Note that this visual is based on the previous version of the Hall of wWAR.
“The Hall of Fame is for the immortals of the game—Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson…”
You hear people say things like this when discussing the Hall of Fame credentials for players like Tim Raines, Alan Trammell, or Larry Walker. Everyone agrees they were good players. But some people simply believe that the Hall of Fame should be reserved for players of a much higher caliber.
The only thing is… it’s not. And it hasn't been since the 1930s.
Thanks to the Hall of wWAR, we now have a list of which Hall of Famers actually deserve to be there. Currently, 63 of the 208 players in the Hall of Fame (30.3%) didn’t deserve to be inducted (and deserve to be replaced by better players). For full analysis, see the post at Beyond the Box Score.
This table shows what percentage of inductees were worthy, by decade.
| Decade | Inductees | BBWAA | Veterans | Percentage of Deserving Hall of Famers per Decade | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deserving | Undeserving | Deserving | Undeserving | Total | 208 | 98 | 13 | 46 | 50 | 69.2% |
| 1930s | 16 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1940s | 30 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 70.0 |
| 1950s | 21 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 81.0 |
| 1960s | 26 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 61.5 |
| 1970s | 36 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 50.0 |
| 1980s | 29 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 62.1 |
| 1990s | 25 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 76.0 |
| 2000s | 25 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 80.0 |
In this table shows the percentage of deserving Hall of Famers changing over time. Some interesting points:
| Year | Inductees | BBWAA | Veterans | Cumulative Percentage of Deserving Hall of Famers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deserving | Undeserving | Deserving | Undeserving | Total | 208 | 98 | 13 | 46 | 50 | 69.2% |
| 1936 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1937 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1938 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1939 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1940 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1941 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1942 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1943 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1944 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| 1945 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 92.3% |
| 1946 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 81.1% |
| 1947 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 82.9% |
| 1948 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 79.1% |
| 1949 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 80.4% |
| 1950 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80.4% |
| 1951 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 81.3% |
| 1952 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 82.0% |
| 1953 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 79.6% |
| 1954 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 78.9% |
| 1955 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 79.4% |
| 1956 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80.0% |
| 1957 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 80.3% |
| 1958 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80.3% |
| 1959 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 80.6% |
| 1960 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80.6% |
| 1961 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 79.7% |
| 1962 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 79.2% |
| 1963 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 77.6% |
| 1964 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 76.8% |
| 1965 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 75.9% |
| 1966 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 76.2% |
| 1967 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 75.6% |
| 1968 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 75.3% |
| 1969 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 75.3% |
| 1970 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 74.0% |
| 1971 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 71.6% |
| 1972 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 71.0% |
| 1973 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 70.3% |
| 1974 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 69.6% |
| 1975 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 68.6% |
| 1976 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 68.9% |
| 1977 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 68.8% |
| 1978 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68.5% |
| 1979 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68.2% |
| 1980 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68.2% |
| 1981 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 68.7% |
| 1982 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68.6% |
| 1983 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68.6% |
| 1984 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 68.3% |
| 1985 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 67.8% |
| 1986 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 67.1% |
| 1987 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 66.9% |
| 1988 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67.1% |
| 1989 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 67.1% |
| 1990 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67.5% |
| 1991 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 67.7% |
| 1992 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 67.7% |
| 1993 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67.9% |
| 1994 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 67.6% |
| 1995 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 68.2% |
| 1996 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 68.4% |
| 1997 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68.2% |
| 1998 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 68.2% |
| 1999 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68.3% |
| 2000 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 68.3% |
| 2001 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 67.7% |
| 2002 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67.9% |
| 2003 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68.2% |
| 2004 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68.6% |
| 2005 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68.9% |
| 2006 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 68.5% |
| 2007 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68.8% |
| 2008 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69.0% |
| 2009 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 69.0% |
| 2010 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69.1% |
| 2011 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69.4% |
| 2012 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 69.7% |