Hall of Fame Career Standards Test by Bill James

Hall of Fame Career Standards Test

These are metrics designed by Bill James to measure how likely a player is to get into the HOF, and not necessarily how good they were. This test gives a score of 50 for an average Hall of Famer, with 100 as the max. It is used to measure the overall quality of a player's career.  The metric uses a one-point addition scale based on career cumulative and rate stats. The all-time leader in batting points is Babe Ruth at 78 and Christy Mathewson leads in pitching points at 84.

Batting Statistics

• One point for each 150 hits above 1500, limit 10.
• One point for each .005 of batting average above .275, limit 9
• One point for batting over .300
• One point for each 100 runs over 900, limit 8.
• One point for scoring more than .500 runs per game.
• One point for scoring more than .644 runs per game.
• One point for each 100 rbi's over 800, limit 8.
• One point for driving in more than .500 runs per game.
• One point for driving in more than .600 runs per game.
• One point for each .025 of slugging percentage above .300, limit 10
• One point for each .010 of on-base percentage above .300, limit 10
• One point for each 200 home runs.
• One point if home runs are more than 10% of hits.
• One point if home runs are more than 20% of hits.
• One point for each 200 extra base hits over 300, limit 5.
• One point for each 200 walks over 300, limit 5.
• One point for each 100 stolen bases, limit 5.
• Defensive value: 20 points for catcher, 16 for shortstop, 14 for second base, 13 for third base, 12 for center fielder, 6 for right fielder, 3 for left fielder, 1 for first baseman, 0 for designated hitter


Pitching Statistics
• One point for each 10 wins over 100, limit 25.
• One point for each 20 games over .500, limit 10.
• For each of the following a minimum of 500 innings is required before these points are added.
  • One point for each .013 of winning percentage above .500, limit 15.
  • One point for each .20 of ERA below 4.00, limit 10.
  • One point for each 200 strikeouts over 1000, limit 10.
  • One point for each .30 of BB/9IP below 4.00, limit 10.
  • One point for each .30 of H/9IP below 10.00, limit 10.
• One point for each 1000 innings above 1000, limit 5.
• One point for each 100 complete games above 200, limit 5. 
• One point for each 30 shutouts, limit 5. 
Note that this system excludes relievers because there are no set standards for them.