2024 INDUCTEES: Joey Votto and Charlie Blackmon

2023 INDUCTEES: Miguel Cabrera and Nelson Cruz

Every winter, members of the Baseball Writers Association of America vote on new inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This should be a straightforward process, but the annual exercise generates endless discussion and disagreement because there are no firm, objective criteria for what constitutes Hall-worthiness. Moreover, the value of individual worthiness should not depend on voter biases or the size or strength of a particular induction class.

Fantasy leaguers don’t care whether a player exhibited sportsmanship or integrity or played nice with the media. All that matters is whether a player’s statistical accomplishments helped his fantasy teams win. So, using Rotisserie dollar values and strict, objective criteria, the fantasy community can create its own Hall of Fame. 

The calculation of roto dollars puts all players on a level playing field. Since they are normalized to the caliber of offense and pitching in each season, it effectively allows accurate player valuations across years. So, a 30-HR performance in a high offense season will not generate as high of a roto value as that same performance in a low offense season.

Here are the criteria for induction into our Rotisserie Baseball Hall of Fame:

BATTERS must meet all of these criteria:

• Minimum of 10 seasons in the Majors.
• Career earnings of at least $250.
• Minimum of $20 average annual earnings over the course of his career.
• Minimum of $25 average annual earnings during his peak 10 years.
• Ranked among the annual top 15 of all batters at least once.

PITCHERS must meet all of these criteria:

• Minimum of 10 seasons in the Majors.
• Career earnings of at least $200.
• Minimum of $15 average annual earnings over the course of his career.
• Minimum of $20 average annual earnings during his peak 7 years.
• Ranked among the annual top 15 of all pitchers at least once.

Some players barely miss these thresholds but are worthy Hall inductees. If a player falls short on just one of the above criteria, he can still gain entry if he has lifetime earnings of $300 or more (batters), or $250 or more (pitchers). Clearing those bars is a big deal.

All dollar values are calculated based on a 15-team 5×5 mixed league, with a 67%-to-33% offense-to-pitching allocation.

Since the stats don’t change after retirement, there is no waiting period for a player to be inducted. For players who do not make an official announcement, we wait two years and he is inducted at that time.

Since this system is based on Rotisserie values, we begin our Hall at the start of the Rotisserie Era, which would be 1980. The Inaugural Inductees amassed most of their value during that first decade.

There is also an elite group of inductees with elevated criteria that we have dubbed as “Gold Level” members. Their benchmarks:

BATTERS must meet all four of these criteria:

• Minimum of 15 years in the Majors.
• Minimum of $25 average dollar value over the course of his career.
• Minimum of $30 average dollar value during his peak 10 years.
• Must have finished ranked among the annual top 15 of all batters at least 5 times.

PITCHERS must meet all four of these criteria:

• Minimum of 15 years in the Majors.
• Minimum of $20 average dollar value over the course of his career.
• Minimum of $25 average dollar value during his peak 7 years.
• Must have finished ranked among the annual top 15 of all pitchers at least 5 times

There are only 11 players who are currently members of the Gold Hall. They are (in order of lifetime earnings) Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Sammy Sosa, Vladimir Guerrero and Pedro Martinez.