My Hall of Fame Ballot

Wizards should be releasing the ballots for this year’s ProTour Hall of Fame any week now. I think this year is a “catch up” year. There are 2-3 obvious HoFers who are on the ballot for the first time (Antoine Ruel, Kamiel Corneleissen, and probably Frank Karsten) but after that I think we should allbe debating which old-timers deserve a spot. From my seat, that conversation boils down to Steve O’Mahoney-Schwartz, Chris Pikula, and Justin Gary. You could make a case for a few others (Billy Jensen, Scott Johns and Mark Justice in particular) and folks will make cases that I don’t personally believe in for some other fine folks (Pat Chapin, Antonino De Rosa and Alex Shvartsman), but here’s the way I see it and the way I’m voting:

     The case for Chris

I like that the Hall of Fame is about more than just results. Chris had a decent career as a player - 3 PT Top 8’s, 4 GP Top 8’s, an Invitational win – but there aren’t enough slots available to let in everyone with that resume. Instead the case for Chris is all about the tremendous impact he had on the game as a personality and a community builder. I made this case in my year 1 ballot, and upon re-reading that I’m really happy with it. It’s probably one of the best things I ever wrote about the Pro Tour and I’d encourage you to go follow that link now.Seriously, I want to say all those things again, but I’m not going to be able to write them any better. I’ll wait.

In addition, we have an opportunity this year to try to right a wrong on Chris’s behalf. Lots of folks (myself included), think it was a mistake for Wizards to take away his Meddling Mage art when they reprinted the card. Let’s give Chris a ring to replace it with.

     The case for Steve

Pop quiz time: Who has more lifetime Pro Points – Mike Turian or Steve OMS? (The answer is Steve, at 237.) Who has more Grand Prix Top 8’s –Dirk Baberowski, Ben Rubin, or Steve OMS? (Steve has more than those two combined, 3 to 6 to 10.) How many people have finished Top 4 in two different Player of the Year races and then failed to get voted into the Hall of Fame? (Just Steve.)

I guess folks are looking at the mere 3 Pro Tour Top 8’s on Steve’s resume and deciding that somehow doesn’t measure up, but  that just seems short-sighted to me. If we decided to make a big deal about finals or semi-finals appearances then his 3would look really good (he’s got a 1st, a 2nd, and a 3rdin his three Sunday appearances). Meanwhile, if we were including Junior Pro Tour results in these stats then he would look even better.

Mostly, the case for Steve OMS is that for about 4-5 years he was one of the best couple of players in the game. He’s a bit overshadowed by his buddy Jon, but it was Steve who taught first the east coast and then the Pro Tour how to draft. It was Steve who won the most Grand Prix when Jon,Steve, and I became the first players to start traveling internationally for them. And it’s Steve who is the most deserving of a catch-up vote for the ProTour Hall of Fame this year. He finished 7th, 10th, and 7ththe last three years so I think he’s got a very legitimate shot this year.

     The case for Justin

If you liked my year 1 ballot and you’re on a roll, here’s a link to my year 2 ballot as well. I think it’s decent, but I’m not as proud of it, especially since my statistical argument against Justin Gary is just wrong. The stat I was grasping for but failed to find at the time is “peak median finish.” Median finish seems like a good way in theory to judge which players were consistently good rather than which caught the lucky breaks necessary to put up a bunch of Top 8’s. However, median finish is dragged down by all the times guys will show up for Tour after their prime is over just because it’s fun to hang out and play. That shouldn’t somehow make them *worse* candidates, right? So take everyone’s best 3-year run and look at their median finish during that run … and Justin Gary in his prime is revealed as one of the best on Tour with an outstanding peak median finish of 25th.That’s actually better than all five guys who got voted in last year, and the only person on the ballot with a better run is Mark Justice. Meanwhile, he’s also got two US national team appearances, including an individual win for himself and a team world championship.

Justin is competing with Karsten for a spot on my ballot right now. Their resumes are pretty similar with 3 Top 8’s each. Justin has the US Nationals performances but Karsten has 30 more lifetime Pro Points (280 to250). I suspect that Karsten’s writing and community building efforts will ultimately get him the nod, but I want to see the official WotC stats and listen to what others have to say about this year’s ballot before I finally make up my mind.

     Randy Buehler’s Ballot:

Antoine Ruel

Steve O’Mahoney-Schwartz

Kamiel Corneleissen

Chris Pikula

Justin Gary / Frank Karsten

Posted by Randy Buehler at 6/27/2009 12:09 PM
Categories: uncategorized

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