Which Hall of Fame has the highest standards?

[Nightwing]

Sort of got the idea from the Future Hall of Famer thread, as well as discussions in other topics from a while back. So which Hall has the most credibility in claiming to be a "Hall of Fame" and not a "Hall of Very Good"?

Edit: Feel free to expand from there if you like. For example, who would you take out (or add) to improve a certain Hall of Fame?

 

[OG]

Baseball takes this. The NFL's is also tough however their refusal to induct wide reciever's hurts its legitimacy in my book.

 

[Czech]

It's not an opinion poll any more than "who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" is. Of course it's baseball, and even they let some real shit in there.

 

[909]

All four Hall of Fames are a joke. Baseball's is the best.

 

[bps21]

Are the people voting Football doing so as a joke? They have a minimum requirement for Chrissake.

 

[Czech]

I wonder how much of the Hockey Hall's inclusiveness comes from a Canadian sensibility of trying to make everyone happy. Glenn Anderson was good. I'd say about Steve Larmer good, which is no slight, but Steve Larmer's not quite a hockey immortal. Eric Lindros is pretty much accepted as a future Hall of Famer, and he was a pouting dickhead who did more for teams by not playing for them than playing for them. Leave these guys unchecked and they'll probably put Darren McCarty in. Jesus.

 

[still fly]

Baseball has the highest standards, therefore it's the best. Nobody cares about the Basketball Hall of Fame, and only Canadians care about the Hockey Hall of Fame.

I'm going to killed for this, but Football has diluted it's hall, by letting in too many tweeners in.

 

[Master Thrasher]

Football won't let punters or kickers in. I answered Football.

 

[naiwf]

Football won't let punters or kickers in. I answered Football.

Or WRs not named Jerry Rice.

 

[Red Baron]

I wonder how much of the Hockey Hall's inclusiveness comes from a Canadian sensibility of trying to make everyone happy. Glenn Anderson was good. I'd say about Steve Larmer good, which is no slight, but Steve Larmer's not quite a hockey immortal. Eric Lindros is pretty much accepted as a future Hall of Famer, and he was a pouting dickhead who did more for teams by not playing for them than playing for them. Leave these guys unchecked and they'll probably put Darren McCarty in. Jesus.

People think Paul Henderson should be in the Hall of Fame because of his famous goal. Honestly, he was just average.

 

[Nightwing]

I wouldn't hang McCarty's jersey from the rafters.

Anderson, to me, is a sort of nostalgia pick; he was essentially the spunky second-liner who managed to get feeds at opportune times, which gives him deceptive stats. Of all the guys, he's probably the biggest product of being around such great players. I didn't even realize Steve Larmer is in.

I think the thing with Hockey is that there are great players that don't have the stats because that wasn't their job. To me, Guy Carbonneau is a legit Hall of Famer over Anderson because he was the definition of the Versatile Defensive Forward while he played.The problem is really Cam Neely, who probably would have been a no-brain Hall of Famer if he hadn't gotten injured (ironically, the same can be said for Mickey Redmond). I also think that hockey is the most likely of the 4 to take into account off-ice and intangibles (leadership, etc...).

I still hope Lindros doesn't get in.

 

[Czech]

Larmer isn't in and won't be, which was kinda my point.

 

[oldskool]

Baseball, head & shoulders above anything else.

They have good reasons, mind, but show me another league where any one career leader in any major statistic is not only not a first-ballot HoFer, but potentially never going to get inducted at all. Baseball's got 2.

 

[Vitamin X]

I voted Football, although all four are pretty flawed honestly.

Football won't let punters or kickers in. I answered Football.

Jan Stenerud?

They have good reasons, mind, but show me another league where any one career leader in any major statistic is not only not a first-ballot HoFer, but potentially never going to get inducted at all. Baseball's got 2.

I think that proves the very opposite of what you're trying to argue.

 

[bps21]

Yeah...they're Kickers...get over it.

Their entire existence is based off of someone else making plays.

Football is a joke of a hall.

 

[Vitamin X]

Football's only a joke of a hall because it's difficult to consider 22 positions on 32 different teams, and while the best of the best at their position do usually get right in, the next group who have just about every right to be there, get passed over sometimes several times. It's way more to judge for 5 entrants a year.

I think the basketball one is probably the worst. I don't know how good or bad the hockey one is.

 

[bps21]

The point is that recievers may have to wait...but they ALL get in eventually. Everyone gets in eventually. There are no standards in the NFL HOF...there is just a waiting list.

