Joe McGinnity, Bill McGowan, Bill McKechnie, Joe Medwick, Walter O'Malley, Jim O'Rourke, Herb Pennock, Tony Perez, Alex Pompez NL, Kirby Puckett, Jim Rice, Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Phil Rizzuto, Wilbert Robinson, Edd Roush, Ryne Sandberg, Louis Santop NL, Ray Schalk, Red Schoendienst, Al Simmons, Enos Slaughter, Hilton Smith NL, Billy Southworth, Bruce Sutter, Mule Suttles, NL, Don Sutton, Ben Taylor, NL, Joe Tinker, Cristóbal Torriente NL, Pie Traynor, Bill Veeck, Lloyd Waner, John Montgomery Ward, George Weiss, Mickey Welch, Zack Wheat, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Vic Willis, Jud Wilson NL, Harry Wright, Early Wynn, Tom Yawkey, Ross Youngs