Hall of Fame thoughts

It's that time of year for Pro Tour Hall Of Fame balloting. I don't have a vote. I don't think I deserve a vote. And if I had a vote, I'm not sure that I would vote.

Why?

I don't think I like what the Hall of Fame is at the moment.

The theoretical concept of the HoF is one I really like. I love following sports and having debates about which player was better, which player deserves to be in, which players deserve to be out. I've spent much of the last week internet debating (the best kind) about how good a player Dennis Rodman actually was (my opinion: he was awesome.)  Every year when they vote on the Baseball Hall of Fame I spend two weeks reading all I can about the new players on the ballot, and all the new opinions on the returning players. I hope this year is the year for my childhood heroes Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.

It's the specifics about the Pro Tour Hall of Fame that I don't like. One being the name. The sports halls aren't "National Football League Hall of Fame" or "Major League Baseball Hall of Fame". They are halls for the entire sport, allowing them to exist as a museum to the game, not just a collection of some of the great players in the past. Managers, owners, executives, umpires, and in some instances broadcasters and writers, all who played an integral part of the history of the game are there. Why should Magic be different? Another criticism of the name is how it leads voters to ignore or discount Grand Prix success. "It's not the Grand Prix Hall of Fame" they'll say. But Grands Prix give out Pro Points, which determine the Pro Tour Player of the Year, so why shouldn't they matter? Calling it the "Professional Magic Hall of Fame" doesn't help, since the definition of professional seems laughable for a game that pays as little as Magic does. So let's just call it a Magic Hall of Fame, and include all of the great history of the game in it.

One thing the name is not: Pro Tour Hall of Honor. I'm very much against cheating in all forms, but all these "allegations" about the "suspicious behavior" in the past keeping otherwise deserving candidates out of the hall is hurting our history. Especially when many people will say that several players already in the hall have suspect track records! I agree with the decision about currently suspended players not being allowed in, but unless we're going to ban these cheaters for life, they should be allowed in.

As a historical entity, the Hall needs to have both the good and the bad. It needs to be separate from the marketing arm of Hasbro and WotC. It needs to be an actual physical place, with actual physical displays. Maybe there will be on display Craig Jones's Lightning Helix, next to Mike Long's Cadaverous Bloom. An exhibit about the best decks in history, the best cards in history, the best articles in history. The players inducted could still get lifetime invites to the Pro Tour, but the other people would not get that benefit.

Not enough players get in. This is because the standard is artificially constrained by number of votes, and the percentage you must earn. Increase the amount of players a voter can pick. Raise the percentage needed. You don't have to fill out every spot on your ballot. I applaud Jon Finkel for just voting for three players this year, even though his and my idea of the ideal hall are completely different.

The Hall of Fame has a ton of potential, and each year we dig the hole deeper that we must climb out of to reach it.

Postscript: List of people I would put in my Magic Hall of Fame that aren't already in.

WotC:
Richard Garfield
Mark Rosewater
Aaron Forsythe
Bill Rose
Mike Donais
Skaff Elias

Community:
Mike Flores
Jaime Wakefield
The Ferret
Frank Kusumoto
Omeed Dariani
Pete Hoefling

Players:
Mike Long
Alex Shvartsam
Scott Johns
Bertrand Lestree
Mark Justice
Michael Pustilnik
Itaru Ishida
Tsuyoshi Ikeda
Justin Gary
Willy Edel
Louis Scott Vargas
William Jensen
Mark Herberholtz
Willy Edel
Tomoharu Saito
(I guess just about anyone with 4 PT Top 8s)

hopefully that does a good job illustrating what I think the Hall of Fame should be like.

if i had a ballot this year and was forced to vote for 5 players:

LSV
Justin Gary
William Jensen
Tomoharu Saito
Tsuyoshi Ikeda