And it isn't the highest standards for first ballot induction...it's highest standards overall.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Yeah...they're Kickers...get over it.

Their entire existence is based off of someone else making plays.

Special teams is 1/3 of the sport. Kickers, punters specifically, can change the entire course of the game. Look at the Colts/Chargers playoff game last season. Mike Scifers won that game.

 

[Slayer]

What about the facilities themselves?

The NFL HOF is a nice facility, to be sure, but the actual players room is a bit lacking, especially when compared to the MLB HOF. At the MLB HOF you have that giant room with all the player plaques, with each plaque having a paragraph or so detailing the honoree's accomplishments. The NFL has a relatively cramped room with all the famous head busts, with each bust only having the name, position and years/teams associated.

Also, the Hockey HOF is in a mall basement.

 

[snuffbox]

Does the NFL have any plans to end the apparent policy of not letting in Bobby Dillon or Jerry Kramer because there's already 'too many' Packers?

 

[Nightwing]

Also, the Hockey HOF is in a mall basement.

What the fuck are you talking about? It's in a large, renovated bank in downtown Toronto. And it's not in a mall. Here's a picture out the entrance.

I also believe it's unique in that it's the only one of the four to be in the middle of a major metropolitan downtown area.

 

[Slayer]

Also, the Hockey HOF is in a mall basement.

What the fuck are you talking about? It's in a large, renovated bank in downtown Toronto. And it's not in a mall. Here's a picture out the entrance.

I've been there. You walk in and there's a bunch of stores on the ground floor and basement. There's even a Starbucks in front of the HOF (or there was when I went there in '02), which I remember because I got a Caramel Frap after visiting the hall. Now I do remember quite a few other banks and skyscrapers having mini-malls in their ground floors though... must be one of those Canadian things

Regardless, I found it disappointing that the facility dedicated to Canada's national pride (barely edging out maple syrup and Celine Dion) is stuck in some basement rather than getting its own grandiose building like in Canton or Cooperstown.

 

[Vitamin X]

Does the NFL have any plans to end the apparent policy of not letting in Bobby Dillon or Jerry Kramer because there's already 'too many' Packers?

I don't know about Bobby Dillon, but Jerry Kramer absolutely deserves to be in. I can't believe there are people who are saying, "Oh anybody will eventually get in." It only took Art Monk like twenty fucking years or whatever, and look at Kramer who played for the Packers in the 60's.

What are you guys thinking about a hall of fame here? No more than 100 players allowed ever or something? Give me a fucking break. Those receivers that are in by and large deserve to be there, and there are still many (Cris Carter, who wasn't a first ballot HOF?!) who do.

 

[bps21]

"Oh anybody will eventually get in." It only took Art Monk like twenty fucking years or whatever

...

and...he...got...in...eventually

 

[naiwf]

I would think the fact it took him so long to get in while he is still # 8 all time in receptions and # 13 in yards is a point towards the standards being (too) high for certain positions. Almost everybody who has passed him on those lists did it after he retired, which means he was in the top few guys to ever play his position statistically and he wasn't that close to getting in for many years. If we're going to argue that football lets everybody in, then how is baseball any different? What did Jim Rice or Goose Gossage do to get in one year and not another when they finished playing 20 & 15 years ago respectively?

 

[Czech]

What did Jim Rice ... do to get in one year and not another when [he] finished playing 20 ... years ago respectively?

Play for a team whose legions of cheerleaders and enablers within the sports media have exponentially grown in size and sway since Rice was first on the ballot? If Ron Santo were a Red Sock, they'd have shoved him into Cooperstown so hard and so fast he'd get whiplash. Instead we have to sit here while the Veterans' Committee inducts old Federal League standout Manfred "Farty" Goldsworth, who batted .256 for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops and was the innovator behind digging one's cleats into the dirt while standing in the batter's box.

 

[treble]

Also, the Hockey HOF is in a mall basement.

What the fuck are you talking about? It's in a large, renovated bank in downtown Toronto. And it's not in a mall. Here's a picture out the entrance.

I also believe it's unique in that it's the only one of the four to be in the middle of a major metropolitan downtown area.

That's just where they keep all the trophies and plaques and shit.

 

[wnyxmcneal]

The fact that the HHOF is in a mall does seem tacky from the outside, but once you go in, it's amazing.

I've been there seven times, that's how much I love it.

 

[Sex Machine Gun]

I've only ever been to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville. It was a really nice place, and sad that my father and I were walking around by ourselves most of the time. Looks pretty neat from the outside too.

 

[wnyxmcneal]

Did you run into Slim Citrus?