Gold Ink Tests

The origins of the "Gold Ink Test" can be seen in full here, but the following is the CliffNotes version: Quite a few seasons ago, at this point, I started doing a blog segment that broke down the HOF cases for the candidates. At first, I did all of the candidates and then I moved to just doing the ones that I was going to vote for and most recently I have been doing the ones who came closest to election the previous season.

How I evaluate those HOF cases has also evolved a bit: I began by simply looking at the number of awards the player had won in his career (which is something I borrowed from another blog...I wish I could remember which one to give credit where credit is due, because that's also where I got the name for this segment.) Then, I moved to the HOF Monitor Score developed by Bill James, which shortly thereafter became the unofficial HOF Monitor Score (which is their HOFM Score + points for stuff that I feel is noteworthy but not included in that metric.) Then I moved to the Career Standard Score, which is another Bill James creation that's faster and easier to calculate. Now, however, I have finally discovered a quick and easy way to estimate career Wins Above Replacement...plus I've been tracking the harder-to-calculate version of that metric for long enough now that those who are HOF-eligible are guys I have full careers worth of data on. So, from S51 onward, my Gold Ink Test will focus mainly on Wins Above Replacement but also factor in all the other metrics I mentioned above if/when needed.

Each season will get its own sub-page in this section of the blog, and will be accessible via the drop down menu below the "Gold Ink Test" header.