I was listening to ESPN radio yesterday and the announcer (I forget his name) made a comment like this:

“Randy Johnson is a Hall of Famer.  A first ballot Hall of Famer.”

I hate when people talk about “first ballot HOFers” because to me, a player either is or isnt’ a HOFer, so why should a player be designated “first ballot”?

But it got me to thinking, has anybody ever broken down the HOF into different tiers, but the year they were voted in the HOF? 

Out of all the HOFers, which ones were first ballot?  Which were second ballot?  Etc.  Is there any real correlation between being first ballot and how truly great the players are?

Richie - 15 May 2006 03:03 PM

I hate when people talk about “first ballot HOFers” because to me, a player either is or isnt’ a HOFer, so why should a player be designated “first ballot”?

There’s a list somewhere of all the guys voted in the first year they were eligible. But I agree with your definition. There are a lot of problems with it ... the five-year rule hasn’t always existed, for one, so it can’t be applied to the old-timers. And only some of the writers vote this way, so it’s a big waste of time, in my view.