When it comes to central repositories of awesomeness, science has its Periodic Table of Elements. Baseball has its Hall of Fame. And now, an unlikely marriage between the two has been fashioned.
Larry Granillo, who runs the über-awesome Wezen Ball, took it upon himself to essentially mash up the Periodic Table (which currently boasts 118 known elements) with those who’ve been formally voted into baseball’s most elite circle (109 members, to date). With a little categorizing and a whole lot of inventiveness, Granillo came up with the definitive classification system of baseball legends.
Of course, Granillo didn’t just throw everyone in all willy-nilly. A lot of thought was put into this project.
• The game’s most noble players make up the right-most column, with the most radioactive players making up the left-most column. The radioactive players go from most benign to most dangerous from top-to-bottom.
• Every effort was made to keep the top-tier Hall of Famers in the first three rows of the chart, or as close to it as possible.
• The second-to-right-most column on the periodic table of elements is the second-most reactive group of elements. On the Periodic Table of Hall of Famers, this comes out as the highly temperamental Hall of Famers, those who were known for being jerks on the field but who aren’t looked at as bad guys today.
• The 500-Home Run Club is represented together on the chart, as well as the group of 300-Game Winners. The 3,000-Hit Club is also grouped together, down below.
• Other smaller groups are the Hall of Fame relief pitchers, the players known mainly for their defense, and those who made the Hall despite a short career (which usually means a very high peak).
• The rest of the Hall of Famers are shown together in the bulk of the table. For these — and for all of the different groups, really — I made an effort to keep the best to the top and right. Other factors, such as their personality, were also included, as described above.
• Three players not voted in by the regular BBWAA process are included on the chart as well. They are mostly there because I liked how well they fit in with the concept of the chart. Hey, it’s my chart — I get to be as subjective as I want.
